Janury 2008: Teresa H. Johnson Bequest Benefits MHS Education Fund

In January 2008 the Madison Historical Society was the grateful recipient of a very generous bequest from the Estate of Teresa H. Johnson. The widow of Dr. Harry J. Johnson, an expert in preventive medicine, Teresa H. Johnson was a longtime supporter of the Society. For many years she and her husband lived in Madison in the c. 1745 Ensign Nathaniel Stevens House on Summer Hill Road. Over the years, the Johnsons were generous to many educational causes, providing college scholarships to graduating seniors in New York City as well as at Madison’s Daniel Hand High School, where two four-year scholarships are granted each year.

The arrival of this donation was particularly timely, coming on the heels of the Society’s renewed dedication to its Children’s Education Program. Acknowledging Mrs. Johnson’s commitment to education, the Board of Directors of the MHS has voted to use the monies to create the Teresa H. Johnson Education Fund, which will now enable the MHS to work with more educators and students in more schools throughout the system.

In 2007 the newly reorganized MHS Education Committee had already begun a study of ways to improve the Society’s outreach program to Madison’s public schools. Peter Bizier, a Social Studies teacher at Madison’s R. H. Brown Middle School, has recently become the committee chairman. Among the educational plans under development is a living-history program about Chloe Bushnell—feminist, abolitionist, and mother of Cornelius S. Bushnell, the developer of the USS Monitor.

April 2008: MHS Welcomes New Executive Director

Daivd Weinberg has been selected by the MHS Board of Directors as its new executive director. he succeeds Lynn Friedman, who will remain an active member of the Board. An attorney and an authority on illustrating historical events with mulitmedia technology, Weinberg also chairs the American Bar Association's historical trial program, which has conducted mock hearings on the deaths of such historic figures as President John F. Kennedy, the outlaw Jesse James, and the explorer Meriwether Lewis. CEO of JuryGroup, a Guilford firm that helps attorneys make theircases easier to understand, Weinberg is a resident of Guilford.

May 2008: 1730 Shelley House Is Saved

How do you make a historic house a home, especially when it is one of the ten most endangered historic sites in Connecticut? On Saturday, May 8, visitors had a chance to find out for themselves when the MHS hosted a tour of the 1730 Shelley House at 248 Boston Post Road.  The colonial structure is one of four Madison locations cited in the National Register of Historic Places.  It was recently acquired by a Madison resident who serves on the advisory council of the CT Trust for Historic Preservation, who is having the building restored. Morning tours ($5) were conducted by noted architectural historian James Sexton, Ph.D, who has served as a consultant to many history groups along the shoreline. MHS volunteers offered free tours in the afternoon. Visitors were able to view exhibits about the history of the house, and refreshments were served. Charles Shelley, a descendant of the colonial owners of the house will be present to talk about the history of the Shelley family, and local builders Peter Gulick and John Spradlin will be on hand to explain their painstaking approach to restoring historic properties.  “We aim  to undo the damage done by people, insects, and weather,” Gulick explained.  “We want to keep as many of the original materials as possible and update the structures in a style that fits with the house.”  Last July the MHS awarded Gulick the Jane Kuhl Award for Historic Preservation in Madison for his rehabilitation of the 1690 Jonathan Murray House on Scotland Avenue. MHS Board members Kim Agresta and Susani Amuan chaired the event.

July 2008: Herzogs Receive 2008 Jane R. Kuhl Award

The MHS presented the 2008 Jane R. Kuhl Award to John and Diana Herzog in July 2008 for their commitment to historic preservation in Madison. The Herzogs have single-handedly saved two of the town's oldest historic houses from demolition. They purchased and are in the process of restoring both the 1720 David Field House on Green Hill Road and the 1730 Shelley House on the Boston Post Road. Mr. and Mrs. Herzog are residents of Madison.

July 2008: Monthly History Column Debuts in The Source

In a joint collaboration between the MHS and The Source newspaper, a monthly Madison history column by local writer Daniel Mulvey will appear under the title "Past Present." Mr. Mlvey's first column, on the topic of the construction and opening of the Connecticut Turnpike, appeared in July 2008. A lively raconteur, Mulvey is a former English teacher, with thirty-seven years of experience at Daniel Hand High School, and the author of a writing guide entitled Grammar The Easy Way: Write On!