Archives

Stephan Peck House Old Lyme Marilyn Weaver See the Underground Railroad overview.

Little Colored Schoolhouse Colchester Betty Falco, Cathy Russi, Martha Paty During 1803-1804, the "Old District School House for Colored Children" was established behind the Congregational Church near Colchester's town green, predating any other attempt in Connecticut to provide educational opportunities specifically for African American youth. Although racially segreg...

Jail Hill Norwich Diane Daniels In the 1830s a new county jail was built in Norwich between Cedar and Fountain Streets north of the business district, an event which made the area less appealing to wealthier families. Because of the lower property values and proximity to business and employment, a number of African Americans families built houses in what became Jail Hi...

Thomas Taylor Grave Putnam Iris Middleton Grove Street Cemetery. A simple rectangular marble gravestone marks the resting place of Thomas L. Taylor, an African American sailor who served with the U.S. Navy on the Union's ironclad ship U.S.S. Monitor when it fought the Confederate ironclad Merrimac, during the Civil War. Taylor is recorded as being the last survivor of ...

Lyman Trumbull Colchester Stephanie Cyr Lyman Trumbull, a grandson of Benjamin Trumbull, was born and reared in this house, which is still on its original site. Later a United States senator from Illinois, Lyman Trumbull was one of the founders of the Republican Party and in 1865 helped author the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that ended slaver...

Isaac C. Glasko Griswold Tamora Syphrett Isaac Glasko, a man of mixed Native American and African American heritage, purchased land in 1806 and established a blacksmith shop in what is now the center of Glasgo. He harnessed waterpower to a triphammer and produced farming and carpentry tools. When the whaling industry was at its height, Glasko specialized in whaling imp...

Ship Charles W. Morgan Mystic Seaport Tora Sterregaard Among the displays at Mystic Seaport, renowned for its maritime village and working craftspeople, is the ship Charles W. Morgan, last of the nineteenth-century wooden whaling vessels. Connected with this ship are information and displays noting the role of Connecticut's African Americans in the state's important ma...

James Pharmacy Old Saybrook Mary Ponessa Anna Louise James (1886-1977), licensed in Connecticut as a pharmacist in 1911, operated her pharmacy from that year until 1967, when she retired. James was the first African American woman, and one of the first women, to become a pharmacist in the state. She was also among the first women who registered to vote when women's suf...

Venture Smith's Grave East Haddam Justine Cancryn First Church Cemetery. The cemetery, located next to the First Church, contains the graves of Venture Smith (1729-1805) and several members of his family. Smith was captured as a child in Africa and brought to Connecticut, where he was sold as a slave. He dictated a pamphlet about his experiences that can be read in the...

Vernett Lee House Norwich Melissa Syphrett See the Underground Railroad overview.