Beautifying Greenwich - Celebrating America's 250th

 By Mary A. Jacobson

A living flower flag – collaborative project by three garden clubs: Hortulus, Greenwich Garden Club, and Green Fingers Garden Club. Depicted as the Betsy Ross flag of 1776. On Flag Day, to reflect the Star-Spangled Banner flag of 1813. On July 4, it will depict our present flag. Photo by Christopher Shields. Courtesy of Greenwich Historical Society.

Greenwich is fortunate to have a number of local garden clubs and organizations whose membership contributes tirelessly to the beautification of our town. This year, in celebration of America’s | 250th Greenwich, three of them – Hortulus, Greenwich Garden Club, and Green Fingers Garden Club have collaborated in creating an American flag of flowers to be displayed beside the Bush-Holley House on the grounds of the Greenwich Historical Society. This patriotic floral display will reflect, from June to September, three versions of the flag which have been featured in our country’s history.

Riverside Garden Club turned to Putnam Cottage, also known as Knapp’s Tavern, for their unique contribution to our nation’s semi quincentennial. There, at the site of a former tavern that served lunch to George Washington and was later named in honor of General Israel Putnam of Revolutionary War fame, the Riverside Garden Club restored a colonial herb garden. Hops plants were discovered, possibly similar to those used to brew ale in Washington’s time. On June 7, it is anticipated that visitors will have the opportunity to taste the ale made from these hops, a contribution donated by Two Roads Brewery of Stamford.

This year, Greenwich Green and Clean is celebrating its fortieth anniversary enhancing the parks, streetscapes, and natural spaces of Greenwich. One of their most visible and welcome contributions has been to Greenwich Avenue with its seasonal hanging baskets that adorn lampposts throughout the year, fashioned and hung gratis by Sam Bridge Nursery and Greenhouses. This year, in celebration of America’s 250th, these iconic and well-loved baskets will be adorned with red, white, and blue plantings throughout the town.

While these examples are just “a drop in the bucket” of the many people who work in service of beautifying the town, the Oral History Project would like to highlight one of its earlier narrators, Gertrude duPont Howland, who focused her efforts on Greenwich Avenue when there were few trees which adorned it. Her almost “one-woman” effort, as a member of Green Fingers Garden Club in midcentury, helped to translate the Avenue to the leafy street it is today. Interviewed in 1987 by Oral History Project volunteer Margaret French, Howland described the “absolutely bare looking” condition of the Avenue of the 1940s.

According to Howland, the onslaught of Dutch elm disease had infected “the beautiful elm trees that used to be up and down the Avenue. (They) were being taken down one by one… They were cutting off the trunk as low as they could get it, and then cementing over the area, and that was it. Nothing new was being planted. And as one tree after another came down, there was nothing.”

Therein, began an eight-year crusade on the part of Howland, to bring trees back to Greenwich Avenue. With each step of seeming progress, another obstacle appeared, which only strengthened Gertrude Howland’s resolve. When informed that planting trees on the Avenue could disrupt electric, telephone, water, and/or gas utility services, she set about with volunteer help from the local engineering firm S. E. Minor to map out the utility lines from each building on the Avenue in order to record where the various utilities entered from the outside. However, that information only marked the beginning of an often-frustratingly long mission to get more trees planted on Greenwich Avenue.

Howland had to deal with many governmental and landlord concerns: namely, that tree roots would make the pavement uneven; that citizens might then fall and sue the town; that tree roots would break the water mains; that the flow of air to overhead apartments would be disrupted; that the owner of each building would need to give permission; that trees might disrupt window displays; that dropping leaves would become slippery when wet, and so on. It was not until Howland obtained the support of Mayer H. Cohen, then president of the local merchants’ association, that these concerns were mollified. “Somebody told us that if we could get him to let us plant trees in front of his buildings, it would make a great difference… Not only did he permit us to plant trees, he spoke to the others at some merchants’ meeting and, in no time at all, permissions were flowing in.” In addition, Joseph Dietrich, Tree Warden of Greenwich at that time, “was enthusiastic about the idea. And he agreed that Greenwich Avenue should have trees all up and down.”

