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History of the Museum
1944 Main St.
at the corner of Main St. &
Hubbard St.
Admission is Free
Museum Hours:
Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 9 am - 4 pm
Third Sunday of the month 1-
4 pm

The building that serves as
our main museum was built
between 1839 and 1840 as the
Town House. It was built by
Parley Bidwell, who probably
designed it, as well. Mr.
Bidwell had built the
Methodist Church on High
Street about 2 years
earlier. We now know that
building as the South
Glastonbury Library.
The Museum is housed
in the first Town Hall built
in Glastonbury c. 1840,
and served for 100 years.
Before there was a
separation of Church and
State, the first Meeting
House stood on this spot and
served as both Church and
Town House.
It has been said that the
Museum’s building was built
of ballast bricks, possibly
from North Africa. Because
there was more than one
brickyard in Glastonbury,
this may be not be the case. The
adjacent cemetery is from
the
church. The first school was
also located on the Green.
Livestock grazed on the Town
Green and the Militia
practiced here. There was a
pig pound on the edge of the
Green, keeping pigs out of
the crops and preventing the
damage they did.
The exhibits cover the town
from its Native American
roots through European
settlement up to the early
20th century.
Featured displays include: Native
Americans, Colonial Era, the
famous Smith Sisters
(abolitionists &
suffragists), the Civil War,
Hale Farm, Industries such
as Shipbuilding, J. B.
Williams Soap Co., and
Harriman Motors who built
airplanes in the early 20th
century, and much more.
The
Museum also has a Library,
Genealogy dept., and
Curatorial department.
Click
Current Exhibits
to See Current Feature
There’s
been a lot happening at the
Museum on the Green.
We’ve
been busy working on a new
exhibit that will illustrate
Glastonbury’s participation
in World War I, World War
II, Korea, and Viet Nam.
Come and see how it grows,
as we work on it. If you
have a photo of plane
spotting tours on Tower
(Apple) Hill, or on top of
Naubuc School, we would love
it if you’d loan it to us
for scanning. Or, if you
have a plane spotter’s
silhouette chart, we’d love
a loan (or gift) of that, as
well. There is a spot in
the exhibit reserved for
it.
Glastonbury High School has
the oldest high school
Russian Language program in
the United States. It’s in
its 50th year.
To celebrate, the Board of
Education has curated an
exhibit of Russian
artifacts, collected during
those 50 years, at the
Museum.
Curatorial
(Lin Scarduzio)
The Historical Society of
Glastonbury has been
fortunate to receive many
gifts this year, as we have
in years past. Donating an
object to HSG is a way, not
only of preserving it, but
of sharing it with many
other people. When we
receive something, we
consider it in light of
displays already on view,
and displays that are
currently in the planning
stage. This past year, gifts
included:
• Shelf clock made c. 1830
by O&O House, Glastenbury –
Farmer’s Museum,
Cooperstown, NY
• Ski patch c. 1970 for J.B.
Williams Park ski tow –
Susan Motycka
• Cigar container – Janice
Franklin Glotzer
• Furnace shovel and a
cultivating hoe – Joe and
Fran Wright
• Framed resolution
appointing John H. Roser to
the Board of Directors of
Glastonbury Bank & Trust –
Nancy Roser Bestor
• White leather school hat -
Nancy Roser Bestor
• Twelve account book,
Roser’s Tannery - Nancy
Roser Bestor
• Two checkbooks, Roser’s
Tannery - Nancy Roser Bestor
• Bulldog pistol
manufactured in Curtisville
– Edward Blacha , Jr.
• German Bible belonging to
the Tenner family – John D.
Brewer
• Hay lifting fork from
Arbor Acres – Town of
Glastonbury
• Framed photograph of
Herman Roser & Sons, Inc. -
Nancy Roser Bestor
• Framed certificate of
appreciation to Herman Roser
& Sons, Inc. - Nancy Roser
Bestor
• Leather briefcase,
German-made - Nancy Roser
Bestor
• Mounted toy cannon –
Harold Buckingham, Jr.
• One pair women’s
Glastonbury runners (ice
skates) – Harold Buckingham,
Jr.
• Two stone arrowheads –
Harold Buckingham, Jr.
• Stone adz – Harold
Buckingham, Jr.
• Stone axe – Harold
Buckingham, Jr.
• Toilet bottle, J.B.
Williams’ Alpine Rose toilet
water – Barbara Therukauf
• Bill hook – Joseph
Sullivan
• Navy uniform, Seabees,
Viet Nam War – Brian
Hollister
• Black plastic ruler,
campaign “giveaway” for
Board of Education – Judy
Harper
• Milk bottle caps, A.E.
