Tours are available year-round by appointment. They can be made by calling Museum Director Celeste Senechal at 860-871-2575. The museum season runs from Memorial Day thru the month of September. During the season, the Museum is open 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. The Museum is not open on holiday weekends.
The museum will also be open on Sunday, May 28 from noon to 3 p.m. to coincide with the town’s Memorial Day Parade, which begins at 1 p.m. along the Tolland Green.
ABOUT THE COURT HOUSE
The Court House was built in 1822 and used for the purpose until about 1890. The
second-floor courtroom museum regular exhibits feature the growth of the town when it was the seat of Tolland County.
Early civic buildings are rare in Connecticut, and this beautiful 1822 courthouse has been called one of the five most important remaining examples. It replaced an earlier building built in 1785 to satisfy the requirement of the state that the town must provide a courthouse and “gaol” in order to be designated as the Tolland County Seat.
All courts in Tolland County were held here until about 1890, when they relocated to the new Memorial Building in Rockville. In 1899, a library opened on the first floor, the town’s public library until 1985, when it moved to the newly renovated Hicks Municipal Center.
The building was given to the Historical Society by the Tolland Public Library Association in 2001, becoming the Society’s third museum.
The second floor, with its cove ceiling and beautiful Palla
dian window, has been returned to working courtroom appearance. The back of the courtroom and the upstairs hallway contain exhibits related to the history of the building and the effects the presence of courts and jail on the growth of the town and its institutions.
The first floor is occupied by the French Canadian Genealogical Society as a library.
Group tours can be arranged, and may be combined with Jail tour.
French Canadian Genealogical Society
Located on the first floor of the court house, the research library houses records pertaining to baptisms, marriages and burial dating back to the early 1600s. Due to the careful record keeping of the French Canadians, your chances of finding a record about your ancestor are often better than for an American one.
For more information visit website at: www.fcgsc.org
