Monthly Archives: June 2014

Part 2 of When did Norwich start bragging?

Who, When and why did Norwich begin touting its architecture and history? This was a long and substantial article from the Emporia Kansas Weekly News 11 July 1889 page 2. This is column two in the series of columns needed to present this one article entitled – Substantial Dwellings That Were Old Before the Herniation House In Which Benedict Arnold Learned to Be a Druggist and  John Trott’s Cider “Flips.”

A few rods south of Bliss mansion stands another ancient building, an odd, angular, unpainted, gambrel roofed structure, which is now used as a dwelling by a very old lady. This little building was erected long before the revolution for the purpose of weaving stockings in. The sign which for years hung over the door represented an unsymmetrical leg clothed in a gaudy stocking. But this industry was evidently unprofitable, and it was succeeded by a newspaper, the first in Connecticut. Separated from this building by a narrow lane is the Reynolds homestead, and above the front door are scrolled, the figures 1609, representing the year in which it was built. This house has remained in the Reynolds family since the land was set aside for them, and is now occupied by the family of the late Henry L. Reynolds.

Diagonally across the street from the Bliss place, partially hidden by shrubs and trees, is a brown two story dwelling known as the Thomas Leffingwell house. It is fully 200 years old. The old stone
chimney, which is twelve feet square at its base, and the stones of which were laid in clay instead of mortar, the material that is used in the construction of walls today, still performs its service.
The old drug store.
Above this place is another but more unpretentious house, also once the property of the Leffingwells. It is, if anything, a trifle older than the former and much smaller. The Leffingwells were a big family and very prominent in early history. CoL Christopher Lcffingwell’s massive mansion is next in order. – The
colonel was methodically correct, and the house stands due north and south, one angle of it3 frame protruding partially out into the road. CoL Leffingwell was the first postmaster of the old town,
operated the first paper mill in eastern Connecticut, and carried on various other industries.

Please continue to read this blog as the article continues. Thank you! berylfishbone@yahoo.com

Legendary Locals of Norwich has arrived

Saturday, June 21st, 2014 was a momentous day for me. I saw a book with my name on the cover on the shelves of a store. I can’t describe the odd feeling I had when I saw the books artfully displayed at the Uncas Pharmacy. I was barely able to take in seeing multiple copies of my book before Shirley Hodkinson said that people had already been in asking for a copy and would I mind signing some to be set aside now.

What a very strange feeling that people want your signature. I felt very famous. Very accomplished. But it is not my signature that people should be collecting but the signatures of the people profiled in the book that people should be collecting. These are our legends and our heroes.

History is not always about times long ago, history can sometimes be about what occurred this morning. If you only know history as a dull date or place then it’s not being taught well. History is about people and some very special people shared with me some wonderful treasures and tales that I hope I re-told in a way everyone can enjoy. I hope you learn secrets and that you choose to re-tell some of the legends that made you smile and laugh as you read them and that some remind you of a tale of your own and maybe your viewpoint of history may change.

When you next walk on the Norwichtown Green think of Samuel Bailey and how he found his wife. Look at the moon and wonder if you can see the crater named after William Olcott. Hear the music of talented songwriters, musicians and troubadours or attend a musical performed here first. Patronize the businesses and the people of Norwich. Listen to their stories and continue to make Norwich a better place for us all.

“Legendary Locals of Norwich” may be purchased at Uncas Pharmacy, 120 Town Street, Norwich and wherever fine reading is sold. (Hint: Norwich could really use a bookstore)

Thank you all for your support!

Comments on this blog may be sent to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

“Legendary Locals” is available!

Everyone is invited! Saturday, June 21st from noon – 2 PM at Uncas Pharmacy, 20Town Street in Norwich will be the book launch for “Legendary Locals of Norwich” which I had the privilege of compiling for Arcadia Publishing.

In addition to having copies of the book for sale, there are magnets and mugs and tons of other unique Norwich gift items that are available nowhere else thanks to the creative mind of Shirley Hodkinson and her very talented friends.

It took 18 months of pushing and pulling and prodding and begging people for a photograph and a story to create a scrapbook of Norwich relating stories of some of the settlers of Norwich in 1659 to stories of our neighbors today. People you recognize and that you know.  Some businesses have come and gone during the writing of this book. One group broke up and are not friends any more but that is a part of the story.

