Programs are most effective when students are approximately the same age. Groups must have a minimum of 8 students and a maximum of 30. Reservations are required.

For more information or to make a reservation, please call Becky at 860-567-4501.

At the Museums

Growing from Village to Town
Has your town changed in the last 200 years? Learn how communities evolve by investigating what happened in Litchfield. Use clues from maps, paintings, and letters to discover what Litchfield looked like right after the Revolution. Use portraits to meet townspeople from the past and explore how their influence helped the town grow.

Grade Level: 3-5
Program Duration: 1 hour
Cost Per Student: $2


How Did They Get There?
Before planes, trains, and automobiles, how did people travel? Learn how and where people journeyed in the years after the Revolution. Discover how much travel cost, how it felt, and what people packed. Through real travel stories, learn about everyday life in the past. Use maps, letters, and diaries to investigate early transportation networks.

Grade Level: 4-12
Program Duration: 1 1/2 hours
Cost Per Student: $2


Gentleman Lawyers & Lady Scholars
What was it like to be a student 200 years ago? Who went to school and what jobs were available? Take part in a “common school” lesson. Investigate school life for all ages and discover what opportunities were once open to women and men. Explore the ways education after the Revolution reflected the values of the time.

Grade Level: 4-12
Program Duration: 1 1/2 hours
Cost Per Student: $2


Party Spirit
Investigate the political party system and the social reform movement of the early 1800s. Vote on important issues. Learn how early Americans combined politics and social events. Form societies, hold political rallies, read and write newspaper articles, and enjoy 19th-century entertainments.

Grade Level: 6-12
Program Duration: 1 1/2 hours
Cost Per Student: $2

Before you visit the museum solve the mystery of the mixed-up trunk. Help return a piece of luggage to its rightful owner while learning about travel conditions and going away for school. Discover how to use objects as primary sources.

To borrow the trunk for your classroom: $35

To have a Litchfield Historical Society staff member visit with the trunk: $50


While you visit the museum try your hand at some of the activities common to 19th-century Litchfield residents. Spend half an hour learning a craft or a skill.

Materials Fee: $1 per student

Litchfield on Foot

What did the first white settlers of Litchfield find when they arrived in 1721? How has the town changed during its almost three hundred year history?

Experience the history and architecture of the community by walking its streets and seeing its buildings. Learn the stories of the town. See the showplace houses on the town’s most public streets. And discover a cross-section of the community’s churches, homes, and businesses.

Choose from the North Street, South Street, and Center Village tours.

Reading an Object

Become a detective! Discover how curators use artifacts to learn about life in the past. Use clues contained within an object itself to learn who owned it, made it, wore it, or used it, and what it can tell about the time it is from.

Portrait reading

Discover past residents of Litchfield through their images and words. Meet people like Tapping Reeve, the Reverend Lyman Beecher, Sarah Pierce, and Mary Floyd Tallmadge.

Programs for Home Schoolers:

All school programs are available for groups of home schoolers. The Litchfield Historical Society can provide materials to help prepare students for their museum visit, as well as materials to follow the visit. All museum experiences include participatory activities, primary sources, and role-playing. Programs also have the option of a half-hour long hands-on workshop.