Connecticut’s Fearless Females

Connecticut’s deep history is filled with strong, courageous women whose legacies live on at their previous homes and historic sites around the state. Take time to honor and celebrate these fearless leaders during Women’s History Month in March – or any other time of the year! 

Deemed Connecticut’s State Heroine, Prudence Crandall opened New England’s first academy for African-American women in 1833. She was forced to close the school, now the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury, a year later, but refused defeat. Learn about Crandall’s fight to open – and keep open – her school, her interaction with some of the most influential social activists of her time and the lives of women during the 19^th century at the museum. 

Through her extensive travels with her husband, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s eyes were opened to the plight of America’s slaves. In 1852, she wrote the famed Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which sold more than 500,000 copies in the U.S., more than any book other than the bible at that time. In 1873, she moved into her final home in Hartford, now the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. In addition to getting an intimate look at the life of Beecher Stowe, you will get to see the author’s memorabilia and collections, changing exhibitions, a research library housing first editions of her works and specialized collections on women’s history and the suffrage movement and gorgeous Victorian gardens. 

At the center of American Impressionism at the turn of the 20^th century was Florence Griswold, who opened her home in Old Lyme to a group of artists that included Childe Hassam and Willard Metcalf. The home’s grounds and gardens served as a major inspiration to these artists who created some of the most memorable paintings in American art. Visit the Florence Griswold Museum to see the place these artists called home, as well as an extensive collection of American art and history. 

Learn about the accomplished women of Connecticut’s past and present at the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, located at the Hartford College for Women at the University of Hartford. In order to be considered for inclusion, women must break new ground or emerge as a leader in their fields. Past inductees include actress Katharine Hepburn, singer Marion Anderson who broke racial barriers in the arts, singer and comedian Sophie Tucker and Theodate Pope Riddle, one of the first female architects and designer of the home that is now the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. 

The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame is also the founder of the Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail, comprised of 13 museums and historic houses around the state committed to the interpretation of women’s history and culture and to sharing the stories of Connecticut’s women pioneers.

This Old House

Whether you are an architecture buff or you are simply seeking home design inspiration for a spring makeover, historic homes across the state offer a multitude of ideas, as well as a look into Connecticut’s rich past. Ranging from 17^th-century post-medieval to 19^th-century Victorian, these homes’ distinct architectural and decorative styles transport visitors to key periods in history. 

Travel back to the 17^th century at the Henry Whitfield Museum in Guilford. Built in 1639, the museum is Connecticut’s oldest house and New England’s oldest stone house. Its stone walls, steep roof and casement windows reflect the style of post-medieval domestic architecture found in England but rare in 17^th-century America. The home’s three floors contain 17^th- to 19^th-century furnishings and artifacts, and the décor reflects the functional design of the period. The museum opens for the season in April. 

In Wethersfield, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum consists of three homes, all of which reflect the simplicity of the 18^th- and early 19^th-century Colonial style. The Webb Home, built in 1752, was a stylish home of its time, and its original owners were lavish entertainers. For the first time in 40 years, you can view the drawing room’s recently uncovered wall murals, installed in 1916 by Wallace Nutting, a previous owner of the Webb House. In addition to the Webb House, he owned as part of his “Chain of Colonial Picture Houses” four other important historic sites in New England that are portrayed in the wall murals. The Silas Deane home was designed to impress, with a spacious hallway and grand staircase leading to a musicians’ gallery and ballroom, while the Isaac Stevens home reflects the décor and taste of a middle-class family in the 1820s and 1830s. See many of the family’s original possessions on display, including their furnishings, which hint at the beginning of the Victorian era. 

Enter the Victorian era at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk. Built from 1864 to 1868, the home is regarded as one of the earliest and finest surviving Second Empire Style homes ever built in the United States. If you saw the 2004 remake of “The Stepford Wives” featuring Nicole Kidman, you have seen the home; several scenes were shot in the house’s interior. Many American craftsmen and artisans were employed in the construction of this opulent 62-room mansion. Ornate chandeliers, fine art and antiques, including a collection of antique music boxes, and gold ceilings are only a few of the impressive pieces throughout the home. 

Featuring marble floors and interiors designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, the 19-room Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford is a direct product of the Gilded Age. During his time in the home, from 1874 to 1891, Twain incorporated modern design styles, combining rich colors, eclectic wall patterns with detailed stencil work and diverse textures from around the world with unexpected chimneys and towers, random elevations and projecting bays. Walk around awhile and see if you can’t find inspiration to write a masterpiece of your own! 

This twist on Victorian style provides an interesting contrast to the Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum, a traditional Victorian home located in Torrington. Built in 1900, the home features Queen Anne-style furnishings and impressive collections of glass, porcelain and paintings. As you tour the home, take notice of the detailed woodwork, stenciled patterns, murals, ornamental ceilings, parquet floors and chandeliers. 

Connecticut Landmarks, founded in 1936 as the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society, owns and maintains twelve significant historic properties that span three centuries of New England history.  They include: the Amasa Day House, Moodus; the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, Bethlehem; the Butler-McCook House & Garden and Main Street History Center, Hartford; the Buttolph-Williams House, Wethersfield; the Hempsted Houses, New London; the Isham-Terry House, Hartford; the Nathan Hale Homestead, Coventry; the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden, Suffield.