The Mattatuck Museum is sharing pieces from its significant art and history collections with visitors to the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden. Works exploring the themes of women, 20th-century art, and local art will complement the beautiful furniture, art, and objects collected over decades by Caroline Ferriday. Peruse the halls and discuss the artworks and their significance as you learn about the home and its occupants.
Get into the “spirit” of the season! Our special, candlelit tours will take you around the property and into the house, all the way up to the dark, shadowy attic. Hear long-standing and new Homestead ghost stories from staff members and spooky encounters reported by guests, as featured on the Syfy channel’s Ghost Hunters.
Hartford Whalers! Hartford Dark Blues! Willie Pep! Pro Football in Hartford? Where was the Velodrome? Take to the streets of Hartford to uncover the fascinating history of sports in the city from ballooning to bicycles, boxing to baseball, and so much more, beginning in the Butler-McCook Garden on this new walk for the 2024 season.
Visit the Butler-McCook House & Garden is the only 18th-century home remaining on Hartford’s Main Street for a guided tour to learn about the McCook family, who loved music, art, and travel through explorations of the museum’s collections which include paintings, Japanese samurai armor, furniture, and toys.
The Coventry Farmers’ Market on the grounds of the Nathan Hale Homestead is an experience not to be missed. This market carries the tradition of being the largest farmers’ market in the state, featuring some of the best of Connecticut-grown, Connecticut-made products in one of the most unspoiled countryside settings in the state. Each week, the staff of the Homestead will lead a family-friendly activity to connect the history of the site with the theme of the market. Admission to the Nathan Hale Homestead is by regular admission and is not included in the Farmers’ Market program.
1885 - The residents of Blackwood Lake have received a curious letter from the Widow Whitlock. Mrs. Josephine Whitlock invites you to celebrate the life of the recently deceased Luther Whitlock. As we bid farewell to our dear husband and father, we welcome you to join us at Blackwood Manor as we hold visitation hours. We understand our family has been quite reclusive, but this recently widowed woman and her only child could really use your support at this difficult time. The town is abuzz. Luther Whitlock, the cloistered miser who lived in Blackwood Manor, had a family? Why would a wealthy man who could afford to live anywhere move into a house with such a tragic history? What kind of support is this mysterious family looking for? Come to the visitation to find out what dark and dangerous secrets the Whitlock family are hiding.
Experience the home Frederic Palmer and Howard Metzger made together in what they called “the wilds of Connecticut.” Explore the property's Colonial-era history to understand why Palmer was interested in purchasing the home with his mother in 1936. Learn about the collection of letters and diaries, photographs, historic furnishings, and decorative arts used to reconstruct their lives together. When weather permits, explore the grounds to see the constructed landscape Metzger and Palmer created.
The Coventry Farmers’ Market on the grounds of the Nathan Hale Homestead is an experience not to be missed. This market carries the tradition of being the largest farmers’ market in the state, featuring some of the best of Connecticut-grown, Connecticut-made products in one of the most unspoiled countryside settings in the state. Each week, the staff of the Homestead will lead a family-friendly activity to connect the history of the site with the theme of the market. Admission to the Nathan Hale Homestead is by regular admission and is not included in the Farmers’ Market program.
Step inside the museum to be transported to the 18th and 19th centuries and learn about the lives of those who built, lived in, and preserved the house. Understand the role of Connecticut in the American Revolution, examine colonial era trade and commercial exchange, consider land and real estate speculation and Indigenous people’s land rights, and observe the ways we display wealth and status in our homes. Winning submissions from the 2023-2024 Trees for Suffield Photo Contest will be on display in the Visitor's Center.
This slow-paced walk will explore an 18th-century kitchen garden to show how plants that are considered invasive in a modern garden, and can usually be found growing as wildflowers, were once grown with care for their useful properties. Continue down the Old Road to Norwich into the Nathan Hale State Forest to comb the landscape for edible plant life.
New Englanders have always shown particular care for their dearly departed. Explore the burial customs, traditions, and superstitions around death in the region from colonial times through the 19th century with Dean Massey, an urban planning researcher at a university in Boston. Following Massey's talk, a short walk to the Warner Cemetery will offer participants the opportunity to closely examine epitaphs and iconography up close, as well as engage in a thoughtful discussion about the rich diversity of New England’s remembrance practices.
The Coventry Farmers’ Market on the grounds of the Nathan Hale Homestead is an experience not to be missed. This market carries the tradition of being the largest farmers’ market in the state, featuring some of the best of Connecticut-grown, Connecticut-made products in one of the most unspoiled countryside settings in the state. Each week, the staff of the Homestead will lead a family-friendly activity to connect the history of the site with the theme of the market. Admission to the Nathan Hale Homestead is by regular admission and is not included in the Farmers’ Market program.
Explore this beloved family home to learn about the booming industries and culture of Hartford in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, understand medical practice and public health at this time, and learn more about the Isham and Terry families through the items they owned.
Saying good-bye in the Victorian Era was a complicated process. Join this fact-based exploration of a Victorian wake presented in partnership with the researchers and performers at Escapism Productions.
The Coventry Farmers’ Market on the grounds of the Nathan Hale Homestead is an experience not to be missed. This market carries the tradition of being the largest farmers’ market in the state, featuring some of the best of Connecticut-grown, Connecticut-made products in one of the most unspoiled countryside settings in the state. Each week, the staff of the Homestead will lead a family-friendly activity to connect the history of the site with the theme of the market. Admission to the Nathan Hale Homestead is by regular admission and is not included in the Farmers’ Market program.
Immerse yourself in 18th century chocolate making during this lecture. Guests will be invited to enjoy samples of chocolate and hot cocoa. Like what you sampled? Chocolate bars will be available for sale in the Nathan Hale Homestead Gift Shop.
Toast the start of conservation work with the team working to stabilize the Réveillon wallpaper adorning the Phelps-Hatheway House. Enjoy exclusive access to the expertise of conservation scientists from Studio TKM Associates, who will explain and demonstrate their work caring for the papers. Attendees of this intimate gathering are invited to learn about the house and its residents while imagining the turbulence of the 1790s as two nations attempted to assert their independence—and their identities.