Featuring poets Bessy Reyna and Kate Rushin The Mount Holyoke Club of Hartford and Connecticut’s Old State House are pleased to present a dramatic reading of Bessy Reyna’s poem Freedom Journeys in Four Voices. Bessy’s poem tells the story of Nancy Jackson, the young slave woman granted her freedom in 1837 by the Supreme Court […]

FEATURING Channon Miller, Assistant Professor of American Studies and History, Trinity College As much as water protects, nourishes, and sustains Black children’s lives, it also restrains, suffocates, and degrades them. The residents of Hartford’s Charter Oak Terrace confronted a water-based ecological catastrophe in the 1960s. A flooding river—channeled by municipal neglect, class inequality, and racial […]

FEATURING Dr. Christina Bleyer, Watkinson Library, Trinity College The Watkinson Library at Trinity College has partnered with the Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean to digitize the Lloyd Best Archive. Using our project as an example, this presentation explores post-custodial archiving as a transformative approach to collecting, preserving, and providing access to archival materials, contrasting it […]

Learn about the history of “body snatching” in the 19th century. Physicians teaching anatomy in New England medical schools expected students to have hands-on experience with cadavers. Yet the only legal access allowed were the bodies of convicted murders. This restriction led to a spike in demand. Doctors and their students turned to the illegal […]

It’s time for a celebration and some sweet competition! Join Connecticut’s Old State House on November 2 for the third annual Election Cake Bake Off.  Historically, Election Day in Connecticut combined voting with parties, libations, parades, and cake! Stores sold special Election Cake ingredients to women who transformed them into spice cakes for crowds gathered […]

Connecticut’s Old State House is ringing in the holiday season with the annual Holiday Shopping Fair! Enjoy a festive shopping experience in the historic spaces at Connecticut’s Old State House and shop from local crafters and artists from across the state. The Holiday Shopping Fair will run 11 am – 4 pm on Thursday, December […]

Connecticut’s Old State House is ringing in the holiday season with the annual Holiday Shopping Fair! Enjoy a festive shopping experience in the historic spaces at Connecticut’s Old State House and shop from local crafters and artists from across the state. The Holiday Shopping Fair will run 11 am – 4 pm on Thursday, December […]

Connecticut’s Old State House is ringing in the holiday season with the annual Holiday Shopping Fair! Enjoy a festive shopping experience in the historic spaces at Connecticut’s Old State House and shop from local crafters and artists from across the state. The Holiday Shopping Fair will run 11 am – 4 pm on Thursday, December […]

The Connecticut Freedom Trail is home to over 170 heritage sites that recognize people and events that made impactful strides toward equity and social justice in Connecticut. As we wrap 2024 join Outreach Director Tammy Denease as we celebrate a benchmark year, highlighting: 1. The addition of more sites including the Colchester Cemetery and Green […]

Ring in the new year with the family during First Night Hartford at Connecticut's Old State House! Spend the afternoon getting ready for the 6 pm fireworks in Bushnell Park by creating a craft for the parade to the park ahead of the early fireworks, play trivia and bingo, and explore the museum spaces with […]

For 2025's first Conversation at Noon on the Connecticut  Freedom Trail, author and educator Jana Laiz, M.Ed. will discuss the life and times of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman and her co-authored children’s biography, “A Free Woman On God’s Earth” The True Story of Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman, acknowledged by the Trustees of Reservations as the most historically […]