Town historian Joel Helander, Guilford Preservation Alliance President Shirley Girioni, and Guilford Keeping Society President Winnie Seibert in front of the Thomas Griswold House.

Letter to the GPA from Grace Zimmer, President of Hyland House:

We are very excited to share the news that the Guilford Preservation Alliance is awarding $7000 in grants to support the recent dendrochronologystudy done at the Hyland House and to fund studies at the Guilford Keeping Society’s Thomas Griswold House and at Guilford’s “Pest House.”

For those of us who cherish Guilford’s rich history, it was thrilling to learn that when Guilford’s  school children celebrate Early Guilford Days at the Hyland House, they are experiencing hands-on history in a house built in 1713 out of trees that had been growing since 1492. Not many towns can boast such a deep history!

Now the scientists at the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory will be turning their attention to one of the first houses built by the Griswolds in this area and to what may be the last remaining “pest house” in the United States.  You can read more about these two houses and the upcoming study here.

We are very grateful to the Guilford Preservation Alliance  for their support.

Regards,
Grace Zimmer
Hyland House President

Photo by Ellen Ebert

Where to go, what to see, where to shop, where to eat? Visitors and residents no longer need ask these questions about Guilford. The answers are keystrokes away (visitguilfordct.com) at the Visitor Information Kiosk and on their home computers and other devices, thanks to three years of work by the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA).

The kiosk, which goes live on Friday, Sept. 18, offers residents and tourists a new electronic resource to learn nearly everything they want to know about Guilford, from its historic museums, arts, and recreation to local shopping and dining. Using its events calendar, visitors can find out months in advance what there is to see and do in town and plan accordingly. [Read more…]

The Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2015 GPA awards given to individuals and groups that have demonstrated a commitment to preserve and protect the built and the natural heritage of Guilford.

This year, the GPA recognizes the work done on several buildings in town. Jonathan Wuerth, a general contractor and master builder, will receive an award for his work in restoring and and preserving many homes and barns along the shoreline and for his work in saving buildings slated for demolition. In addition, Eamon Roche and Sarah Blanton will receive an Award of Merit for restoration of their home on Broad St., and Terry Wall, for work on his North Guilford barn built around 1783.

GPA will also honor the work done by the Guilford Garden Club for the creation of a park surrounding the Rollin Woodruff homestead, and the 375th Anniversary Celebration Committee for providing events, activities, and programs that focused on the town’s heritage. One of the programs was the Civil War Reenactment, and GPA recognizes Edie Brown for her part in planning and carrying out this event, and Tracy Tomaselli, for her genealogical research on the soldiers who fought from Guilford in the Civil War. [Read more…]

From left, Carl Balestracci, Jr., Ellen Ebert, Andrew Page, Shirley Girioni, and Katherine Frydenborg. Photo by Jack Kramer/The Courier

In the Fall of 2014 the Guilford Preservation Alliance plans to begin making historical plaques for businesses around the Green, each one giving a short history of the building. The first plaque was recently placed on the outside of Page Hardware & Appliance Co. Articles about this event have appeared in the Guilford Courier and the New Haven Register.

Ten new plaques will soon adorn commercial and civic buildings on the Green, as part of a joint project of the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA) and the Guilford Keeping Society to celebrate the town’s history. These first ten plaques are the pilot of a project to put plaques on many of the buildings around the Green and part of the continuing celebration of Guilford’s 375th anniversary. As plaques are designed, additional information and photos about each building will also be found on the GPA website, www.guilfordpreservation.org, under the heading “Historical Plaques.”

The first plaques are being funded by the Schmitt Fund of the GPA, a fund started by Dede Schmitt in memory of his late wife, Marjorie, a founding member and the first president of the GPA. The plaques are also a thank you to the many businesses and organizations who contribute to the wellbeing of the town.

For information about obtaining a plaque, contact Ellen Ebert at [email protected] or 203-453-6353.

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.