Student project aims to memorialize Cornwall’s first Black female landowner

Student project aims to memorialize Cornwall’s first Black female landowner

Four Cornwall students, Skylar Brown, Izabella Coppola, Halley Villa and Willa Lesch, shared their goal with Selectmen Jen Markow, Gordon Ridgway and Rocco Botto at the regular meeting March 4.

Jane Hall

CORNWALL — The story of Naomi Cain Freeman will continue to be told for generations to come thanks to the work of Cornwall Consolidated School’s seventh grade girls.

Four of the students, Skylar Brown, Izabella Coppola, Halley Villa and Willa Lesch, attended the Board of Selectmen meeting March 4 with a request to rename a section of Great Hollow Road in honor of the historic figure. This suggestion was inspired by research into significant women in Cornwall’s history.

According to Cornwall Historical Society records, Naomi was born in 1794 and was adopted by Colonel John Sedgwick and his wife Abigail, of Cornwall, in 1801. This act protected her from slavery, which was still legal in Connecticut at the time.

Sedgwick included Naomi in his will and she received a dowry after his death in 1820.

Naomi Freeman’s deed for “one acre of land with a dwelling House thereon,” Aug. 27, 1828.Courtesy of the Town of Cornwall

Naomi later married Obadiah “Obed” Freeman, a man who had been enslaved in Cornwall. She purchased an acre of land in Cornwall, becoming the town’s first Black woman to own land, and the two settled on Great Hollow Road in 1828.

Nearly 200 years later, the road itself may commemorate her legacy.

The selectmen were receptive to the students’ suggestion and agreed to help establish a memorial street name.

“We could name a section on an honorary basis in view of this extraordinary effort and extraordinary story,” said First Selectman Gordon Ridgway. “I commend the seventh graders.”

The students hope to achieve their goal within the month of March. An update is expected at the next selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, March 18.

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less