Work Day at the King House Museum & Barn
All that can help are welcome. Work gloves would be helpful.
Opening Day at the King House Museum & Barn
Free tour of the house and barn. All are welcome!
Open every Wednesday and Saturday until September 27, 2025
Antiques Appraisal Day
Get your favorite pieces appraised. Certified appraisers will be on site.
$5 appraisal donation to the Suffield Historical Society per item.
Free tours available.
📍 King House Barn
Plein Air Painting Class
Presented by Lynda Montefusco, artist and teacher
Rain date: Sunday, May 18, 2025
For experienced beginners to advanced Plein Air painters. Teacher will provide an oil palette upon request. Students will provide a canvas (11x14 or 12x16), easel, chair, table, paint brushes, sunscreen, water, etc. Limited enrollment.
Cost: $75. Payment or notification that payment is forthcoming is due on May 1, 2025.
Send notification to Jackie Hemond at jives98@hotmail.com
Pay check to: The Suffield Historical Society
Send to:
The Suffield Historical Society
Plein Air Class
PO Box 893
Suffield, CT 06078
📍 King House Grounds
Doctor of Note: Mason Fitch Cogswell
Presented by Christine Ritok, Curator
Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell (1761-1830), a physician born in Connecticut, who spent most of his career in Hartford County, is best known today as one of the founders of the American School for the Deaf. He helped his friend, renowned American portrait painter, Ralph Earl (1751-1801), avoid debtors’ prison by serving as his court-appointed guardian, making possible Earl’s series of extraordinary portraits of prominent Connecticut citizens. Cogswell also pioneered cataract surgery in the United States, and was the first American doctor to successfully tie a carotid artery. But it is his daily life as a practicing physician, as documented in his day books in the collection of the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History, that best shed light on the practice of medicine in New England at the end of the 18th and in the early 19th century. The content of these day books and what they reveal about daily life will be the focus of this talk.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
Trustee Annual Meeting
The annual meeting starts at 7:00pm, followed by the Seeking Justice program at 7:30pm.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
Seeking Justice: Freedom Suits of Flora’s Descendants
Presented by Daniel Thorp, Professor Virginia Tech, Author
Annual Meeting at 7:00 p.m. • Program starts at 7:30 p.m.
Flora was an enslaved woman living in Suffield, Connecticut, who in 1781 ran away to be with her husband in Massachusetts. Her owner recaptured Flora and sold her. She spent the rest of her life enslaved in Virginia. 60 years after her mother’s second enslavement, Unis, Flora’s daughter and other family members sued for their freedom. It was the longest-running freedom suit in Virginia history.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
💻 Zoom details to come
Ice Cream Social
Pack family, lawn chairs and picnic supper. Enjoy ice cream and music.
Rain date: Thursday, July 10
📍 King House Lawn
Cesar Negro: A Patriot on the Veterans Memorial
Bill Sullivan’s American Studies Class, Suffield Academy
The class will present their discoveries of Cesar Negro, a Revolutionary War soldier, whose name is inscribed on the Suffield Veterans Memorial.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
Poultices, Decoctions & Infusions: A Look at 19th-Century Cures
Presented by Dennis Picard, Historian
When trained medical practioners were scarce, feared and expensive, Americans trusted general store cure-alls: nostrums and elixirs to cure everything from headaches to cholera and cancer. Come hear some stories of popular nostrums.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
💻 Join meeting via Zoom
Meeting ID: 393 795 0693 | Passcode: History
18th-Century Chocolate
Presented by Robert Lecce, Pewter Pot Fine Spiced Chocolates
Immerse yourself in 18th-century chocolate making during this lecture and demonstration. Samples of chocolate and hot cocoa. Chocolates available for purchase. Limited registrations.
Registration required: Please email rsvphistory@gmail.com
📍 In-person only • Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
Hudson River School Painters
Presented by Jan Beatty, Wadsworth Atheneum
Beatty will talk about the Hudson River School with a focus on Frederic Church, who grew up in Hartford, and his teacher Thomas Cole. The Wadsworth owns several of their paintings.
Polish Holidayfest (Festyn Swiateczny)
Saturday and Sunday, 11am – 4pm
Polish folk art and treats are at Holidayfest this year.
Polish items are needed to loan for the exhibit. Please bring Wednesdays, 10 a.m. - noon, until November 27 or call Sara Zak 860-668-7194.
📍 King House Museum
Kolędy Concert
Sponsored by Suffield Polish Heritage Society. Arranged by Jim Turek.
Come sing along to traditional Polish Christmas Carols.
