March is Women's History Month, a perfect time to explore Connecticut's Women's Heritage Trail, a collection of 13 sites scattered statewide that honor the accomplishments of prominent Connecticut women.
The Women's Heritage Trail was created by the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, which sponsors special programs, exhibits and events throughout the year that recognize Connecticut women, past and present. To request a copy of the brochure that describes the Women's Heritage Trail sites, call them at 860-768-5685.
Here's a look at the 13 Women's Heritage Trail sites, beginning with the brochure's suggested starting place, the Old State House in downtown Hartford. Call ahead to confirm hours of operation, as some of these sites are open to the public on a limited basis. Most welcome group tours year-round by appointment.
Hartford-Area Sites
1. The Old State House
800 Main Street, Hartford
860-522-6766
At the Old State House, historic interpreters will introduce you to a number of women who played a role in Hartford history including Susannah Hooker, wife of one of the Connecticut colony's founders; Hannah Watson, publisher of the Connecticut Courant during the American Revolution; Alice Cogswell, a pioneer in the education of the deaf; Sarah Harris, the first African-American student of Prudence Crandall; Elizabeth Colt, a Hartford philanthropist; and Isabella Beecher Hooker, a leader in the movement for women's suffrage.
2. Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
77 Forest Street, Hartford
860-522-9258
The gothic cottage that was home to reformer and author Harriet Beecher Stowe, most famous for Uncle Tom's Cabin, is part of the Nook Farm complex in Hartford that is also the location of the Mark Twain House and The Day House, an exhibit space for late 19th-century decorative arts.
3. Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame at Hartford College for Women/University of Hartford
1265 Asylum Avenue, Hartford
860-768-5643
The organization that created the Women's Heritage Trail is headquartered in Hartford.
4. The Hill-Stead Museum
35 Mountain Road, Farmington
860-677-4787
This magnificent mansion turned museum houses an impressive collection of Impressionist art. Theodate Pope Riddle, the building's architect and daughter of the owner of this magnificent collection of art, was one of the first licensed female architects in the U.S.
Northwestern Connecticut
5. The Holley-Williams House Museum
Route 44/15 Millerton Road, Lakeville
860-435-2878
Living history tours help visitors to experience the hardships and joys of "ordinary" 19th-century women. The museum focuses on women's daily lives, the history of the Holley family and local history.
Connecticut Shoreline
6. The Bush-Holley Historic Site and Visitor Center
39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob
203-869-6899
Josephine Holley and her daughter, Constant, ran a boarding house here in the 1890s for Impressionist artists including John Twachtman and Theodore Robinson. Previously, the home was occupied by another remarkable woman, Sarah Bush, who defended the home and her family from attack during the American Revolution while her husband was imprisoned on suspect of sympathizing with the British.
7. The New Canaan Historical Society Hanford-Silliman House
13 Oenoke Road, New Canaan
203-966-1776
You'll gain insight into women's lives during various eras at this former tavern and boarding house that now houses the collections of the New Canaan Historical Society. The Society's costume exhibit shows changing women's styles over the decades.
8. Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum
295 West Avenue, Norwalk
203-838-9799
Built in 1869 at the height of the Victorian era, tours of this mansion provide visitors with a look at the lives of both conspicuously wealthy women and their female servants during the latter half of the 19th century and also provide a look at the evolution of domestic technology.
9. Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary
314 Unquowa Road, Fairfield
203-259-0416
The nation's first bird sanctuary was founded by Mabel Osgood Wright, a pioneer in environmental education and a founder of the Connecticut and national Audubon societies.
10. The Florence Griswold Museum
96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme
860-434-5542
Florence Griswold's Old Lyme home was a haven for American Impressionist painters such as Childe Hassam and Willard Metcalf, who gathered at this riverfront estate for scenic inspiration. The home is now a museum of American Impressionist art.
11. The Thankful Arnold House of the Haddam Historical Society
14 Hayden Hill Road, Haddam
860-345-2400
Tour this 1794 house with the "ghost" of Thankful Arnold, an "ordinary" woman of her time. You'll hear about the lives of three generations of women--Thankful and her daughter and granddaughter.
Northeastern Connecticut
12. The Windham Textile and History Museum
157 Union/Main Streets, Willimantic
860-456-2178
Learn about the lives of mill owners' wives and the "ordinary" women who worked in textile mills when you visit this museum's mill worker's home and mill owner's mansion and tour the recreated 19th-century textile mill.
13. Prudence Crandall Museum
Junction Routes 14 and 169, Canterbury
860-546-9916
Prudence Crandall was a schoolteacher who, in 1832, admitted Sarah Harris, a young black woman, into her academy. When the school was boycotted by local residents, Crandall accepted more African-American girls as boarding students. Crandall was jailed for disobeying a state law that made it illegal to instruct "colored persons who were not inhabitants of this State." Her case was dismissed, but a mob attacked the academy, forcing Crandall to close its doors to protect students' safety. Prudence Crandall is recognized as Connecticut's state heroine.
