Photo by @homeplaceblog 2014

We are excited to begin a new season of Historic Guilford Walking Tours!  We plan on having weekly scheduled tours at 11 am on Saturdays throughout the summer (except the 4th of July) with group tours provided upon reservation.  Our student guides will be running the tours as well as training new guides.

The Saturday morning tours, starting from the Town Hall on the National Register listed historic Green will encompass the history and the structures surrounding the Green.  Other group tours include the Architecture Tour of the Historic District including Fair and Broad Streets and the History Tour including Union, State, and Boston Streets.

Please join us for this tour and meet our experienced and newly minted guides.  Call 203-233-1026 for more details.

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Please call Dennis at 203-233-1026 for details.  All other scheduled tours are cancelled for this weekend.

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Please join our talented guides for this fact-filled tour!

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Guilford Craft Expo
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Come to the Green, enjoy the Guilford Art Expo,  and take a Historic Guilford Walking Tour this weekend.  Tours are Saturday at 10 am and 2 pm and Sunday at 1 pm.  Our guides are ready to share our 375 years of history and architecture on their student created, award winning tours.

Visit http://guilfordartcenter.org/expo/ for details about the Art Expo on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

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Early Guilford Days Early Guilford Days Family Festival Saturday, June 28th, Sunday, June 29th 12 – 4 pm Step back in time this weekend during the Early Guilford Days Family Festival. Co-hosted by the five Guilford history museums, the festival is a celebration of 18th-century Colonial life in Connecticut and will include guided tours, hands-on crafts, games, and demonstrations. A blacksmith will demonstrate his craft at the forge at Thomas Griswold House, where weaving and Colonial games will also be underway. The Hyland House Museum will host hearth cooking while tinsmithing, chores, and Colonial games will take place at the Henry Whitfield State Museum. Medad Stone Tavern will also serve as a hearth-cooking site as well as the location for paper cutting and stenciling. In North Guilford, the Dudley Farm Museum will highlight spinning, candle-making, household chores, gardening, and farming as well as hosting a live oxen demonstration. Admission is free for children. $3.75 for adults. For more information, please email info@hylandhouse.org.  Visit us at www.guilfordpreservation.org Copyright © 2014 Guilford Preservation Alliance, All rights reserved.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

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Come celebrate Guilford’s 375th anniversary by learning more about the history, people, and architecture of beautiful Guilford in the comfort of an air-conditioned bus!

The 2 hour tour of the major historic areas of Guilford includes the Guilford Green, Town Center, West and East River areas, Sachem’s Head, Leete’s Island, Town Marina, the Dudley Farm Farmer’s Market, and North Guilford sites.

All tours are on Saturdays and begin and end at the Community Center, 32 Church Street, Guilford, CT at 9:30 a.m.

Tour Dates:

6/21/14

7/12/14

7/26/14

8/9/14

8/23/14

Meet at Community Center off the Green, 32 Church St

Prices: $12/person ~ $10/senior & child in own seat
$30/family (max 5) ~ child on lap under 6 –free

Tickets at: Guilford Department of Parks & Recreation
32 Church Street, Guilford, CT 06437

Choose program #30110 to register on line at www.guilfordparkrec.com or you can register in person at the Community Center. Contact the Parks and Recreation office at 203-453-8086 for additional information or questions. Space is limited so register early.

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Simeon Leete Gravestone on Moose Hill Road.

In recognition of Guilford’s 375th anniversary, the owners of the Pelatiah Leete House on Leete’s Island Road in Guilford would like to invite the public to attend a first annual Simeon Leete Day celebration, to be held at the historic house in which one of Guilford’s brave soldiers who fought in the Battle of Leete’s Island on June 18, 1781 lived, and in which he also died of his wounds, the following day. 


Simeon Leete was the great-great-grandson of Guilford founder Governor William Leete, whose direct descendants continue to live on Leete’s Island and in other parts of Guilford to this day. The battle in which Simeon fought and died was one of the largest military engagements fought on Connecticut soil during the American Revolution, involving upwards of 250 fighters at its peak. 

The house in which he lived and died is the only structure which was standing on the day of the battle that remains, and his gravestone is around the corner in the triangle of land at the intersection of Leete’s Island Road and Moose Hill Road. His home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And it will be open to the public for tours from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. along with docents from the “Early Guilford Days” public school program for Guilford 4th grade students on hand to answer questions about early Guilford history. 

An inaugural “History Hike” will also be offered jointly under the auspices of the Guilford Land Conservation Trust and the Guilford Preservation Alliance’s Heritage Tourism Initiative to trace the route taken by refugees from the battle in 1781 up Moose Hill Road to safety in the Colonial Caves site in Westwoods, crossing lands still owned by the Leete family, as well as lands held in trust by the Guilford Land Conservation Trust. 

A free will offering for the house tour, to benefit the “Early Guilford Days” program for the coming year, is requested—but not required– from participants in the day’s events. 

Because public parking is virtually nonexistent in the vicinity of the house, visitors are strongly encouraged to use the free shuttle service, leaving from the Green in front of Town Hall, starting at 9:45 a.m. and running every 30 minutes thereafter. This service will be provided through the generosity of the town’s 375th Committee. Pre-registration is encouraged and can be arranged by calling (510) 841 2108 or by emailing simeonleete1781@gmail.com. 

An official Town 375th Committee event.

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Guide Virginia and tourist Madeline Malish finishing a Historic Tour.

What a great day with many visitors to Historic Guilford and the wonderful house museums.  Our new friends Michele Herrmann from @sheisgoingplaces, and Bonnie Dingus from @homeplaceblog took the tour, took pictures, and took names.

We had other guests on the afternoon tour with Virginia and Elya as guides. Great feedback from customers and great day to be in #HistoricGuilford

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Vist the five house museums in Guilford too!  The Hyland House, the Thomas Griswold House, the Henry Whitfield House, the Medad Stone Tavern, and the Dudley Farm Museum will also be open and welcoming visitors.  Please click on: http://hylandhouse.org/visit-the-house/planning-your-trip-to-guilford/ for more information.

Call Dennis at 203-122-1026 for information and reservations!

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