There have been several beautiful living tributes planted in memory of Woodbridge residents over the years. Here are some of these memorial trees:
Author: SheilaMc7
The Elderslie Preserve
Twenty years ago today a ceremony to dedicate the Elderslie Preserve on Peck Hill Road took place on the sunny afternoon of September 21, 2002. The mayor of the Village of Elderslie in west central Scotland was the guest of honor and spoke to a small crowd of celebrants. After the ceremony, a bagpiper lead the assembled from ‘Rose Ridge’…
Recent history: Have we been here before?
It sometimes seems as though we have collectively slipped through a time shifting portal when local news headlines bear an uncanny resemblance to those of 20 years or longer ago. But while we ponder the mysteries of the universe, let’s also seize the day by taking a stroll down memory lane to recap some (relatively recent) town history, shall we?
One good source for relatively recent history is the reporting found in newspaper articles from bygone days. In examining these snapshots in time we might have an opportunity for review and reflection:
- Have we been here before?
- What can we learn from history?
- How might an understanding of yesterday help us think about today and plan for tomorrow?
May 2002 – ‘Voters say no to Amity’
As the month of May unfolds in 2002, a series of misadventures (in the form of failed referenda) befall the embattled Amity Board of Education as it seeks voter approval for its proposed 2002-03 operating budget.
Click the ‘Read more’ link below for week-by-week details…
The FitzGerald Property
What can be said of the history of this beautiful parcel situated in the center of Woodbridge? The Town acquired the 131 acres, located at 100 Center Road, “after a vote of approval at a Special Town Meeting, held on January 29, 1973. This property was purchased for $655,000 by the Town through an Executor’s deed from The Connecticut Bank…
War Service Records
The Families of Ancient New Haven, by Donald Lines Jacobus, contains a thoughtful collection of service records that includes many of the men who were members of the Society of Amity in what is now the towns of Woodbridge and Bethany. Let’s take a look at one interesting example… Captain Benedict Arnold’s 2nd Company of the Governor’s Foot Guards on…
The Beecher Family in America… and Woodbridge
What do we know about the origins of the Beecher family in America, and how do the Beechers who lived in long ago days here in Woodbridge connect to the more famous members of this family? The noted Presbyterian minister and social reformer Lyman Beecher (born 1775 in New Haven, CT and died 1863 in Brooklyn, NY) is buried in…
Poisoned Drinking Water Traced to Woodbridge Lake: The Sixty Typhoid Cases of 1901
The quality of our public drinking water has long been of consequence in Woodbridge. What happens on the watershed land of our town has health impacts down stream. Indeed, in late winter and early spring of 1901, the Journal Courier newspaper carried an alarming headline on page one: THE SIXTY TYPHOID CASES …Up to five o’clock yesterday afternoon the recorded number…
A Civil War Story: Correspondence from a Nephew to His Aunt in the wake of the Fall of Richmond
Town Records of Woodbidge, Connecticut Civil War correspondence from the Ralph Chester Smith family papers (donated by Ann Electa Smith Cassidy) Letter to Francis Castle Bradley (wife of soldier Isaac Bradley) from her nephew Dwight A. Sperry Jordan April 4, 1865 My dear Aunt Francis, I received your letter to night and hasten to answer it. I am very sorry…
A Civil War Story: Correspondence Between a Woodbridge Brother and Sister
Town Records of Woodbidge, Connecticut Civil War correspondence from the Ralph Chester Smith family papers (donated by Ann Electa Smith Cassidy) Letter from Isaac Bradley to his sister Althea Bradley Clark