By Dr. Nancy Watson

Recent Articles

Prudence Crandall House

Prudence Crandall House

I still remember my first visit to the Prudence Crandall House in Canterbury, Connecticut. Before that day, I had never heard her name. By the time I left, I understood why she deserves to be remembered. Prudence Crandall was an educator who believed that every young woman deserved an education. In 1833, when a young […]

Canterbury, Connecticut
Rosewood Cottage

Rosewood Cottage

Rosewood Cottage in Woodstock, Connecticut, is one of those hidden historic treasures that feels almost transported from another world. Built in 1848 by textile manufacturer Henry C. Bowen, the cottage became famous for its Gothic Revival architecture, elaborate gardens and as a gathering place for many of the leading political and literary figures of the nineteenth century. The […]

Woodstock, Connecticut
Gillette Castle

Gillette Castle

While homeschooling, we would take numerous road trips to explore historic and natural sites. It was important to us that our children know the area they were growing up in and understand the stories connected to it. Connecticut was just a short drive from our home, so many of our day trips took us there to […]

East Haddam, Connecticut
Eugene O’Neill’s Monte Cristo Cottage

Eugene O’Neill’s Monte Cristo Cottage

Connecticut is not too far for a good road trip and on this day, it brought us to Eugene O’Neill’s home in New London. This house, known as the Monte Cristo Cottage, was the family’s summer home, and decades later it became immortalized as the setting for “Long Day’s Journey into Night”. This is one of […]

New London, Connecticut
Hill-Stead Museum

Hill-Stead Museum

On a day trip to Connecticut, we stopped to tour a remarkable home set quietly back on the rolling lawns in Farmington. We walked past the white facade with black shutters into the rooms covered with early impressionist paintings. These works once challenged convention and helped shape the future of art. Hill-stead was completed in 1901 […]

Farmington, Connecticut
Noah Webster House

Noah Webster House

When I visited the Noah Webster House in West Hartford, CT, I stepped back into a Connecticut farmhouse built in the mid-1700s.  Noah Webster was born in 1758, the son of a farmer and deacon who believed in education.  At just 16, Noah left this home to attend Yale College, one of the finest in […]

West Hartford, Connecticut
The Florence Griswold House

The Florence Griswold House

I have spent many hours and traveled many miles exploring interesting houses and historic places. Each one has its own story waiting to be found. Often, these journeys are ones I take alone, guided by curiosity and the comfort of quiet exploration. One such journey led me to the Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme, […]

Old Lyme, Connecticut
Nathan Hale Homestead

Nathan Hale Homestead

Tucked amid the rolling fields and stone-walled roads of Coventry, Connecticut, stands the Nathan Hale Homestead, built around 1772 by Richard Hale, the father of Nathan.  Though Nathan did not grow up in this particular house, it stood on the family’s farmland where he had spent his boyhood. By the time the house was finished, […]

Coventry, Connecticut