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MEETINGS & EVENTS Archives
2004
2005
2006
2007
AUGUST 2007
Fun ~ Lobster Dinner Cruise onboard the Mystic Whaler!
Click here for poster ...
Friday, August 24, 2007 ~ Join us for a Friday evening cruise on Long Island Sound for a full lobster dinner aboard ship. $100 tickets, advance purchase only, can be reserved by calling the Shaw Mansion at 860. 443.1209. (Ticket price includes $25 donation to the New London County Historical Society.)
Boat leaves from City Pier in New London at 5:00 pm and returns at 8:00 pm.
Only 60 tickets available.MAY 2007
May 19 (Saturday)- Jibboom Club Parade Party - Chowda' . "We always have a chowda' afta' the parade."
Your vote for the best chowder will determine who will be named "Steward" for Jibboom Club No. 1.
The party will follow the parade on Saturday 19 May, with the doors open from 3 to 6 pm. $10 Tickets (in advance, call the Shaw Mansion; $15 at the door) will get you samples of up to eight chowders and a beverage, plus there will be sea music and a silent auction to benefit the Historical Society.
Location will be Peter Levine's newly renovated New London Marketplace at 13 Washington Street (behind the Thames Club).
We have chowders from some of your favorite restaurants, Grampy's and Raiders' Roost in New London, Filomenas in Waterford, Flander's Fish Market in Niantic, and Paul's Pasta and Sousa's Seafood in Groton, and we're expecting a couple of later entries.
Cottell's Brewing Company will offer Old Yankee Ale.
Rick Spencer and David Littlefield of Forebitter will perform, and we'll have the Sea-Notes - a 16 voice barbershop chorus - as well. (And you KNOW you want to get inside the former United Electric Building to see what's happening there.)
So come have fun, enjoy the chowder, the music, and support the Historical Society. The Jibboom Club will be there - you should be too!
Tickets: $10 advance/$15 at the door
Party location: New London Market Place, 13 Washington St., New London, CT
Ticket sales & info: New London County Historical Society, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT.
(860) 443-1209.APRIL, 2007
April 15, 1 pm - Field Trip to the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, where we will view the exhibit "The Freedom Business: Connecticut Landscapes through the Eyes of Venture Smith", click here for preview which prominently features the copy of Venture Smith's narrative from our collection.
We'll also have an opportunity to see the newly-renovated Florence Griswold House, and end the afternoon with a tea, overlooking the Lieutenant River. The daffodils should be fully in bloom by then!
Meet at the Shaw Mansion at 1:00 pm for car-pooling. We must depart by 1:30 pm to be at the Florence Griswold by 2:00 pm.
The Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, CT, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
We will depart from the Florence Griswold Museum by 5:00 pm.
Cost will be about $10.
Please let us know if you would like to join us by calling the Shaw Mansion, (860) 443-1209, to make reservations before Easter (April 8).OCTOBER, 2006
Plunder and Peril: New London in the American Revolution
(Opened October 8, 2006)
The exhibit spotlights privateering, commerce-raiding targeting British shipping, which was New London's primary contribution to the revolutionary cause. It examines the role of Nathanial Shaw in directing that activity, and Benedict Arnold's raid on New London - a reprisal for the region's success at privateering. The exhibit features original manuscripts documenting correspondence between Shaw and George Washington, John Hancock, and Samuel Huntington, and exquisite objects taken from British prizes held by the Shaw family ever since that time.SEPTEMBER, 2006
September 24, 2006 - Annual Meeting
The 135th Annual Meeting of the New London County Historical Society will be held on Sunday, September 24, 2006, in the Nautilus Room of the Port and Starboard at Ocean Beach in New London.
The evening will begin with a cash bar at 5 p.m., then supper at 5:30, and meeting and speaker at 6:30.
The speaker will be Anne Farrow of The Hartford Courant, speaking on "A Reporter's Encounters with the 18th Century".
Farrow was the lead writer on "Complicity", The Courant's intensive examination of Connecticut's slave-dependent economy.
Click here for information about Anne Farrow and Complicity.)
She was the sole writer for "Beyond Complicity, The Forgotten Story of Connecticut's Slaveships", published in April, 2005. With Joel Lang and Jenifer Frank, Farrow co-authored the book Complicity, How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery, published by Ballantine Books/Random House in 2005. The book will be available for purchase.
Besides sharing some of the facts she uncovered in the process, Farrow will talk about research, and the experience of finding things that were new and news.
Farrow has a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of New Hampshire and has, throughout her newspaper career, specialized in projects devoted to literature and history. She has been a writer and editor at New England newspapers since 1976, and on the staff of The Hartford Courant since 1988.
Reservations can be made by calling the Shaw Mansion at 860-443-1209.
The cost is $25 for members and $30 for non-members.
The cost to attend the meeting only is $5 for non-members.SEPTEMBER 2005
September 11, 2005 - Annual Meeting
And You Think I-95 is Bad ... While traveling between New London and Mystic has been difficult this summer with the multiple road resurfacing projects on that stretch of I-95, how would you like to imagine it as it was 300 years ago? That is when Sarah Kemple Knight was on the road, and Madam Knight will be the topic of Janet Gerba Huchingson, keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the New London County Historical Society.
Madame Knight left her home in Boston in 1704 traveling by horseback to help settle a relative's estate in New Haven. Once in New Haven, her journey was extended to New York on additional family matters, thus her return to Boston from New York via New Haven ended in 1705. Madame Knight kept a journal of that journey which was published after her death.
