today (after chanda's swimming lesson) we traveled to "ye olde auncient towne" of wethersfield, connecticut. it was founded in 1634, 14 years after the landing of plymouth, by several puritans, two being john oldham and nathaniel foote. the wongunks were the native americans who had been living there at the time for centuries. wethersfield became the first permanent settlement by europeans in the new world.
in wethersfield, there are about 50 surviving houses build before the revolutionary war, and about 100 built by the time of the civil war. it resides north of hartford and alongside the connecticut river.
we had a picnic before exploring the town.
aunt kathy took us to the webb-deane-stevens museum. silas deane, a lawyer who had graduated from yale college, was a diplomat in france during the revolutionary war along with benjamin franklin. he signed the treaties of alliance and commerce that franklin negotiated with france and he lived in wethersfield from 1761 to 1780.
silas deane designed his house for entertaining. the front door opens into a spacious hallway with a staircase leading to a musician's gallery and a ballroom on the second floor. this is a small parlor off of the hallway, and i found it's intimacy charming and cozy. i'm sure it's smallness helped keep it warm in the winter!
this is the other side of the room with a pianoforte and music stand. silas deane had many step-children from his first wife's prior marriage and one child with her (mehitabel webb). she died early and he married elizabeth saltonstall evards from new london. she was the granddaughter of a former connecticut governor. i can easily imagine the family gathering for sing-a-longs and holiday parties.
the garden outside the deane house was beautiful and reflected what was grown in old-fashioned flower gardens of the early 20th century.
in may there are irises and peonies; in june there are many climbing roses; for july and august there are hollyhocks, phlox, delphiniums and daisies.
this time we had ice cream before biking around town!
the town is beautiful and i really enjoyed riding around.
afterwards, we met our friends (donna, bob, natasha and viktor), uncle warren, and cousin adam at one of our favorite summer places: harry's!!!
it's a summer tradition. we usually have onion rings, fries, clam strips and then ice cream cones or root beer floats. two servings of ice cream in one day! it must be summer . .
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