Judson Canfield by Ralph Earl, 1796

We’ve noted our available Western Reserve Collections before (see http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/blog/?s=western+reserve) In addition to the Judson Canfield Papers and the Samuel Flewwelling Papers, the Benjamin Tallmadge Collection, the Seymour Family Papers, and several others all document the population of the Western Reserve. We are happy to add a new publication to our holdings related to this topic, The Peopling of New Connecticut: From the Land of Steady Habits to the Western Reserve, edited by Richard Buel, Jr. It includes an excerpt from the Litchfield Monitor, an article published by Uriel Holmes, a former Litchfield Law School student, in the Carlisle Gazette, and a speech by Oliver Wolcott to the legislature. Thanks to Chip Spencer for this new addition.

Tree Map of Litchfield

In case you have had your fill of the Royal Wedding, today also happens to be Arbor Day.  This Tree Map of Litchfield, part of the Deming, Perkins & Quincy Families’ Papers, was a gift of Mary Perkins Quincy to the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1901.  It was prepared under the direction of Professor Henry S. Munroe of the School of Mines of Columbia University. Quincy authored Tree Histories of Litchfield: A Monograph by Mary Perkins Quincy in 1901.

She wrote, “To the future guardians of our village trees, are now lovingly committed, the map commemorating their sites and their Histories.”  She notes that the manuscript was read before the DAR on Tuesday, October 29, 1901 at the residence of the Misses Buel on North Street. She provides detailed accounts of local lore about various trees, including one supposed to have grown from Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge’s riding whip.

The Society has recently received a number of questions regarding trees.  We’ve also been notified of a great resource for finding information about them- notabletrees.conncoll.edu.  Click on “towns” and “Litchfield” to find information about local plantings, or stop by to read Tree Histories of Litchfield.

In writing a new book about Litchfield’s history, architectural historian Rachel Carley has recently debunked a commonly held belief about the Litchfield green. Sources indicated that landscape architect John C. Olmsted, of the noted Brookline, Mass firm, Olmsted Brothers, was responsible for the look of the Colonial Revival-era landscape. However, a blueprint at the Historical Society (shown above) provides evidence that the designer was actually Walter A. Williston, an engineer from Torrington. Olmsted was involved in the project, consulting with the town’s Village Improvement Society on the aesthetics. The only suggestion he made that appears to have been followed was to remove the pipe-rail fences from around the green, which were initially installed to prevent citizens from driving on it.