The Sampler
March 1, 2026
By John Mills In the 1640s, John Griffin arrived in the Connecticut Colony and settled in Windsor, where he practiced the craft of making tar and pitch for waterproofing ships. His work soon encroached on […]
December 1, 2025
By Martin Kivell On a freezing January night in 1843, Stamford citizens witnessed a brazen kidnapping. Heiress Martha Blackwell Miller, 25, was dragged from her room at the Stage House hotel by her husband, Charles […]
September 1, 2025
By Elizabeth Ellenwood A vast world of layers and dimensions, the ocean makes up more than 70 percent of our planet, yet most of it goes unseen by human […]
June 1, 2025
By A. J. Schenkman Evergreen Cemetery was established nearly 180 years ago in New Haven, Connecticut. Like other cemeteries from its era, it boasts parklike surroundings. Many notable individuals are interred across its 85 acres, […]
March 1, 2025
By Stacey Close In 1971, Benjamin Foster Jr. received his undergraduate degree in sociology from Trinity College in Hartford. Though African American students had attended Trinity, Connecticut’s second oldest institution of higher education, before […]
December 1, 2024
By Arianna Basche Labor activist Cesar Chavez first visited Connecticut in 1969 on the northeastern leg of his national speaking tour. He addressed an audience of labor leaders and clergy at the Hartford Seminary […]
August 31, 2024
Subscribe By Amrys O. Williams Walking home along South Main Street in Middletown many years ago, I noticed writing in the sidewalk ahead. When these patches had been laid, someone had written messages in […]
May 31, 2024
VOLUME 22/NUMBER 3/SUMMER 2024 Connecticut Explored By David J. Naumec After more than 385 years, the Pequot War (1636–1638) remains one of the most controversial events in American history. It forever changed Connecticut’s […]
December 2, 2023
By Andy King In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ivoryton laborers spent their days at factories owned by Comstock, Cheney & Company, and Pratt, Read & Company, cutting wood, bleaching ivory, and assembling piano […]
September 1, 2023
By Sarah J. Morin Court records are a treasure trove of information. People from all rungs of society have appeared in court throughout history, and a court case may be the only documented record of […]
June 1, 2023
(c) Connecticut Explored, Summer, 2023 By Karen Ali Subscribe/Buy the Issue! (c) Summer 2023 In 1955 residents of Puerto Rico began coming to Windham looking for a better way of life. Word started spreading of […]
March 3, 2023
(c) Connecticut Explored Inc., Spring 2023 Subscribe/Buy the Issue! This issue of Connecticut Explored is all about the power of place. Writers tell the stories of places that have shaped the history of our state. Connecticut […]
December 1, 2022
By Tom Schuch and Curtis K. Goodwin (c) Connecticut Explored Inc., Winter 2022-23 Subscribe/Buy the Issue! The New London Black Heritage Trail was officially unveiled on October 8, 2021, the result of a year-long collaborative […]
August 26, 2022
By Ben Gammell (c) Connecticut Explored Inc., Fall 2022 Subscribe/Buy the Issue! On January 13, 1771, Mary Fish Noyes, a 34-year-old widow and mother, wrote in her diary about the weather. “So stormy I could […]