Granby Living April2020

Martha Korostynski, Assistant, and Carol Laun,
Curator, working on archival donations.
Car show 2018.
Jean Potetz, Patty Sansone and Pam Palmer
examining clothing in the textile room.
space is divided into sections, each highlighting
an aspect of bygone days: an exhibit of local
Indian artifacts; a collection of early quilting,
spinning and weaving tools; recreation of an
early Meeting House (ecumenically created
from parts of Granby’s early churches); a village
store; a dressmaker’s shop; a shoemaker’s shop;
and a kitchen equipped with apple-peeler, iron
stove and ice box.
Granby’s rural farm heritage also resides
here: farm tools and machinery; sleds and
sleighs; hay rakes and hay forks; carpenter
tools; a tobacco production exhibit; and items
used in cider mills and grist mills, blacksmithing
and maple sugaring, and beekeeping and
ice cutting.
MAIL HUT
• Originally located at Barn Door Hills and
Route 20
The mail for the Bushy Hill-Barn Door Hills
neighborhood was delivered to a diminutive
shelter resembling an outhouse during the
1860s and into the 1900s before Rural Free
Delivery functioned fully throughout America’s
farmlands. Mail was left in a bag that was hung
on a hook.
There was a shelf, and whoever got there
looked through all the letters and postcards
as they searched for their own. The busybody
matrons of the area kept a close watch on correspondence
and used to criticize young Addie
Holcomb for writing to too many soldiers
during the Civil War. Addie complained about
the nosy neighbors in her diary (property of
SBHS) in 1862.
PRESERVATION BARN
• Built 2007
For years, members of SBHS had dreamed
of having a multipurpose building. This was
not to be a typical building with office, storage
room and bathroom. The perfect structure was
clearly defined in members’ minds.
Included would be climate-controlled rooms,
large spaces for exhibits, a staff room with
kitchen facilities, a library and two handicapped-accessible
restrooms.
The dream became reality when, in 2005, a
Building Committee was formed, chaired by
Laun. At the April 2007 annual dinner, Laun
announced that the building was nearly complete,
and by fall of 2008 it was in full use.
SADOCE WILCOX HOUSE
• Built 1787 — Acquired 2019
The Wilcox House, barn and 45-acre property
is located in West Granby at 147 Simsbury
Road. It is the only 18th-century house in
Granby that has been continuously lived in by
descendants of the family who built it. Steve
Wilcox Hastings, the last owner, sold it to the
Granby Land Trust, which will preserve the 45
acres while SBHS will preserve the house.
This is a prized addition to the society’s
properties, with proposed uses including tours
and theme exhibits, such as a loom and weaving
room.
6 | APRIL 2020