For the first time in five years, the Connecticut Air and Space Center put its entire collection of vintage aircraft and artifacts on public display. Volunteers hauled out about eight historic airplanes and helicopters they are working on restoring and placed them outside for public viewing on the CASC’s site on the shuttered Army Engine Plant next to Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford. Continue reading
Connecticut Air & Space Center to reveal aircraft and artifacts at open house
The public will be able to see the entire collection of the Connecticut Air & Space Center (CASC) for the first time at the center’s free open house this weekend.
During the open house, attendees will be able to see the aircraft and artifacts in the collection up close. The collection includes items from Sikorsky, Chance Vought, Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Standard, Avco/Lycoming, Cessna and North American to name a few. For anyone over the age of 18, there will be guided tours of the original Chance Vought R&D Hanger and the museums cold storage facility aptly named “Area 53”. These buildings contain the museum’s restoration shop as well as many other displays. Continue reading
Movies help commemorate Civil War’s 150th anniversary
Movies about the Civil War will be shown in the Candlewood Lake region of western Connecticut as part of the area’s commemoration of the Civil War’s 150th anniversary. The movies are part of the One Book, One Lake program, organized by Candlewood Lake area public libraries, that also features a range of re-enactments and talks by Civil War authors and experts. Continue reading
Civil War re-enactments, author presentations in Candlewood Lake area
Public libraries in the Candlewood Lake region of western Connecticut are commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with presentations by Civil War experts, authors, and re-enactors, and other events. The Civil War activities are part of One Book, One Lake a regional reading program run by public libraries in the five communities around Candlewood Lake – Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford and Sherman. Continue reading
Fairfield and Westport men in the Civil War
About 500 Fairfield and Westport men served the Union Army during the Civil War, but even though the conflict was the bloodiest in the nation’s history, more than half of them survived and returned home. Two Fairfield men died in battle. They were John Cavanagh and James Cable, both of whom were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Seven men from Westport, including two who died at Gettysburg, were killed, according to an article in the Westport News. One was a member of the First Connecticut Volunteer Cavalry which was involved in more than 85 battles. Continue reading
Presentation on John Adams and treatment of prisoners
The Brookfield Historical Society, as part of its American Military Forum, will host a multi-media presentation on July 11 by a local attorney and former probate judge on John Adams and the treatment of war prisoners. Continue reading
27th CT Volunteer Infantry to reenact Civil War drills in Mystic
The 27th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry will reenact Civil War military exercises at Mystic Seaport on July 4 as part of the maritime museum’s Independence Day celebrations. Mystic Seaport will commemorate the Fourth of July with its 1876 Independence Day celebration from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Continue reading
Descendant of Trumbull slave honored by African-American historical group
Hugh Price, a former New Haven resident and a descendant of a Trumbull slave and notable Revolutionary War soldier, Nero Hawley, was honored by the African-American Historical Society Inc. at its 8th annual awards ceremony recently. Price, a graduate of Yale Law School, was a marshall with the Freedom Riders and president and CEO of the National Urban League. He worked with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Brookings Institution, was a vice president of WNET-13 in New York, served on the New York Times Editorial Board, and was a member of several other prestigious groups where he advocated for civil and human rights. Read more.
Civil War reenactment takes people back in time
The 14th Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers and the Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery encampment in Chester took visitors back to the Civil War. The reenactors held the Civil War must at the Chester Meetinghouse Green on Saturday conjunction with the Chester Historical Society’s new program, “Chester Voices from the Civil War.” The exhibit is open Saturdays, 10 to 4, and Sundays, 11 to 2, through October. Admission is free for Chester Historical Society members, $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and students, and free for children 12 and under.
Visitors at Saturday’s Civil War reenactment walked around the green to learn about women who masqueraded as men and served in both armies, about how Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert was saved by John Wilkes Booth’s brother, about why cotton was better for treating a wound than a sponge, and about the toys a child of the war years would play with, according to an article in the Middletown Press. Read more.
Connecticut’s great tornado killled at least 34
The Great Wallingford Tornado was the most destructive twister to ever strike Connecticut. Part of a swarm of tornados that hit the state on Aug. 9, 1978, it killed at least 34 people, 31 more than the next deadliest tornado in Connecticut history and 20 more than all other tornados put together, according to the Mansfield-Storrs Patch. One victim was found more than one-half mile from where he had been standing. Though Connecticut is ranked 43rd out of the 50 states in terms of tornado frequency, dozens of verified tornadoes have struck Connecticut since 1950. The first recorded tornado in Connecticut occurred 363 years ago this week on June 14, 1648. It was described briefly as a “great tempest” that blew down many trees in Hartford County. The second recorded tornado in Connecticut history occurred on June 20, 1682, in southwestern Connecticut near modern day Shelton, cutting a swath through the forest. Read more.