Welcome to the East Haddam Historical Society & Museum, illuminating local history since 1962!
Museum is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please contact us via email or phone 860-873-3944 with any questions.
Please enjoy the new Saving Land, Saving History mini-documentaries online!
Please enjoy the new Saving Land, Saving History mini-documentaries online!
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50 years of Local History
The East Haddam Historical Society, founded over 50 years ago, has been at this Town Street location for 11 years; it's just around the corner from Gillette Castle, right on the Route 82 corridor. The museum has a fine collection of local and Lower Connecticut River Valley historical objects, and prides itself on its kid-friendliness.
Among the highlights of the museum are a photographic display of the rise and fall of the Industrial Age in Moodus Village, Native American artifacts dating to 1300 B.C., a photographic exhibit of the building of the East Haddam swing bridge, and a collection of changing fashions with period costumes on display. Museum is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please contact us via email or phone 860-873-3944 with any questions. 
Historical Society receives Community Foundation of Middlesex County grantThe Community Foundation of Middlesex County recently awarded a grant in the amount of $2,000 to the East Haddam Historical Society for the purchase of a projection system. The Society will apply this grant toward the purchase of audio equipment that will greatly enhance the sound quality of the presentations that are a feature of the Society’s annual public program.
The grant is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Middlesex County/Ann T. D’Addario Family Foundation Fund, Kalayjian Family Fund, and the Herb and Ellen Patterson Memorial Fund. Community Foundation of Middlesex County is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Middlesex County. Its mission is to work with charitably-minded individuals and organizations to build permanent endowments and other charitable funds and to support local non-profit organizations through effective grant making to address community needs. Since its founding in 1997, the Community Foundation has provided 2,068 grants totaling more than $6million to nonprofit organizations for the arts; cultural and heritage programs; educational activities; environmental improvements; and for health and human services. |
Saving Land, Saving HistoryWe are excited to announce the launch of our documentary series, SAVING LAND, SAVING HISTORY! If you love to hike the open space preserves or just want to know more about the history and nature of your town then you won’t want to miss these beautiful and informative films.
The "Saving Land, Saving History" display highlights the fascinating ties between the preservation of land and local history and commemorates the East Haddam Land Trust's 40 years of land conservation. Award-winning local producer/director Ken Simon draws on the knowledge of local historians and conservationists to enliven the history of three historical preserves, the history of the East Haddam Land Trust, and the history of the East Haddam Historical Society & Museum. The East Haddam Historical Society will be presenting a multi-media exhibit on “Saving Land, Saving History” at the Museum that will be available when the museum re-opens to the public. The “Saving Land, Saving History” project is a collaboration between the East Haddam Historical Society and the East Haddam Land Trust, supported by generous grants from Connecticut Humanities and the Eightmile River Wild and Scenic Watershed Coordinating Committee. Bernstein Preserve
This beautiful parcel of land along the Moodus River, accessed via Falls Road, was donated to the East Haddam Land Trust by East Haddam native Ron Bernstein and his wife Merle in 2007. It comprises 36 acres. The Preserve is most notable for the 80- foot high waterfall near where two 19th century cotton mills were located: Falls Mill (1865-1943) and Atlantic Mill (1857-1939). Remnants of these mills are visible today as reminders of the time when Moodus was known as “The Twine Capital of America.” Chapal Farm/Patrell Preserve
The Chapal Farm/Patrell Preserve is comprised of 109 acres of unspoiled beauty along the historic Eight-Mile River, a nationally recognized Wild and Scenic Waterway, and is renowned for its diversity of geologic sites and wildlife. Incorporating the Richard H. Goodwin trail, a 14-mile long hiking trail through East Haddam and East Lyme, the Chapal Farm/Patrell Preserve encompass ancient lands essential to preserving the lower Connecticut River estuary. Hammond Hill Preserve
At the 12-acre Hammond Hill Preserve off Dolbia Hill Road West in East Haddam, you can touch remnants of a built-by-hand dam and stroll along the headrace that directed water from the Eightmile River to two former mill sites. Careful placement of boulders and stones dammed the flow of the Eightmile River to power mills 150-200 years ago. Imagine workers trudging each boulder and stone to the dam site that once powered a grist mill, a sawmill, a fulling mill, a blacksmith shop, and a flaxseed oil press into the early 1800s. Early in the 1900s, Edward C. Hammond took over and refurbished the dam and millpond and used the site as a Boy Scout survival skills training camp. While hiking here you can see the remnants of the mills and imagine their long history. Today the Preserve protects plant and animal life as part of the federally designated Eightmile River Wild and Scenic Watershed, one of only two such watersheds in Connecticut. Videos will also be added to our Saving Land, Saving History page as they are released. Videos will be released every two weeks.
2020 Upcoming EventsThe health of our community is our primary concern. As part of the effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, we have made the difficult decision to postpone or cancel certain programs as necessary. Please monitor the schedule posted below. Contact us with any questions at museum@easthaddamhistory.org or 860-873-3944.
All events will take place at the Museum unless otherwise stated. Events are open to the public and free to members and children under twelve, except as noted. Donations from non-members is $5 for regular events. 
“Junk in the Trunk” Sale
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