It’s time for one of our most popular events of the summer — the Smokehouse Demonstration and Tasting! The Demonstration is free and open to the public and begins at 1:00 PM. The Smokehouse Tasting is a ticketed event, held from 4:00-6:00 PM. This year’s menu features items prepared in the historic smokehouse by expert chef Jim Barnett. Smoked Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, Arctic Char, Chicken Kebab, Spaghetti Squash with Maple Syrup, Cheesy Potatoes, Green Salad. All items except the salad will have had part of its preparation done in the smokehouse.

Drinks will be available for a voluntary contribution.

Click "View Event" for more info and to purchase Tasting tickets.

Please join us for a blacksmith demonstration on September 21st from 10 AM to 1 PM.  Our volunteer blacksmiths will fashion hooks, bottle openers, broaches, and decorative leaves out of raw steel using a coal fired forge and antique anvils.

All CHS members are invited to attend our annual garden party, a “thank you” to everyone who helps make CHS a success. Refreshments will be served. Feel free to bring your own chairs, although we will have some on hand as well. In case of rain, the party will be postponed to Sunday, Sept. 15.

On Friday, September 13th, the Clinton Historical Society will host Bob Bruch at the Indian River Cemetery where he will take guests on a tour of the burial grounds. Bob is Clinton's Town Historian, an Adam Stanton House Board member, an Indian River Cemetery Association Board member, as well as an excellent storyteller. Guests will meet at the entrance to the cemetery (99 Church Street) at 5:30 p.m. when Bob will introduce us to the old families of Clinton and share with their stories and history. Parking on the west side of the Congregational Church is suggested. This event is free.

The Clinton Historical Society will hold a commemoration ceremony on August 21st at 10 am. We will be celebrating the triumphant return to America of General Lafayette and his visit to Clinton (then Killingworth) on that day, 200 years before (1824).

The general was a French Nobleman who joined the Continental Army, under General George Washington, and served America with distinction throughout the Revolutionary War. In 2002, Lafayette was named an Honorary US citizen.

The public is invited to join in the ceremony on Wednesday, August 21st at 10 am. No registration is required; no fee will be charged; and light refreshments will be served.

Thanks to our Garden Committee members who dig up and divide their precious perennials each year, you can support CHS and snag some wonderful plants at our annual Plant Sale on June 15 from 9:00 a.m. till noon. We’ll also be holding a TOOL SALE this year as well! Come check it out.

The Clinton Art Society is sponsoring a plein air painting day in the CHS gardens from 9:00 to noon. Watch for more information here as the date draws near. “Draws” near — see what we did there?

Our entire campus will be open free of charge to visitors for tours, as part of the statewide Connecticut Open House Day. Come tour our historic house museum, our tool museum, library, and historic gardens.

Visit our Bake Sale and take a tour of Old Brick before, during, or after the Memorial Day parade. We’ll have an array of goodies for you to munch on while you’re watching our veterans parade through town — and some treats to help fend off starvation when you can’t get your car out of the parking lot due to traffic. The museum will be open for tours. Specific times as yet to be announced.

Once again, all CHS members are invited to join us for a Potluck Supper and review of the year’s activities at our Annual Meeting, held in the Green Room in Town Hall. Festivities begin at 6:00 p.m. More details will be provided later this spring, but save the date!

On Tuesday, April 23rd at 6:00pm, Dave LeVasseur will present a lecture about Clinton and Killingworth in the War of 1812. The talk will be held at the Henry Carter Hull Library, and is co-sponsored by the library, CHS, and the Killingworth Historical Society.

Dave is a former President of the Killingworth Historical Society and former Killingworth Municipal Historian. He currently serves on the board of the Clinton Historical Society.

Painting, “The Revenge” by Kip Soldwedel, courtesy of the Connecticut River Museum.

Former CHS President Megan Stine, who is also the great niece of George Flynn, will present a program exploring the fascinating life of her great uncle who bequeathed money in his will to provide classical music concerts for the residents of Clinton. With photographs and colorful stories, she will reveal her uncle to have been a quiet, private, frugal man --  a man reluctant to share even a small tool with a family member -- who was perhaps the last person anyone would have expected to join the ranks of Clinton's magnanimous benefactors. But after marrying for the first time at the age of 71, circumstances conspired to prompt him to express his love of classical music so that generations of Clintonians could benefit for years to come. 

The program is free and open to the public, and is a collaboration with the Henry Carter Hull Library. It will be presented at the library at 6:30 p.m. on March 19, 2024.

Our annual Open House welcomes visitors to Old Brick, festively decorated for the holidays. Refreshments will be served.

You’ve probably heard of the street in north Clinton named for Benjamin Merrill and you may even know about his house, which still stands today at 130 East Main Street in Clinton. But what else do you know about the man?

Join Dave LeVasseur of the Clinton Historical Society and Lamar Lemonte of the Old Saybrook Historical Society for a talk about this local tavern keeper and entrepreneur.

Thursday, October 19th, 2023 at 6:30pm.

NOTE that this event is not held at Old Brick. It will take place at 130 East Main Street, Clinton (at the corner of College and East Main Streets).

POSTPONED! Note the new date!! Members are invited to join us in the gardens for our annual Garden Party. Refreshments will be provided. Come let us thank you for supporting CHS all year long.

Each year, our gardening members dig up and divide some choice plants from their perennial gardens, offering them for sale to benefit CHS. This is a rare opportunity to find special flowering plants, herbs, and even occasionally bulbs. Don’t miss it!

All of our museums on campus will be free and open to the public as part of the statewide Connecticut Open House Day. Come visit Old Brick, our historic house museum, as well as our library, tool museum, and historic gardens.

This annual fundraiser is really a community service: grab a muffin or doughnut to munch on while you watch the Memorial Day Parade and you’ll go home happy. We’ll also have brownies, cookies, cakes, and pies you can take home to feed the fam. CHS members are asked to contribute by bringing baked goods. Drop them off at Old Brick at 9:00 a.m. Thank you!

The Annual Dinner and Potluck Supper is held every year on the first Friday in May. Stay tuned for more information. All current members are invited to bring an appetizer or main course, and join us to review the events of the year. The newest exhibit in the Museum Room will also be previewed for members that night.

Join us for an evening of historical storytelling and Clinton reminiscences led by Bob Bruch, the Clinton Town Historian (pictured left), and David LeVasseur, past president of the Killingworth Historical Society. Bob is president of the Stanton House and will discuss Adam Stanton’s family history. David plans to share his expertise about Jared Eliot, an 18th century scientist, teacher, and pastor of the Congregational Church. Between the two of them, Clinton’s history will be revealed and the stories will fly. This program is co-sponsored by CHS and the Henry Carter Hull Library and will be held in the library. Registration is required.