Where better to kick off Long Weekend Hartford than at the spot where Connecticut’s patriots conspired, debated, and dared to break with a crown? Guests gathered inside the historic courtroom at Connecticut’s Old State House, which was transformed into a colonial tavern alive with the spirit of 1776. Guests gathered for an evening of history, oration, and colonial “musick,” marking America’s 250th birthday.
The theme for the evening was “Defiance & Declaration: Connecticut 1776” and included a conversation with Historian Dr. Matthew Warshauer of Central Connecticut State University. Warshauer regaled guests as he traced Connecticut’s bold march to independence, from the publication of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense essay printed in the firebrand Connecticut Courant, to the moment Governor Trumbull called an emergency Assembly on June 14, 1776, and Connecticut declared itself free.
Re-enactor Dayne Rugh stepped into the boots of Governor Jonathan Trumbull, giving voice to Connecticut’s own Proclamation of Independence. At the same time, musician Richard Franklin Donohue performed a fiery repertoire of revolutionary-era “musick,” setting the unmistakable mood of a colony on the edge of history.
The Connecticut Democracy Center and Connecticut’s Old State House were proud to be a partners of the Long Weekend celebration, which ran July 1-5 in the City of Hartford.
