Farmington, CT

The location of the wedding celebration is very dear to us not only because it is where MaryHelen was born and raised, but also because of its rich history and importance to our country. Below is some background from our perspective in chronological order. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

The Town

Farmington, Connecticut was settled by the English shortly after 1640.

Today, several houses remain from that early era.

Agriculture was the primary economic activity in the early days. After the Revolution, Farmington became a trading center, exchanging local produce, clocks and tin ware for goods imported from as far away as China. The Connecticut River and Long Island Sound were the highways.

The festive new prosperity snapped the town’s Puritan mood and stately homes were built by merchants and bankers. These homes still line the main street today. Along a mile of Farmington Village’s Main Street, the houses line up to form an outdoor museum of early American architecture. Many of these homes date from the
neoclassical period, which takes in Georgian and Federal styles and runs from approximately
the mid-18 th to the mid-19 th centuries.

In 1965 much of Main Street was enclosed within a Historic District and in 1972 the district was
included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Site of the Wedding Ceremony

First Church of Christ, Congregational

The church was founded in 1652 and the present church building, or Meeting House, was built in 1771.

This Greek revival church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975 for its role in sheltering the
Amistad Africans before their return to Africa.

In its over 350 year history, First Church has had only twenty Senior Ministers. Timothy Pitkin was the fourth minister from 1752 to 1785.

Amistad and Abolition

In 1841 the town was thrust into a central role in the anti-slavery movement. For eight months, residents sheltered 33 African rebels, survivors of a mutiny aboard the slave ship Amistad and victors in a landmark court case which won their freedom.

The town also played a key role in the “Underground Railroad”. So many “passengers” came
through Farmington that it became known as the “Grand Central Station” of Connecticut. There
are several documented homes that served as “stations” from before the Amistad incident
through the Civil War.

Miss Porters School

Miss Porters School was founded in 1843 by Sarah Porter to provide education solely for young
women.

Sarah was born in 1813 to a Farmington family that revered education. Her father was
the Congregational minister for 60 years and her brother became president of Yale. Sarah
studied in New Haven, but as a female, could not attend Yale; instead she studied after hours
with many Yale professors.

The school is in the heart of the Village today. It is often referred to the boarding school Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy attended. It remains one of the few private secondary schools for women to this day.

Guess who else attended this school? MaryHelen!

Site of the Reception

Hill-Stead Museum

A graduate of Miss Porters, Theodate Pope, was so delighted with Farmington that she wanted to live in town for all her life! In 1898 her parents bought 150 acres of land and engaged the prestigious architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to design their retirement home, known as Hill-Stead.

Theodate worked very closely with the architects in designing the house, which is an outstanding example of Colonial Revival architecture. She also founded and designed Avon Old Farms School (for boys) and the
Westover School (for girls) in Middlebury.

Her father, a wealthy Cleveland industrialist, became one of the first Americans to collect Impressionist paintings. These extraordinary works of art were purchased directly from the artists and remain in the house today, exactly as they were when the family lived here.

Theodate moved to Hill-Stead after her marriage to diplomat John Wallace Riddle in 1916 and lived there until she died in 1946 at which time it became a museum where, by terms of her will, nothing was to be added to the collection, nothing removed and nothing loaned out for exhibition elsewhere.

Today Hill-Stead Museum is 152- acres of open space and a National Historic Landmark. The house and its collections (Monet, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Cassatt, plus French bonzes, Japanese woodblock prints and Chinese porcelain) should not be missed!!

Along the entrance drive, an allee of maple trees leads to the house and the circa 1920 Sunken Garden designed by Beatrix Farrand. The cocktail reception will be held in this Sunken Garden and dinner and dancing will be under a tent in front of the house on the west lawn.

Private guided tours of the House and its collections are available to our guests– please register in advance here

Site of Farewell Brunch

2 Colton Street

In 1788, Reverend Pitkin purchased the property at 2 Colton Street and added a much-larger Georgian style home to the 1685 Dutch Gambrel style
home built by Samuel Cowles.

The new home was built for the Yale graduation of his son, the Honorable Timothy Pitkin, Jr. who served in the CT State Legislature and later in the U.S. House of Representatives under the Jefferson Administration.

This has been the Price’s family home for the past 38 years.