Community Corner

Hidden Gems Of Hartford And Tolland Counties

The latest Gem is the nation's first public art gallery and it happens to be celebrating a milestone.

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The Wadsworth's large gallery.
The Wadsworth's large gallery. (Wadsworth Press Room )

HARTFORD, CT — Can something really be hidden on Main Street in Downtown Hartford? Well kinda, sorta ... especially in the case of the Wadsworth Atheneum. Yes, it resembles a castle, but it's also tucked into a corridor of large commercial buildings that weren't there when it was founded.

Anyway, welcome to the Wadsworth on the 180th anniversary of it becoming the first public art museum in the United States.

Museum officials tell us that, on June 1 in 1842, Connecticut Governor Chauncey Cleveland signed an act formally establishing the Wadsworth. Construction began at 600 Main Street in Hartford shortly after and it opened in 1844.

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The inspiration behind the Atheneum was Daniel Wadsworth, the son of highly successful merchant and Revolutionary War figure Jeremiah Wadsworth.

Museum officials tell us that Daniel Wadsworth collected paintings by top American artists like John Trumbull, Frederic Edwin Church, and Thomas Cole.

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The Wadsworth is home to a collection of nearly 50,000 works of art, spanning 5,000 years and encompassing European art "from antiquity to contemporary" as well as American art from the 1600s through the present day.

The term "atheneum," was popular in the 19th century to describe a cultural institution with "a library, works of art and artifacts, devoted to learning history, literature, art, and science."

See more on the Wadsworth here.

The Wadsworth in Hartford. (Wadsworth Press Room)

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Hartford and Tolland counties. Do you have a favorite "hidden gem" in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to tim.jensen@patch.com.

Other Gems in this series:

2022

2021 and earlier:

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