News – Page 9 – New London County Historical Society

Captain Moses Rogers Gets His Due

Posted on November 1, 2010November 16, 2014 by stevemanuel

John Laurence Busch, author of the just-released book, Steam Coffin~Captain Moses Rogers and the Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier, will be the speaker at the 14 November, Second Sunday lecture for the New London County Historical Society. The presentation will be given at the event room of the Harbor Towers, 461 Bank Street, in New London.

New London native son Moses Rogers gained his lasting renown as the captain of the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, this work details how that amazing feat was achieved. Rogers was not only the captain, but the champion as well, of the idea that such a venture was even possible. National Maritime Day, recognizing the contributions of America’s merchant mariners, is declared by the President each year on 22 May, the anniversary of Rogers’s departure from Savannah, Georgia, on his voyage.

“The greatest obstacle to building an ocean-going steam vessel in 1818 was overcoming the predominant doubt as to how such a craft could prevail against the incalculable, unpredictable powers of Nature at sea.” Fulton’s first successful steamboat venture was created on the Hudson River only eleven years earlier. Building a craft with the strength to cross the ocean seemed foolhardy at best and wasting precious cargo space to store sufficient fuel for such a long voyage seemed folly. Wooden paddlewheels on the side of the ship, the only technology available at the time, made any such vessel vulnerable to heavy seas.

Rogers and his syndicate were able to face and overcome these difficulties and more. Rogers was the first to venture out of the safety of a river body with a steamboat and proved his abilities in Charleston and Savannah, Georgia. His partners were some of the first to try the new “corporate” business structure. And they found a buyer for the ship once it crossed the Atlantic.

Busch scoured archives and libraries from Savannah, Georgia, to Portland, Maine, in search of information for this 700 page volume. Some of his research was conducted at the New London County Historical Society and at Mystic Seaport.

This meeting of the Historical Society will be hosted by Anthony Silvestri, project manager of New London Harbour Towers, who remarked, “We are always looking for creative ways to collaborate with the community.” The program will begin at 3 PM; refreshments will be served. The program is free for members of the Historical Society and Harbor Tower residents; there is a $5 fee for others. Copies of the book are available for sale for $35 at the Shaw Mansion, and at the program.

For more information please call 860.443.1209 or email <edward at newlondonhistory.org>.

Thunderstorms

Posted on October 1, 2010April 26, 2019 by NLCHS

Thunderstorms

[Oct. 1754] Saturd 5 fair. I was about home all day fitting up Cask for Cyder. I Rid out to Crossman Lot to water the Cattle. Thundr & Lightning in the night & a Storm of wind & Rain.

“Thunder and lightning” are fairly common with rain storms in this part of New England all through the summer and into the fall, as they were in Hempstead’s time. What has changed is our perception of them.

Well into the eighteenth century, it was the thunder that was assumed to be the dangerous part of the combination. When you think about an age without our capabilities to measure the transmission of sound and light, this makes sense. If you have ever had a tree or pole near your house struck by lightning, you know that the noise of the thunder accompanying it is impressive—and simultaneous. Looked at objectively, it does appear that the thunder is more important, since no harm came earlier from clearly visible lightning.

In the earlier parts of the diary Hempstead refers a couple of times to damage done by thunder and lightning. When the meetinghouse was struck on August 31, 1735, he records “a Terable Clap of Thunder & Lightning Came Struck ye meeting house in Divers places. . .” By July of 1743 he had changed the order to record “the malocholy News of the Death of 2 Ladds by Lightning & Thunder & the horse. . .” And in June of 1745 he records a thunder and lightning storm and says “the Lightning Struck Mr Stewarts Windmill on Townhill & Shattered the Arms & Shafts & ye Toyle & Stares.”

Hempstead had an inquiring and rather scientific mind, but it is doubtful that he actually thought of lightning as causing damage separately from the thunder. Although he does not use it, the term “thunderbolt” was in common usage well in to the nineteenth century. And we still generally refer to “thunderstorms” even now that we know what part of the storm we really need to worry about.

Being a modern person (even if I haven’t yet mastered Facebook), when indexing the diary I indexed lightning but not thunder. I assumed, of course, that lightning had struck the meetinghouse, rather than the “Terable Clap of Thunder. . .” that Hempstead and his contemporaries knew had caused the damage and injuries.

Note: The first chapter of Richard Cullen Rath’s book, How Early America Sounded (Cornell University Press, 2003), addresses the perception of thunder in the seventeenth century, along with other noises of the natural soundscape.

October Second Sunday ~ Search for the Northwest Passage with Anthony Brandt

Posted on October 1, 2010April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

Search for the Northwest Passage with Anthony Brandt

Anthony Brandt, editor of the National Geographic Adventure series and author of The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage, will be the speaker at the 10 October, Second Sunday lecture for the New London County Historical Society. Brandt’s book, published earlier this year, is a spell-binding read of the 19th-century search for a Northwest Passage from Europe to the Pacific.

The search for the fabled Northwest Passage was primarily carried out by the British Navy in the period following the Napoleonic Wars at a time when they seemed to believe they were invincible. The discovery of an all-water route to the Pacific above Canada became a goal for nineteenth-century British explorers that was equivalent to the search for the Holy Grail. Today we know how futile that search was as the passage was non-existent because the waters north of Canada were essentially icebound all year long, at least at that time. That didn’t prevent a parade of British mariners from challenging the ice in that incredibly hostile environment.

This summer, a team of archaeologists from Parks Canada set out to find some of the explorers’ sunken ships. Almost miraculously, they found the 100 foot HMS Investigator fifteen minutes after they began using side-scanning sonar in the area where the ship was abandoned by explorer Robert McClure 155 years ago. Due to global warming the ice in the Arctic is receding; this summer, for the third time in the past four years, a Northwest Passage did exist. The search continues for Lord Franklin’s lost ships the Erebus and the Terror.