Moseley Dairy – James
Buckingham
• Child’s kindergarten desk
with drawer and attached
chair – Catherine Dorn
• Two wooden kindergarten
chairs – Catherine Dorn
• Wooden keg top from Scotts
Plastics, Glastonbury –
Walter K. Smith
• Wooden fertilizer spreader
– Sara M. & Charles K.
Barton
• Silver-plated teaspoon
celebrating Glastonbury,
1653 – Virginia H. Holland
• Soft cheese
server/spreader, silver
plate – Virginia H. Holland
• Set of 6 silver-plate nut
or meat picks – Virginia H.
Holland
• Leather buggy harness –
Joseph Sullivan
• Milk bottle cap, Wassuc
Farms – John Heagle
• Five stone arrowheads –
Frederick F. Bruening
• Bonnet top chest on chest
c. 1780 – Elizabeth Hale
Gorton Collier
SEE MORE INFO. BELOW
• Family register sampler –
Elizabeth Hale Gorton
Collier
• Framed photograph of young
woman – Elizabeth Hale
Gorton Collier
• Framed photograph of
J.H.Hale and daughter, Laura
(Hale Gorton) – Elizabeth
Hale Gorton Collier
• Many Hale family related
papers and notes – Elizabeth
Hale Gorton Collier
• Pennant commemorating
return of WWI soldiers to
Glastonbury – Robert
Ferrando
• Two pennants commemorating
Glastonbury Day, October 1,
1912 – Robert Ferrando
Hale Chest on Chest
(Jim Bennett)
For several years HSG’s
President Gil Tyler and I
have been in conversation
with Elizabeth Hale Gorton
Collier the granddaughter of
J.H. Hale the Peach King.
Elizabeth had a magnificent
Chest on Chest which
according to her, descended
directly through the Hale
family of Glastonbury. She
was a wonderful woman
interested in preserving
Glastonbury history having
lived here as a child in the
colonial house at 971 Main
Street across from the
Welles Shipman Ward house
(WSW). Before her passing on
December 9, 2011, she gifted
the Chest on Chest to HSG.
Currently, it is at the
Museum on the Green but will
move this spring to WSW as
per her request.
LOWER CASE: A
four drawer carcass rests on
molded edge frame with
shaped bracket feet. Four
long rectangular graduated
drawers with brass
Chippendale pulls and
escutcheons. On the side of
the bracket feet are 4 and a
half exposed dovetails. Each
foot has cyma curve shaping
up to a flat arched apron.
UPPER CASE:
Steep bonnet top cabinet has
broken arch with central
tympanum. Bonnet has curved
applied molding front with
applied lozenge shaped
dentils. Central plinth has
carved pinwheel. The hood
has a closed paneled roof
and back. Turned end finials
on block plinths with a
matching, shorter central
finial, which is doweled
into the central lobe of the
pediment just above the
carved pinwheel. Four long
rectangular graduated
drawers with brass
Chippendale pulls and
escutcheons. One central
drawer with double carved
fan and incised outline with
two smaller flanking drawer.
The drawer dividers have
exposed dovetails.
The drawers throughout have
half rounded sides and are
dovetailed. The drawer faces
are quarter rounded. Large
saw kerf marks are visible
on the pine drawer bottoms.
MATERIALS:
Cherry, poplar, eastern
white pine.
SIZE: Overall
measurements 80.5” tall x
39” wide x 19.5” deep. The
upper case is 19 x 46 x 39”,
lower case is 19 x 35 x 39”.
On the upper and lower case
of the back is carved
initials and apparent Social
Security numbers, early
20th. C.
ORIGIN: Most
likely Glastonbury
DATE: c. 1780
MAKER:
Unknown. Further research of
this object may provide an
attribution to the “Stratton
Group” or those objects
attributed to Isaac Tryon.
NOTABLE FEATURES:
-Square plinths and acorn
turned finials
-Steep Bonnet with molding
and dentils -similar Tryon
attributed highboy in the
Wadsworth Athenaeum.
-Double fans on carved
drawer face- associated with
Colchester and Tryon
objects. A double fan is a
small-2 inch- convex carved
fan around the pull on top
of the carved concave fan.
-Central pinwheel carving
-Dovetail through drawer
slides.
-Closed bonnet with roof
-Molding continued 6 inches
on the inside of bonnet hood
- Upper and lower case has
been refinished- possibly
c.1940.
-Side panels of drawers are
rounded |