WINSTED — This year marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the conclusion of the Civil War. After four brutal years of fighting, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Courthouse, Va., on April 9, 1865.This event triggered the successive surrendering of Confederate troops in the following months, with the last Confederate general surrendering on June 23, 1865.The Civil War helped to shape how the United States grew into the nation that it is today.Now, 150 years since the final shot was fired, new discoveries are still being made that are shedding more light on the war, as well as the men who fought in it. One such discovery took place by a dentist in the attic of his home in Torrington.Torrington resident James Smith came into possession of an old trunk in 2000 after the passing of his parents. Smith had taken ownership of it after the death of his mother, Kate, of New Hartford. The trunk was bequeathed to her by her uncle, James T. Smith, who passed away in Colorado in 1925.James T. Smith, an Irish immigrant, was born in the midst of the Irish Potato Famine in 1846.He emigrated to America with his family as a child and settled in New Hartford. He enlisted as a private in the First Connecticut Volunteer Infantry out of New Britain the first year of the War in 1861.He re-enlisted later and was promoted to a Second Lieutenant in the First Louisiana Infantry in New Orleans in 1862. The trunk sat in Smith’s attic for many years until 2011, when he talked to his neighbor Todd Bryda, who is a professor of history at Northwestern Connecticut Community College.Bryda, who participates in Civil War re-enactments, said that he jumped at the opportunity.“His hands were actually shaking when he opened the trunk,” Smith said.Inside the trunk were over 150 different items ranging from field manuals to an officer’s library, an album of 19th century carte de visites, daily rosters of troops, autographed letters and a dress saber that was a gift from Smith’s regiment of men who had taken up a collection to present to him. “I had gone over to Jim’s house expecting a few old papers,” Bryda said. “Instead, I found a Ph.D. in a box. I was very excited and overwhelmed by what Jim had.”Not only were the century-and-a-half-old items in the trunk, but Bryda said they had remained in incredibly amazing condition.Some of the government documents were still wrapped in the original red tape they had been sealed with, which was the practice that brought about the phrase “cutting through red tape.”Smith described the trunk and the contents staying in that condition as “quite fortuitous, surviving without damage from mice or the elements.”The contents of the trunk revealed more details about Smith.According to his official discharge papers from 1865, found in the trunk, Smith participated in more than half a dozen different notable military actions during the War, including the First Battle of Bull Run. Upon returning to civilian life after his extensive participation in the War, Mr. Smith went on to aid in Reconstruction, help to found the Colorado School of Mines, help to found the first paid fire department in Denver, served as city auditor in Denver for two years, and served as editor and reporter for the Rocky Mountain News for the 50 years up to his death, among his other endeavors and accomplishments.After the trunk was opened, Smith said the question came up of what to do with the trunk and all of the precious items it contained. Both Smith and Bryda decided to contact Jim Patterson, director of Library Services at the college.Upon becoming familiar with the collection, Patterson realized that the small community college simply would not have the resources required to take on such an extensive and historically important project to preserve the items.“It would do these things a disservice to not get them into the best, most apt hands possible,” Patterson said.Inquiries were then made to multiple institutions as possible homes for the collection, and the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut was then selected the best possible fit. With significant resources and expertise with similarly significant collections, the Dodd Center has started the process of carefully unpacking the items, processing them through their conservation lab and digitally archiving everything with the intent of making it available to the public through their national bibliographic utility.“This collection will become readily available to people in perpetuity,” Patterson said. “It will be preserved today, but also made available to generations to come, living on regardless of where technology goes in the future.”Smith echoed these sentiments.“UConn will keep it together and get it out there, and to me, that is what was most important,” Smith said. “I think it is very important to recognize the effect of Jim and Todd along with Northwestern Connecticut Community College on making sure this got to the right place.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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