New London will always be connected to these stories through the rescue of the British navy ship HMS Resolute, discovered by Captain James Buddington and brought back to New London in 1855. It was the crew of the Resolute who saved McClure and his team in the Arctic. Although the Resolute too was abandoned in the Arctic, it floated free of the ice and drifted 1000 miles before it was found by Buddington in the Davis Straits.

You’ll meet all these people and these ships and more in Brandt’s presentation based on his book. In addition to several other books, Brandt has had a successful career in magazine journalism. He wrote for Esquire, American Heritage, The Atlantic, and many other magazines. A reception and book signing will follow his presentation. The program begins at 3pm at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London. It is free for members of the historical society; $5 admission is charged to those who are not members.

The Shaw Mansion, headquarters for Connecticut’s Navy during the American Revolution, has been the home of New London County Historical Society for over 100 years. Located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, it is near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets. For more information please call 860.443.1209 or go to www.newlondonhistory.org.

NLCHS Annual Meeting ~ 12 September

Posted on September 3, 2010April 26, 2019 by stevemanuel

The Debut of our New Classroom, plus:

Jane Perkins Revealed

Please join us for the 140th annual meeting of the New London County Historical Society which will be held at the Shaw Mansion Sunday 12 September beginning with an hors d’oeuvres and wine reception at 4 pm followed by the business meeting at 5:15.

Following the business meeting Jennifer Emerson and Penny Havard will share with members the process and the research that went into creating the “persona” of Miss Jane Perkins.

Let’s say that “someone” has an idea to create a new first-person interpretive program for a unique historic site, that will “bring to life” an actual individual who once lived at the historic site. How do you make the idea into reality? How do you construct a life from the past? How do you make your interpretation of that individual believable? How do you create the clothes that will evoke the past, and position this individual in a certain time and place with a particular social standing and point of view? How do you create a setting where this person from the past would have an opportunity to be in conversation with people from the present? Come find out.

The “Tea with Miss Perkins” program was recently featured at the Annual Conference of the Connecticut League of History Organizations. With the theme, “Bring on the Drama: Theater and Costumed Interpretation at Historic Sites,” more than 100 history practitioners were interested in finding out more.

Jennifer and Penny created two presentations for the conference that outlined the creation of Miss Perkins and the creation of the costuming for the production. For our annual meeting they will share their presentations with our members.

Starting from, “What do we really know about Jane Perkins?” Jennifer put in hours of research time — part detective, part playwright, part actor, Jennifer’s inspiration will be revealed.

Penny’s task was not so much mystery, but was daunting nonetheless; with her considerable knowledge of fashion from the period, how did she take what Jennifer found out, translate that information and create a dress and accessories that would help to tell the story? And a second dress for the maid … there’s a lot to this story.

Tickets $20 for members. Call today to make reservations: 860.443.1209.

Miss Perkins around 1864.

Jane and Ellinor 1876 [2010 really]

Rescheduled for the 29th — Turn Back the Clock ~ NLCHS Day at Dodd Stadium Features Vintage Base Ball

Posted on August 16, 2010April 25, 2019 by stevemanuel

Thames Base Ball Club Demonstation Fronts the CT Tigers Game

Due to Rain on the 22nd , This Event Rescheuled for

Sunday 29 August

New London County Historical Society “Turns Back the Clock” Day at Dodd Stadium

11:35 — 1861 Rules Demonstration Base Ball Game Thames Base Ball Club v. Columbia Base Ball Club

1:05 — CT Tigers v Broklyn Cyclones

After the game — Kids get to run the bases and play catch and receive a free ball from Dick’s Sporting Goods

Free Benedict Arnold bobblehead to the first 500 ticket holders

Game Tickets $8 available at the Shaw Mansion and at the gate.

Call 860.443.1209

See you there!

Secrets of a Locked Trunk ~ A Visit with Miss Perkins and Family

Posted on August 5, 2010April 26, 2019 by stevemanuel

Call today to get your tickets: 860.443.1209

Miss Perkins and some of her family members will present a “first-person interactive performance with tea” over the last two weekends in August. Tickets will be available for both Saturday and Sunday late afternoon performances on 21 and 22 August and 28 and 29 August. In a variation on the “Tea with Miss Perkins” theme, the performance will be presented using the house and gardens as the setting for our story, and tea and period-appropriate refreshments will follow.

The setting for our story is 1876. Miss Perkins and her niece, Elinor, have been rummaging through the attic of the family’s ancient house. They’ve found a small locked trunk which obviously once belonged to a member of the family, but what lies within? With Mother’s permission (and with her curiosity aroused as well) they are determined to find out.

In 1876, the Shaw Mansion was home to Mrs. Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, her son Nathaniel Shaw Perkins, Jr., her daughter Jane Perkins, her granddaughter Elinor, (daughter of Mary Perkins Griswold who died in 1863), and two servants. In 1907 Jane Perkins sold the house to the New London County Historical Society to be its permanent home; by placing the story thirty years before that event we return to the centennial year, a time when many Americans began to truly look back at what had been accomplished since we declared our independence. Visitors will have an opportunity to be transported back in time and will see how the concept of preserving history might be older that you think.

“Jane Perkins,” “Elinor,” and “Mrs. Perkins,” will be left behind during the tea service. Coming out of character, Jennifer, Lilly and Penny will be available to answer your questions from the 21st century. If you have had tea with “Miss Perkins” before we hope you’ll return for this new performance and for the opportunity to ask about dresses or recipes or Frances Caulkins, and learn of the amazing amount of research that backs up each performance.

Reservations can be made by calling the Shaw Mansion at 860.443.1209. Tickets prices are $15 for adults and $12 for children.