The journal frequently shows up in anthologies of American Literature because it is such an
interesting combination of Puritan wit, written by a woman, doing something that women did not ordinarily do. (Later in her life, Madame Knight moved to this area and she is buried in the Antienest Burial Ground.)
Janet Gerba Huchingson, an English professor, has studied and researched the journal, traveling and studying the route that Sarah Kemple Knight took. She wrote a novelized account of the journey adding meat to some of the bones of the journal entries. For her presentation for the Historical Society, she will recount that period, that journey, and will explore what we can learn from the jottings of a remarkable woman. (Copies of her novel,
With No Little Regrett, will be available for sale at the meeting.)
The New London County Historical Society Annual Meeting will be held at The Lighthouse Inn on Sunday evening, 11 September, 2005, beginning with a cash bar at 5:00 pm. Dinner will be served at 5:30, the Annual Business Meeting will run from 6:30 to 7:00. Dr. Huchingson will begin her presentation at 7:00 pm.
Reservations are required for the dinner meeting - call the Shaw Mansion, 443-1209. Individuals who would like to just hear the presentation on Madame Knight may arrive at 7:00. There is a $5.00 charge for the lecture.JUNE 2005
June 18, 2005 - NEW LONDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY HOSTS 3rd ANNUAL GARDEN PARTY AT SHAW MANSION
Celebrate summer in New London at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Admission, $10 per person, includes a door prize ticket, a sandwich plate, and a serving of the ever-popular summer favorite, strawberry shortcake.
Witness historians in period dress recreate a Winslow Homer painting circa 1866 and participate in croquet games. Refresh your croquet expertise by visiting croquetamerica.com
Take tours of the Mansion’s beautiful gardens, and visit the summer house, renovated in 2003.
Scheduled activities include:
11:30 - Garden Tour with Master Gardener, Susan Munger
1:00 and 2:00 -Tableaux Vivants -- Living Historians play croquetMAY 2005
May 14, 2005 Plant Sale -The New London County Historical Society will hold a Plant Sale on May 14 from 10-noon, on the Perkins Green in front of the Shaw Mansion in New London.
Both historic and modern plants will be sold, some from the Mansion’s extensive gardens.
For more information, please call 860-443-1209.APRIL 2005
April 13, 2005 - Welcome author James Zug at a reception and book signing from 4-6 p.m. at the Mansion. Zug will be autographing copies of his most recent book, American Traveler: The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard—The Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World, due out the beginning of April. Born in Groton, a great grandson of Joshua Hempstead, Ledyard sailed around the world with Captain Cook, traveled to places as diverse as Lapland and Tahiti, and died in Cairo at the age of 38.
If the story alone is not enough to make you want a copy of the book, members receive a 10% discount off the $25 list price.FEBRUARY 2005
February 4, 2005 - Panel, film and lecture at Connecticut College on Feb. 4 to commemorate Brown v. Board of Education ruling.NOVEMBER 2004
There will be a reception to meet new NLCHS Executive Director following the November 14th Second Sunday program at the Shaw-Perkins Mansion. Please call 443-1209 for details.OCTOBER 2004
October 3, 2004 - Annual Meeting
The 133rd Annual Meeting of NLCHS will be held on Sunday, October 3, 2004, at the Lighthouse Inn, New London, CT.
Dr. Walter Woodward, new Connecticut State Historian, will speak on New England's Other Witch hunt: John Winthrop, Jr., and the Connecticut Witch Panic of the 1660s.
Call the NLCHS at 860-443-1209 for the meeting schedule, and to purchase dinner & lecture tickets.SEPTEMBER 2004
September 11 & 12 ~ reading of a new play, A Song of Bones, about Lily the Soothsayer, an African-American slave who lived in the New London area before and during the Revolution.Sailors would not go on long voyages without first having Lily assure them they'd come back! Michael Bradford's play explores the life and career of Lily.
3 pm each day at the Custom House, Bank Street, New London.JUNE 2004
June 26, 2004 - Annual Garden Party
Doorprizes and two croquet tournaments to choose from - Beginners and Cutthroat. Refresh your croquet expertise by visiting croquetamerica.com
Delicious sandwiches, famous Kelly strawberry shortcake and refreshments will accompany wicket hilarity. If you would like to donate an item to be used as a doorprize, please call the Historical Society office at 860-443-1209. Quirky is fine, as long as it is clean and in good condition. Gift certificates, weekend retreats, daysail, fishing trip ... all welcome.June 5, 2004 - New Map Exhibit opening
Have a look at how the city, and especially its waterfront, has changed through the years. Maps in the Society's newest exhibit, Maps and Charts of New London Harbor, range from a 1703 map of Winthrop land in what is now Montville to an 1853 lithograph showing the harbor from Ft. Griswold, with the Shaw Mansion clearly visible. Other maps are of the city and its waterfront, a proposed site for a Navy base in New London, and a combination chart/map of the Thames River with defenses on either side during the Revolution. Charts show the position of the British blockade during the War of 1812, and lines of navigation into the harbor in the 1840s.MAY 2004
May 1, 2004 - Plant Sale
The New London County Historical Society will hold a plant sale in front of the Shaw-Perkins Mansion in New London on Saturday, May 1, from 10 a.m. until noon. The sale will include heirloom and more modern plants. Proceeds benefit the Mansion’s gardens, which will be open for viewing. For further information, please call 443-1209.
NLCHS, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT 06320 email
