Wilson H. Faude. Hidden History of Connecticut. History Press, 2010.

Hidden History of Connecticut is for Connecticut residents and those who are visiting the state. While each short chapter describes a historically significant event or person, each includes some location or landmark that the reader can visit. In most cases, these places are not well known, even to the average resident of the state.

The landmarks include some historical houses and buildings. Many chapters deal with artists who lived or settled in Connecticut such as Frederic Church or the “Harvard Five” architects. You will not find the Mystic Seaport or any university museum here. There are, however, descriptions of the New Britain Museum of American Art—the first museum in the country dedicated just to American artists—and the Florence Griswold Museum which housed a large artists’ colony a hundred years ago.

We also learn of certain significant historical events. Most people in the state are aware that Connecticut, when it was a colony, had the first written constitution of any government in the world. Here we learn a little more about it and especially the famous, if legendary, story of the Charter Oak.

The meeting in Connecticut in 1780 between American and French military leaders including Washington and Rochambeau would lead to the success of the Revolution a year later. The author believes this would have led to annual celebrations and re-enactments in many places, but Connecticut tends to be low-key. So it is with the house of Oliver Ellsworth in Windsor who proposed the Connecticut Compromise which saved the American Constitution.

An easily-overlooked set of plaques commemorates the Washington-Rochambeau event. That is all. An even easier-to-miss plaque notes a meeting in 1976 between William Buckley and Ronald Reagan that gave some direction to Reagan’s eventual successful presidency as well as some direction for Ronald, Jr., in pursuing ballet.

While some historical places are known for festive Christmas celebrations, Hidden History of Connecticut tells of at least four places that have interesting Christmas presentations of one kind or another that are often overlooked. This includes the Butler-McCook and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses and the Boar’s Head Festival, all in Hartford, and the Hill-Stead House in Farmington.

There are many more gems and touching stories. Some perhaps more trivial than others, but all noting historical curiosities and interesting places to visit in the Nutmeg State.