Current and Ongoing Exhibits
If you like what you see here, please Schedule a Visit so we can show you these fine exhibits in person!
Characters of Longmeadow
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This exhibit currently features interesting people from Longmeadow's past such as; Dr. Thomas Chapman, gravestone carver Hermon Newell, "Marchant" Samuel Colton, the Cordis family, and Longmeadow's first art teacher, Alice Willard. The plan for this exhibit is to change out portions periodically to feature additional people and stories.
Hermon Newell's Tool Collection
Dr. Thomas Chapman
Alice Willard's Art
Through the Lens 1890-1920
WWI Exhibit
This thirty-year span included World War I, the so-called "Spanish flu" epidemic, and the death of the last Storrs to live in the Storrs House--Sarah Storrs. A prolific photographer, Paesiello Emerson, was featured with many of his photos from the period, as well as a collection of early cameras on loan from Wistariahurst Museum. The split of the Town into East Longmeadow and Longmeadow and women's suffrage was also added.
Sarah Storrs Exhibit
Wistariahurst Cameras
North Parlor
This room has an 18th-century theme, with several items belonging to the Williams family that were saved when the parsonage (located where the Community House is today) burned to the ground in 1846. The display cupboard in this room contains several Williams objects including a pistol belonging to John Williams (Stephen's father), 2 volumes of Williams' diaries and related items.
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South Parlor
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This parlor contains many items belonging to members of the Storrs family, including the Reverend Richard Salter Storrs' desk-and-bookcase and several family portraits. The display closet contains many items of glass and ceramics from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This group includes a bottle from Merchant Samuel Colton's store, a set of Chinese-export porcelain with a tobacco leaf design, and a D-shaped bough pot of lusterware.
Richard Salter Storrs' Desk
Display Case
Sally and Richard Salter Storrs
Music Room
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Secretary
The southeast parlor, or music room, contains an 1835 piano that belonged to Reverend Richard Salter Storrs (1820-1900), a minister in Brooklyn, NY and grandson of Longmeadow's second minister. A secretary contains many objects of interest, including a locally made globe, a pitch pipe, and shoe lasts.
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Richard Salter Storrs' (1821-1900) Piano
Jabez Colton's Globe
First Floor Hallway
Joseph A. Hekking's "A View of the Connecticut River from Pecousic Brook"
The first floor hallway contains two portraits of the Bliss brother, Gauis and Gad, prominent businessmen in the early 19th century. A large painting by Joseph Hekking from roughly 1872 hangs there also, with of view of Springfield from the vantage point of where the Picknelly ball field is located today. Hekking was a friend of Professor Richard "Salter" Storrs (1830-1884), On the opposite wall is a small collection of maps, including one from 1870 of Longmeadow, an 1833 map of New England, and a "Miniature County Map of the United States" from 1842, engraved by Longmeadow's own Jonathan Hale Goldthwait.
Gaius Bliss
1833 Map of Southern New England
The Kitchen
Swing Bed
The kitchen, with its large cooking fireplace, features many items that would have been used in an early kitchen, as well as several items to keep warm--footwarmers and bedwarmers. The room also has a "swing bed" that hinges in the middle, allowing it to fold up against the wall when not in use. There was a swing bed mentioned in the Reverend Richard Salter Storrs' 1819 estate inventory.
Pantry
Hearth and Cooking Tools
Northwest Bedchamber
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Tall Post Bed and Pembroke Table
This room is the only room in the house with no evidence of ever having a fireplace. The furnishings include items from the 1790-1810 time period and items belonging to a granddaughter of Stephen Williams, Jerusha Williams Colton. Some of the notable items created by Jerusha are a sampler done at age 9, a needlework family crest created while she was a student at Misses Patten's school in Hartford, and two chairs with crewel-worked seat covers. Six chairs are in the room, a common practice in early times. There is also a wooden-works tall case clock that belonged to an early Mason in the Cooley family.
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Pitcher and Bowl
Williams Family Crest
Chest of Drawers and Chairs
Southwest Bedchamber
The Southwest bedchamber has a set of furniture that belonged to Eleazer and Lucy Storrs, dating to the 1830s. Several family pictures are in the room, as well as a portrait of Mary Harriet Ford, born in 1804. Her portrait was misidentified for decades, and recent research revealed the true sitter.
Lucy and Eleazer Storrs
