History Jubilee: Historical society celebrates 50 years
This article first appeared as the cover story in the June edition of Today Magazine, our monthly publication
By Nora O. Howard — Special to Today Magazine
• Nora Oakes Howard is Avon’s town historian
The Avon Historical Society was incorporated on January 2, 1974. Eighteen years later, in 1992, the board of trustees was at a crossroads, raising questions such as: “Should we give our historical society assets back to the town? Is there enough public interest to keep going?” The answer from the public, of course, was: “Yes, keep going.”
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
For 50 years, we have trusted the Avon Historical Society to preserve our town’s rich history. It fulfills its mission to identify, collect, preserve, utilize, publish, display and promote the history and heritage of Avon.
Achieving this mission has depended on the talents of hundreds of volunteers and professionals. This article celebrates how some of these individuals have contributed to the success of this beloved organization.
George Leger — the first of 16 historical society presidents — led the society through the 1976 bicentennial festivities and the 99-year lease of the 1865 Pine Grove Schoolhouse from the town of Avon. The Pine Grove District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Mary Harrop and Sharon Genovese spearheaded fun and fundraisers: fruit sales, antique shows, vintage clothing sales, the cow chip raffle, the pasta festa during Avon’s 175th birthday, and today’s TableScapes event at the North House. Stephanie Pratt ran miniature shows.
Marge Wills sewed a flag-themed quilt for a fundraising raffle. Kathleen MacDonald made the Avon history quilt still on display in the town selectman’s chambers.
Schoolhouse No. 3 was leased by the society from the town, moved from Country Club Road in West Avon to 8 East Main Street (Route 44) and opened as the Living Museum in 1982. Gladys August was a moving force in this effort. Many artifacts on view were loaned by Gladys and her husband Robert. Their family recently donated these precious items for permanent placement in the society’s collection.
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
“Avon, Connecticut: An Historical Story” — written in 1988 by Mary-Frances L. MacKie and a legion of local researchers — continues to be the go-to book on Avon’s history.
The Marian Hunter History Room at the Avon Free Public Library was dedicated in 1989. It was the bold vision of library director Virginia Vocelli and a joint project with the historical society. Today, Tina Panik — the library’s reference and adult services manager — and her mother Heddy Panik process and maintain the collections of the history room with professionalism and dedication, under the guidance of library director Glenn Grube. In addition to volunteering at the library, Heddy is on the society’s board of trustees.
In 1996 society board member Bill Stokesbury oversaw the 30-year lease of the Derrin House to the society. In 2011 the Governor’s Horse Guard barn was added to that lease. A few years later, Yankee Magazine honored Sally Garvin and Olive Russell and Anthony O’Neill for their history work.
Len Tolisano was among the board members recognized by the town of Avon for work on the Derrin House and service to the community. Leslie Mancini worked on gardens at the Derrin House and Living Museum.
Tracy Atkinson — a former executive director of the Wadsworth Atheneum — created a database of the society’s 600-plus artifact collection. Liz Neff photographed Connecticut barns for a project sponsored by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, now known as Preservation Connecticut.
Janet Conner worked on special projects, especially in the public schools. Norm Sondheimer supervised the historical banner project on poles along Route 10 and pop-up banners around Avon. Ethan Guo is directing the newly launched Avon Talks podcast program.
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
• SEO – Historical Society Celebrates 50 Years
Marvelous artifacts are at the Avon Historical Society headquarters and in the Marian Hunter History Room. These include a 1794 restored Avon wedding dress from the Wilcox family, diaries, 18th century letters, late 1800s and early 1900s glass-plate negatives of Avon scenes, Clinton Hadsell’s restored violin (circa 1890) and ephemera from the Anthony O’Neill and Carl Candels families.
Among the society’s many services to the public are the annual William Yandow Scholarship, through Avon’s Dollars for Scholars, awarded to a student planning to study history in college.
With great excitement, for the past four years, the society has sponsored the Unearthing History online Zoom lecture series, shedding light on the 2019 discovery along the Farmington River of thousands of Paleo-Indian artifacts.
The site is now known as the Brian D. Jones Paleo-Indian Site. Artifacts found buried there were radiocarbon-dated to 12,500 years ago, making the site the oldest known human-occupation site in southern New England. The thousands of artifacts and discoveries include strawberry seeds, a bead, a hearth, spear points and mastodon blood on a stone.
Marvelous artifacts are at the Avon Historical Society headquarters and in the Marian Hunter History Room
We are indebted to many entities for preserving and studying this site, including Rotha Contracting, the Federal Highway Administration, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the CT Historic Preservation Office, the town of Avon, the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot Tribal Nation, the Mohegan Tribe, the Office of State Archaeology, and Storrs-based Archaeological and Historical Services.
The Unearthing History series is jointly sponsored by the historical society, the Avon Library and the Avon Senior Center.
The society is a member of Preservation Connecticut, the Farmington Valley CT Heritage Network and the Avon-Canton Chamber of Commerce. And here this must conclude, having left out so much. The society’s website has a summary of milestones of the past 50 years.
The new Avon History Museum is coming soon — the soft opening is anticipated in late 2024, and the official grand opening is slated for the summer of 2025. The museum will be located in Schoolhouse No. 3 at 8 East Main Street (Route 44) — look for an upcoming feature story in Today Magazine.
Is there enough public interest to keep the Avon Historical Society going? That old 1992 question faintly lingers. Are you interested in Avon’s history? Are you a member of the Avon Historical Society yet? Membership is open to all.
Might you attend a program or tune in for a Zoom presentation? Volunteer to be a greeter at Pine Grove Schoolhouse or the Avon History Museum? Help set up for an event or a social? Create a tabletop at TableScapes? The opportunities — and fun — are endless. +
• Related News — Exclusive Q&A with AHS president Terri Wilson
What is the worst chapter in Avon's history — and the best? The longtime Avon Historical Society president offers her take on these and other burning questions •
Nora Howard began her tenure as Avon’s appointed and volunteer town historian in 2005 — she is also the historian of the Avon Congregational Church
She was the executive director of the Avon Historical Society from 2000 to 2005 — she first volunteered in 1974 by conducting oral history interviews
Howard has written three books: a photographic history titled “Avon” • “Catch’d on Fire: the Journals of Rufus Hawley” • “A Tale of Two Meetinghouses & Their Communities: 1746-2019” (with co-authors Jeannie Parker and Marjorie Bender)
• Avon Historical Society • P.O. Box 448 • Avon CT 06001 • 860-678-7621
• email – info@avonhistoricalsociety. org
• Facebook – @avonhistoricalsociety
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