Best Free Places To Visit In Hartford Near Me

4worldlovers:
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It’s a sweet surprise to find a vintage 1914 carousel standing in Bushnell Park. There, by the shadow of skyscrapers and a giant Turkey Oak, a 24-sided pavilion houses 48 hand-carved wooden horses and two lovers’ chariots that swirl around a booming Wurlitzer band organ.

The Knox Foundation brought the carousel to Hartford from Canton, Ohio, in 1974. Jack Dollard, director of the Foundation at the time, and an architect in the city, thought the horses would symbolize Hartford’s restoration.

The New England Carousel Museum in Bristol restored the horses to reflect the same fury that Russian immigrants Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein first carved into their faces in 1914. Mass production and changing tastes led to the demise of hand carving and now collectors, buying up single horses, have dismantled hundreds of carousels. As a result, this carousel is only one of three Stein and Goldstein carousels left in existence.

They, like many carousel craftsmen, started in Russia as carvers of women’s combs. They came to the United States in the late 1800s to carve carousel horses for Coney Island, which, at the height of the craze, had some two-dozen carousels operating. Stein and Goldstein horses are distinguished by their flamboyance, their big teeth, bulging eyes, by the huge and colorful cabbage roses which festoon their bodies and their real horse hair tails.

Eventually, they built a reputation as “artistic carousel manufacturers” and they built carousels when there were at least 3,000 in the United States, when riders on the outside row dipped their index fingers for brass rings and a ride was considered a dare because 15 mph was faster than anything. The invention of the roller coaster gave carousels a more romantic reputation–and fewer riders.

Every year thousands of riders take the dare and go for the thrill of riding on Hartford’s magnificent and historic Stein and Goldstein carousel.

4worldlovers:
The Helen S Kaman Rose Garden is the center of Elizabeth Park. It is the first municipal rose garden in the United States and the third largest rose garden in the country today. Theodore Wirth began the design of the Rose Garden in September of 1903, and it opened in June, 1904. The Rose Garden began with about 190 varieties of roses; this eventually grew to almost 1,000 by the 1950s. Today, the Conservancy oversees and manages the Rose Garden, and needs to raise over $100,000 annually for rose expertise, full-time summer gardeners, contractor services, and fertilizer, mulch, lime, and replacement roses.

The original main garden, the “square,” is an acre in size and has 132 rose beds. The logo of the Conservancy is patterned after the square. Mr. Wirth’s original design of a square with a center circle and eight pathways remains today. The North and South gardens, which are semi-circular sections, were added later to make up a total of 2.5 acres of roses, 475 beds, and eight grass pathways. The wide paths were designed to accommodate larger crowds.

There are over 15,000 rose bushes and 800 varieties of old and new roses in the garden. Featured are hybrid tea, climbers, hybrid perpetual, and floribunda, shrub, and pillar roses, among others. Ramblers grow on arches that radiate from the “gazebo,” or Rustic Summer House, which is covered in Virginia creeper. The gazebo was built in 1904 as a part of the original plan. In 2005, it was reconstructed with the original plans using red cedar.

Elizabeth Park's Rose Garden became the first official test garden in 1912 for the American Rose Society founded in 1892, with the idea to test and to provide accurate information about roses for the public. This is when the half-circular section of the garden was added on the south side of the main square. In 1937, the American Rose Society asked the Park to add another semi-circle, which completes the garden of 2.5 acres as it stands today.

The arches are in full bloom in mid-June into early July, and are just spectacular. They only bloom once. Many of the other roses in the garden continue to bloom until the fall. The Rose Garden, the gazebo, and the arches in the Park are probably the most photographed and painted subjects in the Park, and are a recognized symbol of Hartford.

4worldlovers: The Trouble Begins with Kerry Driscoll & Mark Twain’s Creative Process

Whether you’re a Twainiac, lifelong bibliophile, or jewelry connoisseur; Browse & shop exclusive finds and a lovely variety of gifts for everyone of all ages at The Mark Twain House & Museum Store. Games, interesting reads, notebooks, unique apparel…We have it all! Proceeds from the store support the upkeep and restoration of Twain’s historic home and its programs.

The Mark Twain House & Museum has restored the author’s Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the author and his family lived from 1874 to 1891. Twain wrote his most important works during the years he lived there, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. In addition to providing tours of Twain’s restored home, a National Historic Landmark, the institution offers activities and educational programs that illuminate Twain’s literary legacy and provide information about his life and times.

First presented in 2016, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award honors a work of fiction from the previous calendar that speaks with an “American Voice” about American experiences.

The award carries a $25,000 cash prize underwritten by bestselling author and trustee of the Mark Twain House and Museum, David Baldacci.

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

From this house, Mark Twain changed the way the world sees America and the way Americans see themselves. We continue the conversation he began.

The operations of The Mark Twain House & Museum are generously supported by: