In preparation for our next case exhibition at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center that will honor Wethersfield servicemen and women from all American wars, we reached out to Post Commander Larry Spellacy of the Bourne-Keeney American Legion CT Post 23,...

Continue reading Purple Heart: The Badge of Military Merit

Hanging in the Rotary Room and nearby hallway of the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center are four murals painted by Ralph Nelson. Ralph Lewis Nelson (1885 -1967) painted these four murals of the founding of Wethersfield for the public schools in...

Continue reading Uncle Sam Wants To Thank You Ralph Nelson For Your Art!

To read the first blog entry on Lt. Jonathan Church and his portrait please click here:Lt. Jonathan Church, A Wethersfield Marine.In 2007, Wethersfield Historical Society received word from a descendent of Wethersfield's Jonathan Church (1763-1804), one of the first members...

Continue reading Lt. Jonathan Church, Sideboard and Tavern

Researchers often visit the Old Academy Research and Genealogical Library looking for photographs of certain events or individuals from the 17th and 18th centuries. On more than one occasion, I have had to pause and explain the evolution of photography...

Continue reading Snapshot of Photographic History

One of Wethersfield's favorite sons quietly returned to town recently. Lt. Jonathan Church represented the United States as one of its first Marines in the closing years of the 18th century.  He retired from active service to start a new...

Continue reading Lt. Jonathan Church, A Wethersfield Marine

The Deming-Standish House has a prominent place in the center of Wethersfield's old village, on a piece of land at the corner of Main and Marsh Streets, near the Meetinghouse. The town land records show David Webb selling this one...

Continue reading History of the Deming-Standish House (1787)

The Wethersfield Grange Patrons of Husbandry was a local branch of the National and State movement that was established after the Civil War. On December 4, 1867 the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry was founded...

Continue reading The Wethersfield Grange Patrons of Husbandry

Wongunks in Pyquag   Residents often forget that the European migration and settlement of Connecticut was not the beginning of this land's history. Native Americans can be traced long before John Oldham and the Adventurers. The first Native Americans are believed...

Continue reading Terramuggas: Sachem of the Wongunks

Care for a cup of tea? At the turn of the 19th century it was not quite as easy to obtain the medicinal and pricey tea leaves as it is today. A mariner would have to bring tea back to...

Continue reading Captain John Hurlbut's Tea Caddy

In celebration of the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center's twentieth anniversary as a museum and cultural center, this collection blog topic is the building itself. How can a building be an object? It can and it is! The Keeney Memorial Cultural...

Continue reading Keeney Memorial Cultural Center: A Building With Many Uses