According to Howland, “There were so many obstacles to overcome, and each time I thought it was the last hurdle. But, of course, it never was.” After eight years of efforts there was finally an official celebratory planting of pin oaks, with a gathering of garden club members, the press, and Joseph Dietrich to mark the occasion. Local garden club contributions and private donations helped “to keep it going.” In 1987, Green Fingers Garden Club awarded Howland with a citation that read, “But for her, the trees on Greenwich Avenue would not exist.”

The Oral History Project is proud to present blogs derived from its collection of recorded interviews as part of the Project’s celebration “America’s 250th |Greenwich: Greenwich History is American History.” Visit the website at glohistory.org. Interviews may also be read in their entirety or checked out at the main library. Our narrator’s recollections are personal and have not been subjected to factual scrutiny. Mary Jacobson serves as blog editor.

Tree replanting on Greenwich Avenue, circa 1950s. Photo by John Gotch. Courtesy of Greenwich Library local history collection.

Festive hanging baskets celebrating Greenwich 250th provided by Greenwich Green & Clean. Photo by Sally Davies. Courtesy of Greenwich Green & Clean.

On George Washington: Father of Our Country – Celebrating America’s 250th

by Mary A. Jacobson

Wyatt Bennett with a painting by Emanuel Leutze visualizing Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Photo by Anne W. Semmes

George Washington – patriot, soldier, president, Father of our Country – a man for the times who helped shape our country at a critical period in its history.

Wyatt Bennett has had a fascination with George Washington for fifty years. This year, at eighty-three years of age, he shared his knowledge and admiration of Washington with Mary Ellen LeBien of the Oral History Project, co-chair of the America 250th|Greenwich Community Partners Committee. Bennett was interviewed at Bennett Jewelers, his family store in Old Greenwich.

“Without Washington and without the French help that we got, it could very well have been an extended period before we achieved our freedom. Or it might never have occurred, and we might have had a situation like Canada has, where they peacefully separated from England, and there was no war to speak of… we just don’t know.”

According to Bennett, Washington “was a wonderful soldier in the Seven Years War (1756-1763), and the British were very haughty about how they treated colonials… probably that helped his decision to… become head of the Continental Army” in 1775. Washington, a Virginian, was considered a good choice. “A lot of the disruption that was occurring at this time, in the 1770s was in New England. So, the Second Continental Congress, I think, said, ‘Look, we have to get a Southern man in here who can do the job.’ And he was a very good choice.”

Washington did not experience only victorious outcomes in battles. “I think he might have been involved in seven battles during the Revolutionary War, five of which he lost.” According to Bennett, Washington was determined “to keep the army together... because, if the army dissolved, there would be nobody to oppose the British… That’s why many of those losses were more tactical retreats than anything. In 1776, he was chased across New Jersey into Philadelphia. And he just kept a step ahead of the British at that time, keeping the colonials together.”

At that point, as Bennett described, Washington made a brave and risky decision. He would have his troops cross the Delaware River in the middle of a brutal winter in a raging storm, and make the attack on Trenton, New Jersey. “The night was terrible. He lost a couple of his men through freezing to death. But during the battle, he lost nobody… Normally soldiers in the eighteenth century took a break in the winter and started fighting in the spring… Twenty-four hundred soldiers, I think, he put together to cross the Delaware.”

Once the garrison crossed the river, they then had to march nine miles to get to Trenton. Two supporting contingents of soldiers that were supposed to meet them were unable to, so “Washington had to do it on his own… They (the Hessians) were completely surprised by it (the attack). The Hessians were busy celebrating Christmas. This was the day after Christmas, actually the 26th … And he (Washington) took nine hundred prisoners and killed thirty or forty of them.” A week later, “he went up to Princeton and won a battle there also.” These battles in 1777 with exceptional outcomes were pivotal for the troops and the War effort which did not end until 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown, led by Washington with support from the Marquis de Lafayette and French army troops.

