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IN PERSON- The Irish in Southbury

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Program Type:

Lectures

Age Group:

Adults
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Program Description

Southbury 350th Anniversary

The Town of Southbury is holding events and activities all year long to celebrate 350 years of community, culture and history (1673-2023), aimed at highlighting the past and progress of the one and only Southbury.

The 350th Anniversary Steering Committee consists of John Dwyer and Kevin Bielmeier (co-chairs), Brian Jones (vice-chair), Justin Bette, Lynn Dwyer, Melinda Elliott, Michael Ganem, Kara Kenney, Mary Korsu, and Gosia Liedlich.

In 1673, 15 families from Stratford travelled up the Pootatuck (Housatonic) River on rafts and canoes, settling on land in this area known as the Pomperaug Plantation, which was purchased from the Pootatuck Native Americans. Those religious dissidents spent their first night in Woodbury and the second night under a white oak tree on Crook Horn Road, by the former Berry Farm, now known as Settlers Park, in what is now known as Southbury.

Event Details

This program will be delivered live by the presenter Kingsley Room.  It will also be streamed to Zoom. If you want to watch the program from home, register here.

On St. Patrick’s Day, they say “everybody is Irish.” But when you conjure an image of an old-time Yankee farmer, the thought of an Irish immigrant with a quaint dialect does not immediately come to mind. The truth is, that not all those who fled the potato famine or those who went off seeking work on the railroad were willing to tolerate the tenements and sweatshops of the city. Some went to the countryside to practice a lifestyle more like they had left behind.

Is it ironic that a “Dublin Road” can be seen from the ancient town common, from the site of the first Puritan Meeting House?

In March of 1940 a newspaper columnist from South Britain wrote, “Everywhere we turn, the Irish have left their mark on this township and that mark is a four-leaf clover for luck, squareshooting, and upright honesty.”

Join us as we explore the shifting demographics and of those that left their imprint on our town.

John Dwyer and his family came to Southbury in 1984 to move into his wife's, Lynn, ancestral home. Their children were the 8th generation descendants to live there. The proximity to this heritage spurred an interest in antiquities into a study of local history.

Like all Southbury Public Library programs, this event is free to attend and open to anyone regardless of town of residency. Registration is required. This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Southbury Public Library. For more information about this program, please email Rebecca at rrandall@biblio.org or call the reference desk at 203-262-0626 ext 130.

Disclaimer(s)

Accessibility

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