My thanks love and eternal gratitude to everyone in the book who shared their story and to everyone who listened to me whine and carry on throughout the process and had faith that this day would really comeabout – Akil, Barbara, Betsy, Bonnie, Brett, Brian, Cam, Carmen, Carol, Chris, Cindy, Dianne1 and Dianne2, Frank,  George, Jackie, JD, Jeff, Jerry, Joe, John, John-Manuel, Jolene, Lisa, Mort, Nancy, Peter, Richard, Richie, Sandee, Sheila, Tom, and Vivian and everyone I forgot to mention.

Shirley and Jeffrey Hodkinson and everyone at Uncas Pharmacy I do not have a strong enough vocabulary to say more than “thank you from the bottom of my heart” for your support and for allowing this celebration in your store.

I hope to see everyone there!

 

 

 

 

 

When did Norwich start bragging?

Who, When and why did Norwich begin touting its architecture and history? This was a long and substantial article from the Emporia Kansas Weekly News 11 July 1889 page 2. This is column one in the series of columns needed to present this one article entitled – Substantial Dwellings That Were Old Before the Herniation House In Which Benedict Arnold Learned to Be a Druggist and  John Trott’s Cider “Flips.”
While there are several neglected and Isolated houses scattered throughout various parts of Connecticut of greater age than any in Norwich, probably nowhere else in this country is to be found such a group of ancient dwellings as that in this old town. The famous stone house of Guilford, which was a fortress in Indian times and the history of which runs back to 1639, is only twenty years older than
some of this group. They all stand in historic Norwich Town, which a century or more ago was the town proper, and when the present site of the city was known as “The Landing.” Indians held possession of the river in those days, and kept the white settlers away. Here generation after generation of families have been reared, and the  bouses remain now almost as they did then. The people here have cared more to keep their possessions intact than to have modern Improvements, until Norwich is preminently the banner historical city of New England.

The Bliss Mansion.
Passing up the two aristocratic thoroughfares of the city, Broadway and Washington street, to the “plains” and out upon the old road, the change is most remarkable. Fashionable domiciles
give way to ancient looking rookeries, whose weather beaten sides are marked with time. The first,  and most famous of these old dwellings is the Bliss house, a substantial two story mansion, which stands squarely on the main road to the old town. It is the oldest house in New London County, having been built in 1659 by Thomas Bliss, one of the original settlers of Norwich. It was, without doubt, the first dwelling built in eastern Connecticut. The first town clerk had his office in this house for years. From the time of its erection, 230 years ago, the old house remained in the uninterrupted ownership of the Bliss family until a few years ago, when it was sold to Mr. Angel Stead, the present owner.

Please continue to read this blog as the article continues. Thank you! berylfishbone@yahoo.com

Cozies for your cup and bowl

Keep your eyes peeled for displays from the Thames River Quilters, Inc. They are the quilters that meet at the Ledyard Congregational Church and they make and sell the most innovative, unexpected and fun items you can imagine from a bunch of quilters!

I don’t know what the proper name of them is for them but I know that I need to track the quilters down for a supply them. They are going to be my go to gift for the people I know who already have everything and more than they need. They are the perfect gift for the office dwellers and for all of us that enjoy using our microwaves.

Naturally everything is quilted and sewn. They have put together squares of cloth at odd angles and sewn a circle in  the middle of various sizes that can fit a cup, or a bowl or a coffee or tea pot. The cloth forms an old fashioned cozy for the container except from the bottom. No more burned fingers! The cloth can even catch the drips and prevent heat rings on the counter or table. Something spills – no problem. The spill can be absorbed by the cloth and thrown into the washer later. The cozy for my mug is great but the one for my soup bowl is a life saver. I just put the bowl cozy, and the bowl with soup into the microwave and when the bell rings I can pull it out and carry it to the table and it looks so pretty.

Check them out when they come to a craft fair or farmers market near you!

Forgotten Tale of the Norwich Rose Garden, part 2 .

The roses in the gardens of Norwich were in full bloom on Sunday, July 11th 1948 when  the Rose Garden at the Rockwell Street entrance to Mohegan Park was accepted pin a short ceremony by the City of Norwich.

The idea in 1940 was to bring back to Norwich once more its name as “the Rose of New England” but there was war and other priorities but Roy D. Judd and Edward W. Jewett never forgot it. During 1946 and 1947 the rocky and overgrown lot was cleared once more and leveled. More than 100 tons of rock were removed but only 275 truckloads of rich loam were needed for more than 1,300 rose bushes and annuals and tulips for the total of 3,200 bushes of 175 varieties. The first rose bush, a Lady Stanhope was planted with great ceremony on April 16, 1947 at 10: AM by Henry D. Johnson, Chairman of the Mohegan Park Board.

