On Saturday, November 5 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm, Connecticut’s Old State House in Hartford will host its first in-person Election Cake Bake-Off, a competition featuring entries from professional bakers and pastry chefs from across the state. Inspired by the Early American custom of celebrating Election Day with the traditional Hartford Election Cake, this festive Bake-Off […]
Untangling the Tally: Take a deep dive into how modern elections work and the various ways citizens engage with this core system of democracy. This series aims to untangle the logistics of elections, the role of technology and news coverage during elections, and the challenges faced by electors today to help build trust in their […]
Join us for a gripping presentation on the work and research being done to honor the humanity of the enslaved across Connecticut through the Witness Stones Project. Dennis Culliton, Founder and Executive Director of the Witness Stones Project, will discuss how to examine the history of slavery in Connecticut, where we can find the evidence […]
Join CT Freedom Trail Outreach Director Tammy Denease, CT Freedom Trail Chairman Charles Warner, and CT Freedom Trail Coordinator Todd Levine for a retrospective look at the growth and progress on the trail in 2022. More details to come
Kevin Snow, owner of the Capitol Collection, will discuss how the Capitol Collection passport book came into being, and talk about his own journey to visit as many state capitols as he could.The story of his trip to deliver special Capitol Collection passport stamps includes some amusing anecdotes about tickling kittens or possible electrocutions, depending […]
Connecticut's Old State House will be closed on Saturday, December 24th for Christmas Eve Day. Please come back and visit us on Tuesday, December 27th between 12-5 PM.
Few imagined that when the 2012 Hollywood blockbuster'Lincoln' hit theaters, it would ignite a heated debate involving Connecticut’scontroversial Civil War history, a congressman, and a frazzled screenwriterworried about the prospects for an Oscar! Join Dr. Matthew Warshauer, professorof History at Central Connecticut State University, in our historic House ofRepresentative's chamber, as he plumbs the depths […]
Located in the heart of downtown Hartford, Connecticut's OldState House served as one of the capitol buildings of Connecticut until 1878.As the seat of the state's government, the Old State House holds manyconnections to several important stories related to the Connecticut FreedomTrail, including the Prudence Crandall, Amistad, and Nancy Jackson trials, the1818 Constitution and many […]
Black litigants regularly appeared in colonial Connecticut'scounty courts. Participating as plaintiffs, defendants, and third-partysubjects, free Black New Englanders in New London often relied on the courts toprotect their economic and social interests, especially when discrimination inthe community limited their ability to settle disputes informally. For the mostpart, Blacks entered a judicial process that tended to […]
First in a limited series, The Amistad Trilogy.In 1839, 53 captive Africans rebelled aboard the Spanish schooner La Amistad. They took over the ship, but were captured by the US Navy in Long Island Sound and taken into custody. They then allied with local abolitionists in Connecticut to fight for their freedom through the US […]
Second in a limited series: The Amistad Trilogy.In 1839, 53 captive Africans rebelled aboard the Spanish schooner La Amistad. They took over the ship, but were captured by the US Navy in Long Island Sound and taken into custody. They then allied with local abolitionists in Connecticut to fight for their freedom through the US […]
Speaker: Dr. Joseph Coll, Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics at Sewanee: The University of the South During elections, most of us are used to voting for just one candidate per office. The candidate that gets the most votes wins. But there is an alternate form of election that has started to gain the public and […]