Simeon Leete Day at Pelatiah Leete House, June 22, 2014,  10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Leete’s Island Road, Guilford, Connecticut

In recognition of Guilford’s 375th anniversary, the owners of the Pelatiah Leete House on Leete’s Island Road in Guilford would like to invite the public to attend a first annual Simeon Leete Day celebration, to be held at the historic house in which one of Guilford’s brave soldiers who fought in the Battle of Leete’s Island on June 18, 1781 lived, and in which he also died of his wounds, the following day.

Simeon Leete was the great-great-grandson of Guilford founder Governor William Leete, whose direct descendants continue to live on Leete’s Island and in other parts of Guilford to this day. The battle in which Simeon fought and died was one of the largest military engagements fought on Connecticut soil during the American Revolution, involving upwards of 250 fighters at its peak.

The house in which he lived and died is the only structure which was standing on the day of the battle that remains, and his gravestone is around the corner in the triangle of land at the intersection of Leete’s Island Road and Moose Hill Road. His home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And it will be open to the public for tours from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. along with docents from the “Early Guilford Days” public school program for Guilford 4th grade students on hand to answer questions about early Guilford history.

An inaugural “History Hike” will also be offered jointly under the auspices of the Guilford Land Conservation Trust and the Guilford Preservation Alliance’s Heritage Tourism Initiative to trace the route taken by refugees from the battle in 1781 up Moose Hill Road to safety in the Colonial Caves site in Westwoods, crossing lands still owned by the Leete family, as well as lands held in trust by the Guilford Land Conservation Trust.

A free will offering for the house tour, to benefit the “Early Guilford Days” program for the coming year, is requested—but not required– from participants in the day’s events.

Because public parking is virtually nonexistent in the vicinity of the house, visitors are strongly encouraged to use the free shuttle service, leaving from the Green in front of Town Hall, starting at 9:45 a.m. and running every 30 minutes thereafter. This service will be provided through the generosity of the town’s 375th Committee. Pre-registration is encouraged and can be arranged by calling (510) 841 2108 or by emailing [email protected].

An official Town 375th Committee event.

An article about the Civil War re-enactment and other events from the Guilford 375 program was published here in the New Haven Register. Read all about it!

Medad Stone Tavern Barn

The Guilford Preservation Alliance is proud to announce the recipients of the GPA Awards for 2014. The awards are given to recognize preservation, restoration, and/or historical scholarly work done by individuals, businesses, or organizations. The 2014 awards honor the preservation and restoration of three local barns; Jim Powers, the author of Saving the Farm; Megan Vanacore, the creator of local historic bus tours; and the Guilford Free Library for digitization of historic photographs.

Awards will be presented at the Guilford Friends of the Library and Guilford Preservation Alliance lecture on the Connecticut Barn Trail: “Connecticut’s Barns, an illustrated talk with Charlotte Hitchcock” on May 14^th at 7:00 p.m. at the Guilford Free Library. (See flyer). Charlotte Hitchcock is an architect and works as a researcher for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. Her talk will highlight several Guilford barns that are on the Trail.

The barns being recognized by the GPA this year are examples from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The oldest is the Auerbach/Schaeffer barn, built by Thomas Burgis in 1736 and restored in 2008. The second barn being honored is the Boughton barn, which is being recognized for its adaptive reuse as a music rehearsal and performance space. Built in 1854 and restored in 2013, the barn is sited on one of Guilford’s few remaining early 19^th century farmsteads. The third barn receiving an award for restoration is the Medad Stone Tavern barn. It was built in 1897, reusing materials from an earlier barn that was destroyed by fire. The restoration was completed in 2013.

GPA recognizes the work of several individuals, including the Guilford Free Library staff for creating the Digital Archive of the Edith B. Nettleton Historical Room Collection. Through their efforts, many fragile and historical documents are now available worldwide to anyone interested in Guilford history. In addition, GPA will honor Jim Powers, a Guilford High School teacher who wrote Saving the Farm, a book chronicling the efforts made to transform the Dudley Farm into a museum. He has been involved in the evolution of the museum, as well as educating students in local history. And finally, GPA acknowledges the contributions of GHS senior Megan Vanacore, who developed historic bus tours of our community as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award. Through her efforts, many people have explored Guilford’s heritage, and will continue to do so in the future.

This program is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the Guilford Preservation Alliance.

Please register online (www.guilfordfreelibrary.org) , by phone (203-453-8282), or in person.

The Guilford Preservation Alliance is excited to announce the completion of three new reports recently completed as part of its heritage tourism campaign. The first two reports, “An Assessment and Recommendations Report for Heritage Tourism Development in Guilford, Connecticut, May 2012,”  and “Guilford, Connecticut Heritage Tourism Strategic Plan: A Five-Year Plan for Heritage Tourism Development 2013-2018,” were written by Carolyn Brackett of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. [Read more…]