A series of entries designed to capture the ongoing adventures of NINA! See how we came to be where we are today, and follow along as we enter the new century of social media!
Page: 34We got this idea from the kitchen The Hartford donated to us over at 94 Ashley. How cool is this?
Looks like we'll be closing on 52 Huntington very soon now, so it seemed a good time to take one last look around the house while it's still ours.
Phil Rigueur, who represents Aetna on our Board of Directors, was selected a member of the Hartford Business Journal’s 2018 class of “40 under 40” honorees. HBJ recognized him in part for his work on NINA’s board as well as at the Wilson Gray YMCA and on the Hartford Redevelopment Agency.
Congratulations, Phil!
The consultants working with ConnDOT came back today with their robotic boring device, and they tested deep below the surface to see if there were any signs of an Algonquin village here. As noted before, it wasn't likely they'd turn up anything -- our site is very close to the Park River bed -- and the consultants expected that anything that could have been there 400 years ago was more than likely washed away during the seasonal riparian flooding. Indeed, the preliminary results were that our site held no archaeological value.
Of course, we're fully expecting to find signs of much later human activity, from around 1947 or so, when we start digging for the foundations of our new town homes.
We really were thrilled when Lime Bike rolled out in Hartford, and we’ve been equally thrilled to see so many of them about Asylum Hill, clearly indicated how useful they’ve been to people. But today we encountered this one dumped in the Veeder Place lobby – presumably, someone rode it here and then didn’t want someone else to ride off with it, but still.
Standing on the second floor, looking up.
Team Rubicon came by today to start the interior demolition for us. They went to work on the second floor, and they did an amazing amount of work! That dumpster was empty this morning ….
The event was organized by Vic Civitello, a carpenter who works with us regularly who is also a military veteran. Team Rubicon is a veteran service organization that uses disaster response to help reintegrate veterans back into civilian life – 117 Sigourney isn’t exactly a disaster, but Team Rubicon was looking to do some work in Hartford and our project seemed a good fit for them.
The volunteers came from all around the country, and they stayed across the street at Trinity Episcopal Church, to whom we’re very grateful for pitching in.
We’ve added a new interior staircase into the basement at 115 Sigourney Street. This was mostly for our convenience right now, but we expect it will be super convenient for the future homeowner. While we were at it, we also framed out the new half bath that will go here. For your visual reference, this is looking into the northwest corner of the house, where the office kitchen used to be.
As part of ConnDOT’s effort to prepare for a possible project to fix or replace the Interstate 84 Viaduct through Hartford, ConnDOT has been assembling a federally required Environmental Impact Study. This study includes a cultural impact component; not surprisingly, that component covers the very real possibility of losing historic structures near the viaduct, but it also covers the possible existence of archaeological sites. And who knew, but 80 Hawthorn has been determined to have a very slight potential to be an archaeological site!
It turns out that 80 Hawthorn sits within the historical flood plain of the Park River, and as such it was fertile agricultural land that was used by the Suckiaug before either Thomas Hooker or Jacob van Curler laid claim to land along the Park. The Suckiag used the flood plain seasonally: following the spring floods, they would farm the land, and then they would move to higher ground following the growing season.
In all likelihood, any artifacts left behind would have been washed away by the seasonal floods, but it’s very important that we investigate the possibility thoroughly. To that end, ConnDOT’s archaeological consultants came out today to assess the site and to determine the best points at which to drill test bores deep into the soil beneath the old parking lot.
The consultants will be back in a week or so to drill the test bores. We’re really looking forward to the results!