From 1781 “we had a set of rules that we were going to abide by (the Articles of Confederation)” but “the big thing at that time also was keeping the thirteen colonies together, not having them balkanize and each state fighting another state. It was very important to Washington… He believed in a strong federal government.” The drafting of our constitution was completed at the Constitutional Convention at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787. “So, the representatives were sent back to the various states to get their approval… nine was the number you had to have to have full approval.”

In 1789, George Washington was elected president of the United States with unanimous support from each participating state. A national hero and favorite son of Virginia, the largest state at the time, he had been president of the Constitutional Convention and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. “I think he would have preferred not being president. He loved Mount Vernon and his mules and his crops and he would rather have done that as a private citizen, but he was highly respected and trusted… The things he decided to do on his own set precedents for many years to come… The fact that he was so highly respected made a big difference to how we got off to a fairly good start as a country.”

As to what Bennett thinks young people should know about Washington? “I think it varies depending on the age of the student…. Early on emphasizing patriotism is rather a good thing… and then work from there. As you get older, you become critical of what you’ve been told…. you have to be careful how you treat things that were not so good back then by our standards…. You have to look through the eyes of an eighteenth-century politician, when they were making their decisions, not through the eyes of a twenty-first century one… As I say, in the long run, I think our constitution is set up pretty well; it’s aspirational. We’re trying to make it better all the time, which is encouraging, I hope.”

A truly historic event for America 250th|Greenwich will occur at Greenwich Library on June 20. On that day, the George Washington Inaugural Bible will be displayed there from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. This Bible was supplied to Washington when it was discovered that there was none for him to lay his hand upon as he was about to be sworn in as president in 1789. The Bible has been kept under guard at the Masonic Lodge in lower Manhattan; its safe keeping will continue to be monitored as it travels to Greenwich.

The Oral History Project is proud to present blogs derived from its collection of recorded interviews as part of the Project’s celebration of “America’s 250th|Greenwich – Greenwich History is American History.” The OHP is sponsored by Friends of Greenwich Library. Visit the website at glohistory.org. Interviews may also be read in their entirety or checked out at the main library. They are also available for purchase by contacting the OHP office. Our narrator’s recollections are personal and have not been subjected to factual scrutiny. Mary Jacobson serves as blog editor.

A plaque from 1932, located on exterior of Second Congregational Church, commemorating 143rd anniversary of day George Washington stopped to admire scenery from nearby Post Road in 1789. Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

 
A visualization entitled “Washington’s Crossing” on a Durham boat with men and cannons by Mort Kunstler, painted in 2011.
Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

Missy Wolfe: Greenwich Historian -- Celebrating America 250

 By Mary A. Jacobson

A 1649 Dutch Visscher map showing Greenwich (Groeobis) and Stamford (Stamfort). The misspelled Dutch name for Greenwich should be Groenwits. Greenwich was a Dutch territory, a part of New Netherlands for its first sixteen years. Courtesy of Missy Wolfe.

Historian: “a scholar who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events.” (Wikipedia)

What, one may wonder, are the qualities and influences which might propel a person to make the study of history a life’s passion? Curiosity? The joy of discovery? Perseverance? Inspiration?

Missy Wolfe, a Greenwich resident, is considered a preeminent Greenwich historian. In 2024, Oral History Project volunteer Caroline Atkins interviewed her to enlighten us about the person behind her work.

Missy Wolfe’s family moved to Greenwich from Louisville, Kentucky, when she was of middle-school age and was enrolled at Central Middle School. “I loved reading and always did; I love nonfiction and biography… I always found nonfiction far more fascinating than fiction because you can’t make this stuff up; it really happened. And that it really happened was intriguing to me.”

After receiving her undergraduate degree in economics and psychology at Indiana University, Wolfe joined her dad, who had a career in advertising, in developing a marketing strategy consulting firm. Their focus was on the concept of creativity, and how their uniquely developed materials could enable consumers of goods or services to create what they wanted to buy. “The creativity process we sold became very successful…Our clients, the companies, would then ask their manufacturers to create our recommendations and their advertising agency to relay our findings.” Missy credits that experience with developing her writing skills. “How do you take a large amount of information, sort it, organize it, structure it, make conclusions about it, and report it in a very efficient way?… So, I guess that really established my ability to organize a lot of data.”

