Historical Society to Host 'The Last Year of Lincoln's Presidency'

Written by Gene Roberts

Paula Hopewell, a Brookfield resident since 1997, will deliver a multi-media presentation on Abraham Lincoln Monday, August 3, 2015, at 7:30 P.M. It will take place in the Brookfield Museum, located at 165 Whisconier Road (Junction of Routes 25 and 133) in Brookfield Center.

Hopewell, a native of Kentucky, has delivered numerous lectures on Lincoln at various venues throughout the state She is a member of the Lincoln Symposia which meets annually in Gettysburg, PA. The program will cover her many visits thus far in 2015 to events marking the final year of Lincoln’s Presidency and the closing chapter of the Civil War. She will expand on photo images that were taken during her journeys, to include a visit to the Lincoln family cemetery in Virginia, the annual convention of Abraham Lincoln presenters in Vandalia, Illinois, and a re-enactment of his second inaugural address in Washington DC. Hopewell also attended a moving ceremony in Hartford, honoring Connecticut’s 29th and 30th Colored infantry, whose regimental flags were transferred to the State’s Hall of Flags on the first floor in the Capitol building to be permanently on display with all other Connecticut Civil War regimental flags. Most recently, she has returned from a “behind-the-scenes Lincoln tour” of the National Museum of American History, at the Smithsonian.

Since visiting Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville and his boyhood home in Knob Creek, (both in her home state of Kentucky), Hopewell’s interest in Lincoln has developed into a passion. She has visited Lincoln’s burial site in Springfield, Illinois, as well as the offices where Lincoln practiced law. She holds an MBA degree from the University of Cincinnati and worked for ten years in marketing research.

Admission to the presentation is free and complimentary refreshments will be available. For more information on this and other upcoming events of the Brookfield Historical Society log onto www.brookfieldcthistory.org.