East Windsor Historical Society

During my first day of my adventure in the Windsor, CT area, I stopped by East Windsor Historical Society to look at their collection of buildings and related outdoor artifacts. This venue was not far away from the Connecticut Trolley Museum, which I had visited in the morning, and was a great companion visit. While the society was not open during my visit, it was easy to park and look at the well-preserved space, also known as Museums on the Green. (Falmouth Historical Society on Cape Cod, which I visited back in August 2024, similarly calls its venue Museum on the Green.)

A tiny white, red, and green building with a little front porch and a pair of green benches underneath its large windows. A tiny white building with a green door and a little porch A rusted old machine in a parking lot. In the background, a small white building with green trim.

The space is a collection of seven charming buildings and a foundation, now a picnic area. The oldest appears to be Osborn House, constructed in 1785 for Samuel Osborn, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and part of the Lexington Alarm according to his gravestone. Another occupant was Rev. Dr. Samuel Robbins Brown, who was born in the house in 1810 and became an expert on Chinese culture. He spent many years as the headmaster of a Protestant school in China. Most relevant to this post is a photograph on his Find a Grave profile, apparently depicting him with his wife and their four surviving children in front of the house during the late 1850s.

A stone slab carved with travel information A two-and-a-half story, wooden, Federal style house with tan paint and red trim. An unpainted wooden barn built in two main sections with a sign reading East Windsor Grange No. 94

Next door is East Windsor Academy, a two-story red brick Federal style building constructed in 1817 and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1998. This school was intended for boys from well-to-do local families; the modern public school system did not yet exist. Unlike modern private schools, which are typically nonprofits, this school was owned by a stock company. The building was rented by the town to be used as a public school by 1896, and students began attending a school at different buildings after the Hurricane of 1938. (It’s that hurricane again. Here is a list of all the times it has appeared on the blog.) The second floor became a museum in 1966. Soon after, smaller buildings were moved to this site. The Broad Brook Barber Shop arrived in 1967 and dates from the mid- to late 19th century, while the East Windsor District Probate Court was moved in 1984 and dates from the same time period. The nearby Farm Tool Museum is housed inside a building labeled East Windsor Grange No. 94, assembled in 1975 using materials sourced from a tobacco shed built around 1831. Barber Hill Schoolhouse was the latest addition, built in 1861 and moved to the museum in 2017.

Two-story red brick Federal style building with two white doors, one on either end A wooden sign painted bright colors with a little minuteman playing a drum in the middle A blue-painted metal sign giving a brief history of East Windsor, CT

Near the historical society are additional stops of historical interest. A metal plaque jointly erected by the Connecticut Historical Commission and the East Windsor Historical Society describes how East Windsor separated from Old Windsor in 1768. Forty-five minutemen responded to the Lexington Alarm at the start of the Revolution, meaning Samuel Osborn was in good company. The nearby church was built and expanded around the early 19th century. Its congregation was once called Fourth Ecclesiastical Society of Windsor or North Society, later called the First Church of East Windsor, and now called Scantic Church. The church is currently undergoing much needed external repairs, and its website no longer functions.

A whitewashed Federal style church with a clock tower plus bell tower near the front of the two-story main building, plus a one-story addition on the back. A whitewashed Federal style building with large chunks of clapboard missing and half-built scaffolding around the front. A green metal plaque affixed to a rock proclaiming the Site of Constitutional Oak

Across the street was a small plaque with a unique inscription: Site of Constitutional Oak. In 1818, the Constitution of Connecticut was updated by a committee of 168 men representing every municipality in the state. As a present to take home and share with their communities, each man received a baby oak tree, which was typically planted in front of the Congregational Church. Ironically, part of the new constitution was stating that the Congregational Church as a denomination was no longer the official religion of Connecticut. Many of the oak trees have since died, including the one for East Windsor. The plaque was added after another convention in 1901, which became a failed attempt to the 1818 constitution. The historical society erected the plaque in 1966, the year its museum was founded and a year after a new state constitution was approved in 1965.

Location: East Windsor, CT, USA