Missy also credits several writers as being major influences on her. They include Antonia Fraser, “famous for her non-fiction histories of female European royalty and the geopolitical games they played and why;” Alison Weir, author of numerous historical biographies of British royalty and personages; and Barbara Tuchman, local author, historian, and Pulitzer Prize winner. “And those were my inspirations… I was always reading them.”

Over the next twelve or so intervening years, Missy obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School, was employed by Ogilvy and Mathers, married, worked additional years with her dad, and had three children. Her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, was also an academic writer. “He taught me the importance of publishing in academic journals to present important discoveries… He is the one who pushed me to write my first academic article on the original Dutch jurisdiction of Greenwich… So that jelled with my love of nonfiction that requires a lot of citation. My great interest in genealogy links with this too.”

Missy’s hypothesis was that, in its first years, Greenwich was a Dutch territory, that it was not founded by the New Haven Colony. “It was a myth that we were English originally.” She presented her theory to Debra Mecky, then Executive Director and CEO of Greenwich Historical Society. Mecky’s response was, “’Well, do your research and present your proposition,’ which I did.”

Missy Wolfe portrait. Courtesy of Missy Wolfe.

Missy Wolfe’s research took her to the New York State Library in Albany, New York, which “has many of the earliest records concerning Greenwich because of this original (Dutch) jurisdiction; another reason we didn’t know our earliest history very well…These records sat on ships during the American Revolution. They put them on ships because they didn’t want the Dutch or British to burn them. . . getting moldier and wet. It’s amazing they survived.” Later, in the 1800s, the records were retrieved from The Hague, where they had been stored, and were brought back to New York State. Luckily, one man transcribed some records and created an index for most of them, storing them in the New York State Library. Unfortunately, in 1911, a fire damaged or destroyed much of these old 1600s records. “All the original documents that have been transcribed to this day, up there at New Netherland project, all the original documents are burned around the edges.”

In the 1970s these records were conserved and cleaned by Josephine Conboy, founder of the Greenwich Preservation Trust in 2008. “Fifty years after Jo Conboy’s prescient work, I had the technology to digitize them, and in this way, they could be restored to chronological order once again after three hundred and fifty years… It is also amazing that our town archives of Greenwich, that live down in our town hall, that we have them at all is a truly wonderful thing!”

In 2015, Missy’s article The First Dutch Jurisdiction of Greenwich was published in the Connecticut History Review. “So now it is accepted by all of academia that that is true. We were (initially) a part of New Netherland; a part of Dutch New York.” Missy further stated, “People were upset because they had invested in the English heritage of Greenwich… Everything I’ve written is cited. You can refer to the original source document where this information comes from.”

Missy Wolfe’s publications include Insubordinate Spirit, chronicling the history of early settlers Elizabeth Feake Winthrop Hallett and family when Greenwich was still part of New Netherland; The Hidden History of Colonial Greenwich, describing the creation of the community of Greenwich in early American colonial times; and The Great Ledger Records of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut 1640-1742, a two-volume “transcription of town hall records… a very large project of photographing, transcribing, ordering, and indexing hundreds and hundreds of colonial records.” Missy is now working on volume three and is up to 1768. The factual information and historical revelations presented in these books have added immeasurably to the knowledge that we now have about our local history.

For Missy Wolfe, the fascination of Greenwich is of “the lost Greenwich, the Greenwich that we never knew, radically different from today.” And the inner propulsion to uncover its history? “I can’t explain it. It’s like an obsession that just came over me. It was like I was teed up because of my life experiences to be the person to do this work.”

The Oral History Project is proud to present blogs derived from its collection of recorded interviews as part of the Project’s celebration “America’s 250th|Greenwich – Greenwich History is American History.” Visit the website at glohistory.org. Interviews may also be read in their entirety or checked out at the main library. They are also available for purchase by contacting the OHP office. Our narrator’s recollections are personal and have not been subjected to factual scrutiny. Mary Jacobson serves as blog editor.

Dictating the 1600s records in Greenwich Town Hall Vital Records Vault in 2015. Courtesy of Missy Wolfe.