Bringing Christmas Trees to Light
Thomas Edison, the founder of General Electric and the incandescent bulb, rigged several strings of electric lights, each wrapped in a different color of crepe, and hung them outside his laboratory to celebrate the Christmas season of 1880. This happening is believed to be the first use of electrical Christmas lights.
Two [...]
Christmas Bird Count
FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Citizen scientists from around the U.S. will be participating in the Audubon Society’s 112th Christmas Bird Count beginning on December 14 and running until January 5. During this period, thousands of volunteers, armed with binoculars and bird guides, will collect data to access the health of the bird population
The communities [...]
When Barbara Burr graduated from Wellesley in 1945, the only jobs to be had were in defense plants. So she and five of her friends packed their degrees and travelled to Fairfield County, CT. Finding a job in Stratford, she and this ambitious group of women rented the Burr Barn on Burr Street in Fairfield.
It [...]
Newtown historian Dan Crusan points out in his new book, The Slaves of Central Fairfield County, how the folklore of a community has a strange way of becoming historical fact after a period of time. This might be true in the recounting of the story of jim Purdy, a black shepherd, who lived in the [...]
Text and Photography by Michael Hoffman
Aviation history was on display at Sikorsky Memorial Airport over the Memorial Day weekend in celebration of the anniversary of the Vought F4U Corsair. Corsairs Over Connecticut: Wings & Wheels was presented by Three Wings Flight Service of Stratford to benefit the Discovery Museum.
Five of the bent-wing warbirds flew back [...]
Throughout history, women have played traditional and non-traditional roles. A new exhibit at the Trumbull Historical Society museum, Through A Woman’s Eyes, captures the essence of how women placed themselves in America’s society since the founding of the country – and how women’s educational opportunities, legal rights and economic means changed their roles over the [...]
Thomas Edison, the founder of General Electric and the incandescent bulb, rigged several strings of electric lights, each wrapped in a different color of crepe, and hung them outside his laboratory to celebrate the Christmas season of 1880. This happening is believed to be the first use of electrical Christmas lights.
Two years later, the vice [...]
Movies have a long history at the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. In fact, the first movies, sponsored by the Men’s Literacy and Social Club of Newtown on December 6, 1897, were made possible by the recent invention of Thomas Edison’s Vitoscope and Phonograph.
J. Stewart Blackton and Albert Smith staged the production of ‘moving pictures’ [...]
“The earliest known existing example of the work of the Simmons & McIntyre firm…” is how a letter written to the Vicar of Christ Episcopal Church Tashua 40 years ago this month, described the organ tucked into the Church’s second floor balcony. The letter was from Alan Laufman, director of the Organ Clearing House of [...]
For anyone growing-up in the area, the mention of Wagner Tree Farm is sure to bring back fond memories. The Main Street, Trumbull tree farm, situated on 12 plus acres, was located just north of Tashua Road.
It was the brain-child of Alfred Wagner, the owner of two sawmills in Monroe. The hard work associated with [...]
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