When hair wreaths were the rage

The Salmon Brook Historical Society has two framed hair wreaths in the parlor of the historic Weed-Ender House. These two hair wreaths were made in the mid- to late-nineteenth century and were crafted in memory of members of the Emmons-Case families as well as the Messenger family. During the Victorian Era, hair art was a common way for families to preserve the memory of a loved one.

Granby Doctors Part 2: medicine in the 18th and 19th centuries

Last month I wrote about Granby’s more recent doctors, William Dwyer to Alfred Weed. They were modern doctors who had learned the principles of germ theory. They understood that microscopic organisms such as bacteria, viruses and fungi cause disease. However, that knowledge was relatively new. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, doctors saw medicine differently.

The way Beman Hardware used to look!

Granby Manufacturing Co. on Hartford Ave. was organized in 1873. It later housed a store, post office and ice cream parlor, and was called the Cowles Block. Beman Hardware was in this building until 1972. When the new store was built behind the store, the old building was razed. 

Colonel Henry Knox’s Noble Train

Colonel Henry Knox left Boston 250 years ago this month with orders from General Washington to retrieve artillery for the Continental Army from the captured British fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, New York.