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Box 212 Monroe, CT 06468
March, 2000 Newsletter Dan Cruzon, a resident of Newtown and a teacher at Barlow High School, will speak about his archeological digs in Putnam State Park on April 9 at 2:00 p.m. at the Meetinghouse on East Village/Barn Hill Roads. Mr. Cruzon led a team of volunteers who uncovered relatively undisturbed areas in Putnam Park where the Continental Army was encamped during the winter of 1778-79. With the reopening of Putnam Park after being closed by the state for seven years came a general cleaning out of dense overgrowth that covered and obscured some of the enlisted men's hut remains in the preserved area of the Putnam encampment of 1778-79 which the park commemorates. These remains had avoided the landscaping which characterized most of the rest of the hut remains and showed promise of allowing an archaeological investigation of an undisturbed hut site, something that had not been possible for the two previous excavations in the park. In the spring of 1998, plans were made for that excavation and permission was sought from the Department of Environmental Protection. While those plans were being put together, a here-to-fore unknown eyewitness account of the encampment was found in a Pennsylvania archive. This account contained a good description of the encampment and of the nature of the huts that were built and lived in during that harsh winter. Thus during the fall months of 1998, an excavations team composed of students from the Joel Barlow High School Anthropology classes and members of the Friends and Neighbors of Putnam Park, uncovered the remains of an undisturbed hut and confirmed the description of our eye witness. The excavations also gave us some surprising new information on the life styles of those who wintered there and on the general layout of the camp. Mr. Cruzon is on the faculty of Joel Barlow High School where he teaches courses in anthropology and local history. His abiding interest in these fields has led him to do extensive research and writing on the history of the towns of central Fairfield County including Easton, Redding, and Newtown as well as conducting several archaeological investigations in these towns in an attempt to learn more about the lifestyles of their past citizens, both historic and prehistoric. His attempts to acquire more information about the early history and culture of this area has also led him to investigate deeply the subjects of rural slavery, vintage photography, early Connecticut architecture, colonial and post-colonial road building, and early cemeteries and their grave markers. Mr. Cruzon has published several books including The Prehistory of Fairfield County, Newtown's Slaves: A Case Study in Early Connecticut Rural Black History, and most recently Newtown in the Images of America series. The Monroe Historical Society has been awarded an SNET Links to Learning Museums for the Millennium Grant. This is a $1000 grant to be used for technical assistance on our web site. SNET offered seed grants of $1,000 to each of the states historical organizations and museums to connect to the Internet and design and register a Web Page. SNETs President and CEO, Forrest Miller said, Connecticuts heritage will be available at our finger tips, connecting people to their past as we move forward into a new century. . One-day Spring Session We will be holding a one-day session of our Hands-on-History workshop on Saturday, April 15 from 9:30 a.m.12:00 p.m. at the Beardsley House for children in 3rd through 6th grades. The featured activity will be dyeing and decorating Easter Eggs using natural dyes and traditional folk art methods of decoration. The fee is $20.00 per child plus a $5.00 materials fee. Each child will have several completed items to take home. Call Judy Standerford, 268-5511, to register. Because of the snow days, we have not been able to set a definite date yet for our summer Hands-On-History workshop. If you would like to reserve a space, please call. We will notify you know as soon as the date is set Carrousel type slide projector .Please call Historic Society at 261-1383 to arrange for pickup or drop-off. We have received the following articles from Douglas G. Johnson of Orange, Ct. 1. A phaeton pony wagon along with a chassis jack and wheel removal tools. It is in good condition , estimated to be about 90 years old and on display at the Beardsley Homestead. 2. A winnowing mill, circa 1850 sometimes referred to as a fanning mill. The function of the mill is to separate the chafe from the grain using the fan portion of the mill .The heavier grain would fall through the sieve or screen. 3. A threshing flail used to separate seeds from husks. 4. A corn sheller, estimated to be from approximately early 1900. All of the equipment is in very good condition and part of the growing agriculture display at the Beardsley Homestead. We received a pedestal grinder circa 1920 from Don Henschel of Shelton, Ct. It is the type of grinder that would be used to sharpen implements, knives , tools etc. and is in very good condition. It will be used to complement the agriculture display at the Beardsley Homestead. The renovation of the Keeping Room has been completed during the month of January. Some of the changes include a new entry door for the rear of the building donated by Ed Coffey and chestnut floor boards donated by Bob Gondar. The exterior rear wall has been insulated and new plaster applied.. New window trims and minor work to interior doors was also done. Painting and decorating has yet to be completed by the Society volunteers. We are using this room as our monthly meeting room and find it warm and comfortable with these new updates. Some of our collection will move to this location as soon as we find a suitable security system. The Beardsley House is in need of exterior painting for the windows and trim portions of the house. If there is any interest from individuals or Civic groups, please contact Bob Gondar at 452-0505. |
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