West Cheshire The Town Center of Cheshire, with its Town Hall and Church Green, sits upon a drumlin-like hill. At the base of the western side of that hill is the area called West Cheshire, a bustling place where canal boats took on cargo at a lively port called Beachport, from 1828-1848. Beachport Drawing Bo […]
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Indian Hemp Dogbane: A Local Plant With an Interesting History by Eric Nelson
Indian Hemp Dogbane (Apocynum cannibinum) is a plant species found in Cheshire that was used by Native Americans as medicine and as material for making thread, twine and rope. A. cannibinum is a native perennial 3-5 feet tall with paired oval to lance-shaped leaves 2-4 inches long and with terminal greenish-white 5-lobed bell-shaped flowers. Its long narrow […]
Cheshire Academy, founded in 1794
Bowden Hall, Cheshire Academy. Among the alumni who have attended Cheshire Academy are Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy in the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson), Joseph Wheeler (Confederate cavalry general during the Civil War), John Frederick Kensett (Hudson River School painter) and J.P. Morgan (financier).
Lock 12 Historical Park
Cheshire’s Lock 12 along the Farmington Canal. This is one of the few restored locks on the Canal, which was in existence from 1828-1848. The Canal ran from New Haven, Connecticut to Northampton, Massachusetts.
Cheshire’s South Main Street ca. 1909
A post card depicting Cheshire’s Main Street in the early days of the 20th century. Seen at left is the Russell Cook house, built ca. 1801.
FROM HONEY POT COUNTRY CLUB . . . TO CHESHIRE GOLF CLUB . . . TO CONDOS . . . Part I, the 1930s and 40s by Jeanné R. Chesanow
This article came into being thanks to e-mail queries and comments from Mark Perullo, who grew up in Cheshire and rode his bicycle through the abandoned course. Additional research by Diane Calabro, Mary Ellen Kania, Bob Larkin, and Beth Shutts. This article came into being thanks to e-mail queries and comments from Mark Perullo, who […]
BECKWITH’S ALMANAC Chronicling the Years by Robert J. Belletzkier
Among the projects at the Cheshire Historical Society is the cataloging of an extensive collection of almanacs dating back to the early 1800s. Preeminent within these prized holdings is a significant run of one by George Beckwith (1810-1880) of New Haven (photo below). Knowledgeable in phonography (shorthand), surveying, mathematics, astronomy, navigation, and civil engineering, Beckwith […]
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