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About the Preservation
The Homestead was preserved and restored in accordance with the following statement
of purposes and policies for the American Revolution Bicentennial Observance of the Connecticut Historical Commission "We must avoid permitting opinion, legend, myth, 'pragmatic truth' and falsehood to replace
or distort historically verifiable facts and the conclusions which may be drawn from the latter. The criterion therefore,
as to the validity of any historical claim ought to be authentic documentation by unimpeachable primary source material."
An interesting example of the application of these principles at the Homestead is shown in the picture below. In this picture we see the original gunstock post, a piece of its original casing, whitewashed and sponge painted,
the right side of the original 18th century door, and the blue wallpaper, pattern reproduced from a collection of early 19th
century wallpaper patterns, that is on the plastered walls now. We can also see a small section of the original early 18th
century floor, painted its original color.
We know that the door and casing are original because they fit the
spaces precisely and they were discovered in the attic being used as flooring. Paint color for the door was matched through
a painstaking by hand removal of later layers. The same process revealed the original sponge painting under layers of
later paint, and the color of the floor and sumer beam (not shown).
The hypothesis
that the entire room was paneled and sponge painted
is confirmed by a wall of horizontal paneling, a cornice, and sponge painting in the small closet created in the remodeling
of 1800 - 1810. Apparently, in the remodeling of 1800 - 1810, the horizontal paneling was removed and the walls were
plastered and painted.
This page is still under construction.
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