 

The pergola was built and donated by the Rotarians Ernest and Paul Zachae. The pool given by the American Legion, the bubbler by Higgins, 1500 school children gave time and labor as well to the memorial Rose Garden. The story was told of one boy who rode his bicycle three miles during his lunch break to pitch in.

Eaton-Chase Co donated hardware; Charles Osgood, paint; Jacob Slosberg, lumber; the Norwich Trade School donated their students labor.

Miss Helen A. Suchoski of Robert O. Fletcher Post #4 American Legion removed the drape from the field stone with the plaque engraved “A Memorial to Those Who Gave Their Lives and In Honor of Those Who Served in World War Two Norwich Memorial Rose garden 1948.

In remarks by Mr. Sweerser, President of the American Rose Society he referred to a commencement address he had heard at Tufts College in 1943 and quoted, “ As long as the earth lasts, roses and the stars and the surging sea will still delight the senses and the soul.”

Rev. Dr. Charles F. Banning of the Central Baptist Church concluded the ceremonies with a prayer.

The final cost for the garden was around $25,000. In the years since there have been many more donations of plants, beds, decorations, fences, arches and money for the upkeep of the rose garden. The largest perhaps, at least known by me, was by Roy D. Judd, who bequeathed the income from a sum of $25,000 to be used for the maintence of the garden.

Forgotten Tale of the Norwich Rose Garden, part 1

In less than 30 minutes the Rose Garden in Norwich was dedicated on Sunday, July 11th, 1948 at 2:30 P.M , opened to the public by the Norwich  Rotary and then  transferred to and received formally by  Mayor Richard F. Marks to the City of Norwich.

Almost 200 people gathered at various points around the garden which was blossoming in bright full colors. The shelter house served as the stage for a variety of dignitaries led by Paul W. Franklin chairman of the committee of arrangements. Henry La Fontaine led the singing of the Star Spangled Banner before the introduction of George Sweeter of Wellesley Hill, MA, President of the American Rose Society; Thomas Desmond of Simsbury who designed the garden; Everett A. Piester, Director of the Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park in Hartford; Board of Park Commissioners Henry D. Johnson, Alexander Jordan, Constanceee Cellucci, Richard Foley, Michael K. Aldi, John Donahue and Roy D. Judd, Chairman of the Rotary working committee for the project.

Rotary Club President L. Goffe Briggs made the formal presentation of the garden to the city and gave great and expected credit to Roy D. Judd as the prime mover and to a long list of committeemen that included but was not limited to the following: co-chairman Edward W. Jewett, secretary Charles D. Greenman, treasurer Thure W. and Harold C. Dahl, Henry D. Johnson, Dr. Hugh B. Campbell, Judge Edward G. Moran, Charles A. Saxton, Thomas W. Mahan, Herbert M. Lerou, Ernest Zachae, and Rex Brown who handled the publicity.

More than 70 cities were contacted for help in the planning of the Norwich Rose Garden and gratitude was given to Mrs. E.A. Piester of Hartford and Thomas Desmond for consultation about location and layout. Of four suggested sites the location was the vision of Mrs. Edwin W. Jewett.

Please be patient for part two of the Forgotten Tale of the Norwich Rose Garden .

Celebrate First Friday

Norwich celebrates the First Friday of Each month with new shows at each of three art galleries in the downtown, (the Norwich Arts Center Gallery, Reliance House Gallery and the Gallery at the Wauregan) an evening program at the library and sometimes a few of the stores in the downtown are still open. In  May there was even a book signing at the new antique shop up the street from the Harp & Dragon and there is an evening of music until 11 P.M. in the space above the Norwich Arts Center Gallery.

There is another feature that is not well publicized and that is the availability of  Stamp Cards. There are blank stamp cards in each of the galleries and if you have it stamped or signed by all three galleries and present your card at Chacers Bar & Grill, the Harp & Dragon or Billy Wilson’s Aging Still you can receive 20% off your entire bill.

Parking is not the adventure everyone claims. I use the city hall parking deck and when that’s in use I park in the garage up the street from the Harp & Dragon. It does not always smell nice but it is well lit, easy to access and I feel very safe and both places are an easy walk to galleries and the library. Parking for the library is always an adventure so if the evening presentation is your destination there is the lot across the street  (with a Mexican restaurant not too far away with some good food) or the lot behind the railroad station with a quick trot through the tunnel and up the hill or the thrill of securing on-street parking (no parking tickets are issued after 5 PM.)

Come on down! It’s warm and still light between 6 and  9 P.M. stop your complaining and your whining   see what Norwich has to offer. Think of it as practice for Rock the Docks returning to Brown park this summer.  Bet you’ll be back for more!