THE IMPORTANCE OF (LOCAL) HISTORY
Scoop
The building that houses the Hillsdale General Store was built in 1852. The original part of the Hillsdale House dates back to 1797. And the Closson farm’s ice house that gradually evolved into today’s Passiflora was almost certainly a 19th century structure. So it would be understandable if one assumed that the building nestled between the General Store and Passiflora – […]
Litchfield County’s Railroads
Connecticut, long known as the Land of Steady Habits, came late to the railroad craze that swept the country in the 19th century. In fact, neighboring states had to prompt Connecticut into its first railroad ventures. When completed, however, these lines provided both a much more efficient means for the industrial and agricultural products of Litchfield County to reach national […]
Passiflora Pentimento
-by the Hillsdale Historians
In November 2020 we wrote about the history of the Hillsdale Post Office in Post Office Pentimento. In painting, pentimento is defined as earlier images that have been changed or painted over and are no longer visible to the naked eye but still exist, under the surface, like ghosts.
Buildings also have these hidden elements and we are […]
Close to Home: Slavery in Columbia County
-by the Hillsdale Historians
Black History Month spurred us to investigate the institution of slavery in the Hudson Valley and, more specifically, Hillsdale. Like most Americans, we’ve been inclined to think of slavery as largely a Southern institution. But it was hugely important in the colonial North. From the earliest days of Dutch occupancy right up to the Civil War, much […]
