From The Archives Of Gunn Museum

WASHINGTON — Washington Senior Center will begin a series of coffee hour readings based on items in the archives of the Gunn Historical Museum this month. Programs will be the first Monday of each month starting at 10 am.

Staff from museum will read research papers from the museum’s archives, sharing photos, stories and reminiscing about Washington’s history.

The Monday, January 4 reading will feature an interesting paper called “A Sabbath in New England” by Henry Ward Beecher, published in The Independent, a religious weekly of New York City, in September 1862. Henry Ward Beecher was born in 1813 in Litchfield and died in 1887 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist and public speaker. He was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and a good friend of Frederick Gunn.

In this paper Beecher recounts his visit to the town of Washington. He discusses him impressions of the idyllic Washington Green, the typical Sunday proceedings at First Congregational Church, visiting his son at The Gunnery, and an impromptu wedding he officiated over in a house on the Green of a man going off to fight in the Civil War and his bride.

This event is free and open to the public. The Washington Senior Center is located in Bryan Hall Plaza, on Route 47 in the center of Washington Depot.

Call 860-868-7756 or visit GunnLibrary.org for more information.