Hidden Gems Of Connecticut

HARTFORD, CT — This week's Hidden Gem in the Nutmeg State takes us to the heart of Connecticut's capital and a monument to a monumental moment in history unveiled just a few days ago.

On Tuesday at the Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library, a reception took place to mark the completion of a suffragist sculpture created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment.

The work by Connecticut artist Marilyn Parkinson Thrall was funded by a $20,000 "Creation of New Work" award from the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation. Her creation is a three-dimensional dress depicting the popular design of early 19th-century suffragists. The base of the dress is encircled with period hats symbolic of women who ran for office in 1920 and the skirt is made of fabric and features reproductions of voter registration cards of the first women to register to vote in Hartford.

The Hartford History Center's award-winning "October 1920" exhibit examining the women’s suffrage movement in Hartford is also be on display. Central to the exhibit are scanned and digitized voter registration cards from that year that are among the Hartford History Center's collection. The cards provide a trove of demographic and biographic information about who came to the polls that year. The exhibit also includes photographs, advertisements, newspaper articles and other historic documents.

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Connecticut.

Columns in this series in 2022 include:

• Windsor Locks Canal Irish Workers Monument
• Utsav Indian Cuisine
• The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
• The Rein's Reuben
• Frontier Airlines at Bradley
• Munson's Chocolates
• Connecticut River Valley Wildlife Museum
• LobsterCraft
• Center Springs Park
• MLK Monuments
• The Connecticut Historical Society

Columns in this series from 2021 include:

• The First Decorated Christmas Tree
• Bolton Notch Trail Bridge
• Civil War Drum
• Civil War Powder Keg
• Mile 4, Manchester Road Race
• The West Hartford Armory
• The Capitol's Nooks and Crannies
• Wickham Park Aviary
• 55 West Main, New Britain
• Fox Hopyard Golf Course
• The Dodd Center For Human Rights at UConn
• Manchester Ropes Challenge Course
• 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm
• Fuego Picante Food Truck
• The Amistad
• 9/11 memorials
• Club Champion Golf Fitters
• New England Civil War Museum and Research Center
• Avery's Soda
• Salt 2.0 Restaurant
• The Grave of Jonathan, The Original Husky
• Golden Gavel Auction House
• Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut
• The Cogswell Temperance Fountain
• The Old State House
• BouNom Bakery
• Union Pond Park/Jay Howroyd Fitness Trail
• The Submarine Force Museum/USS Nautilus
• The UConn Dairy Bar
• Grove Hill Cemetery, Vernon
• Backwoods Smokin' BBQ
• The Ranch House
• Connecticut State Police Museum
• Berlin Historic District
• Connecticut Parachutists Skydiving Club
• Tail Winds Ice Cream Shop
• The MLK Mural
• The Hilltop Restaurant and Bar
• Fork & Fire
• Lena's Italian Kitchen
• The Benedict Arnold Trail
• Swank Pearce
• Vernon Depot Historic Park
• Farr's Sporting Goods
• Robs Drivin Diner