The Tolland Historical Society will host a talk on Sunday, June 4 at 2 p.m. by local resident Richard N. Symonds, Jr. on “Tolland’s Water-Powered Mill Sites.”

     The talk will be held in the shed area at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green.
     Symonds is the author of the history booklet, “Lost Mill Sites in Tolland, Connecticut.”

     He will be describing the 18 local historic mill sites and related businesses that used water power. Symonds has based his descriptions in the book on readily available historical materials and inspections of the old mill sites.

     The talk is free, but donations to support the Tolland Historical Society are always welcome.  

Calling all Tolland 7th through 12th graders: would you like to learn all aspects of a working museum, how to accession historic artifacts, design displays and even give tours to the public of the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum?

You can do so by joining the Tolland Historical Society’s Student Intern Program.

Interns also participate in Sunday events and conduct research on Tolland history. They earn community services hours and a reference letter.

Interns can make their own schedule and will receive an orientation and training. They volunteer three to six hours a week, either Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon and/or Sundays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

It’s fun!

Interested students and their parents can contact Museum Director Kathy Bach at 860-872-7716 or by email at kwbach@gmail.com.

Three of the Tolland Historical Society’s museums on the Tolland Green will be open Sunday, May 28 for visiting before and after the Tolland Memorial Day Parade.

Drop in to the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green from noon to 3 p.m.; the Old Tolland County Court House Museum at 53 Tolland Green from noon to 3 p.m. and the Tolland Military Museum at 749 Tolland Stage Road (behind the Jail Museum) at from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The parade starts at 1 p.m. and runs along the green.

The Daniel Benton Homestead Museum will open for the season on Sunday, June 4.

Admission is free, but donations to support the museums are always welcome.

Due to the weather prediction for Saturday, May 20, the Tolland Military Museum will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for visitors, but it is cancelling its Military Vehicle Show. Come visit!

At 2 p.m. on the same day, the Tolland Historical Society and the Tolland Military Museum will host a talk by Carl Stidsen from Tolland (Major, USAF, Ret.), on “Lighter Than Air…Balloons” at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green.

Stidsen will trace the history of hot air and other types of ballooning, including the first Channel crossing attempt, balloons over New Haven in 1804, the day the Hindenburg flew over Hartford in 1937 and gondolas during World War II all the way to the Chinese air balloons that made the news this year.

If time allows, Stidsen will answer questions about an earlier talk he gave about serving as a missile combat crew commander at a Titan II site in Arizona during the Vietnam War era.

The event is free, but donations to support the society are always welcome.

Stidsen, the research librarian at the New England Air Museum, has been a pilot for 56 years and has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for 52 years.

Thank you to our partner, Goosefare Antiques and Promotions, our dealers, volunteers and guests for making the 54th annual Tolland Antiques Show a big success!

     The Tolland Historical Society is pleased to announce that the Tolland Antiques Show will return after a two-year hiatus on Sunday, March 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tolland Middle School at 1 Falcon Way in Tolland.
     This will be the society’s 54^th show and is being held with a new partner, Goosefare Antiques & Promotions of Saco, Maine. Owned by John and Elizabeth DeSimone, Goosefare has been promoting high-quality antiques shows throughout New England for 40 years.
     Antiques lovers: make plans to come to the Tolland show, which will feature 40 dealers from throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. It has been one of the premier events in the Northeast dealing in early Americana for more than five decades. 
     The show will feature 18th- and 19th-century American furniture, accessories, textiles, rugs, prints, folk art, paintings, redware and early iron. Many items are of museum quality.
Admission is $10. Parking is free, and lunch will be available for a modest price.
The show is a benefit for the Tolland Historical Society, with proceeds supporting the three museums the society operates, the Old Tolland County Court House Museum, the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum and the Daniel Benton Homestead, and the Tolland Military Museum, which it sponsors. Proceeds also support the many programs that the society holds for the public and its curriculum-related programs in the Tolland school system.
     There’s still time for Tolland-area businesses to take advantage of special advertising pricing by bundling ads in the Antiques Show Book, the society’s quarterly newsletter, the Tolland Times, and at its website, tollandhistorical.org. For details, contact Show Director Mary-Pat Soucy at mpsoucy@comcast.net or 860-803-0034. 
For dealer information, contact John or Elizabeth DeSimone at goosefare@gwi.net or 800-641-6908.

Amazon has announced that it is ending its giving program, AmazonSmile, on Feb. 20, but remember, between then and now, you can designate the Tolland Historical Society to receive a portion of your purchases through the AmazonSmile website.

As always, we appreciate your support as we preserve and tell Tolland’s story.

On Giving Tuesday 2022, Nov. 29, please consider making a tax-deductible gift to the Tolland Historical Society to help us preserve and tell Tolland’s story.

Donations can be made directly on this web site by using the yellow “Donate” button or checks can be mailed to Tolland Historical Society, P.O. Box 107, Tolland, CT 06084.

You can also designate the society to receive a portion of your purchases made through AmazonSmile.

Your gift of any size is much appreciated and will be used to support our programs for Tolland schoolchildren and residents of town and their guests as well as helping us to preserve and maintain our four museums: the Daniel Benton Homestead, the Old Tolland County Court House Museum, the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum and the Tolland Military Museum.

Carl Stidsen from Tolland (Major, USAF, Ret.), will give a free talk on Saturday, Nov. 12 on the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program called “Life in a Cold War ICBM Site: On the Nuclear Bullseye.” 

The talk, set for 11 a.m. at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green, is being co-sponsored by the Tolland Historical Society and the Tolland Veterans Recognition Commission. The talk will be followed by a light lunch at the Tolland Military Museum, which is behind the jail and accessible from Route 74. Admission, parking and lunch are all free.


During the Vietnam War-era, Stidsen served as a missile combat crew commander at a Titan II site in Arizona, logging over 8,000 hours underground during more than 380 nuclear alert tours, which each lasted 24 hours.
The weapon his crew controlled had a hydrogen bomb equal to nine megatons of dynamite, and yet – at age 24 – he was the oldest member of the four-man crew. Titan II was the last and largest liquid-fuel ICBM the U.S. ever fielded. 

Stidsen, the research librarian at the New England Air Museum, has been a pilot for 56 years and has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for 52 years. 

Come have a spooky experience on Halloween, Oct. 31, between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. by trick or treating at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum on 52 Tolland Green.

Free and sponsored by the Tolland Historical Society.