📍 Sacred Heart Church, 446 Mountain Rd. Suffield, CT
Native American Show and Tell Event
Bill Sullivan and Jason Cromack will host a Native American history topic evening for Suffield residents to discuss and share a Native American history subjects related to our town and region. Jason will update the Society about a recent donation of Suffield.
Artifacts gifted to us through the Windsor Tobacco Museum. Bill will highlight Robert C. Stewart’s text, A Cultural History of the Agawam Indians, 1988. Bob Stewart was a trustee of the Suffield Historical Society who recently passed away.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
💻 Join meeting via Zoom
Walk in the Woods with Jason Cromack and Bill Sullivan
Leading up to Wednesday, November 13th 7:30pm program, Jason and Bill will lead a walk into the eastern woods of Suffield Academy’s campus from 12:00pm-1:15pm on Saturday, November 9th. Those eager to hike and dig a few test pits for artifacts should gather shortly before noon on Saturday in the Second Baptist Church parking lot. Hikers should take presentations to protect themselves against ticks and wear appropriate shoes.
📍 Second Baptist Church parking lot
Halloween Candy Give-Away
Join us in costume on the porch to enjoy the camaraderie and the treats.
📍 King House Museum Porch
Work Day at the King House Museum & Barn
All that can help are welcome. Work gloves would be helpful.
Lunch provided
Early Polish Leaders in Suffield
Presented by Sara Zak
A focus on the influential and successful Polish immigrants affiliated with the St. Joseph Society
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
Old Center Cemetery Tour
The walk is historical, not scary and not for young children. Older children and adults are welcome.
WALK-INS WELCOME!
$5/person fee
📍 Old Center Cemetery, behind the First Congregational Church
Powder Hollow Explosion of 1913
Presented by author Peter Sorenson. Learn the story of the rise and fall of the Hazard Powder Company, one of the largest gunpowder manufacturing facilities in the country in the 1800s. Book available for purchase.
📍 Suffield Volunteer Ambulance, 205 Bridge Street
💻 Join meeting via Zoom
Estate & Barn Sale
Join us for an estate and barn sale at the King House Museum & Barn!
Suffield on the Green
Check out our booth at the annual Suffield on the Green event!
📍 Main Street, Suffield
Ice Cream Social
Bring family and friends. Pack a picnic and lawn chairs to enjoy an old-fashioned ice cream social. Ice cream and entertainment provided by SHS. Supply your appetite for ice cream and fun!
Rain date: Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Doors of Suffield
Using historic photographs from Delphina Clark’s collection, Art Sikes, Jr., will explore Suffield history and architecture through its historic doors. Join us to explore innovative and interesting designs of Suffield’s past.
📍 Second Baptist Church
💻 Join meeting via Zoom
The program will start at approximately 7:30pm, after the Annual Meeting
Hidden Hands: The Craftsmen Behind the Shops of Aaron Chapin and Aaron Colton
Presented by Curator Christine Ritok and Kevin G. Ferrigno
Recent research has documented previously unknown identities of laborers, products, and business practices of two well-known proprietors of successful furniture-making shops in Hartford. This helps us better understand how these shops, run by first cousins, were able to remain in existence for decades while skilled competitors’ businesses failed.
📍 Second Baptist Church and via Zoom
💻 Join meeting via Zoom
Celebration of Local Farms and Craftspeople
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED and will not be taking place on May 4th. A new date will be determined shortly. Thank you for understanding!
Local farmers and crafts demonstrations outside the King House Museum.
Opening Day at the King House
Free tour of the house and barn. All are welcome!
Open Wednesdays and Saturdays until September 28.
Bill Sullivan’s American Studies Class: Old Center Cemetery
The Suffield Academy American Studies students will present the history of the Old Center Cemetery. If you have any information about this historical cemetery that you would like to share, please email Bill Sullivan at bsullivan@suffieldacademy.org
📍 Second Baptist Church
💻 Join Zoom meeting
Work Day at the King House & Barn
All that can help are welcome. Work gloves would be helpful. Rain date: Saturday, April 20.
Show and Tell
Sign up for a five-to-ten minutes presentation on any aspect of local history. Anecdotes about local characters, folklore, artifacts or photographs are most welcome.
Contact Jackie Hemond (jives98@hotmail.com or 860-539-7367) by March 10 to sign up.
📍 Second Baptist Church and via Zoom
Suffield Trivia Night
Can you correctly answer 30 questions about Suffield? Compete with prizes. Individuals and teams are welcome.
📍 Second Baptist Church and via Zoom