Events

This tour will focus on the early history and recent scholarship uncovering the history of African and African American people buried here. Follow the trail of the colonists who created a center of power in the colonial government through agriculture, trade, and commerce. Maritime trade in particular made the colony complicit in supporting the enslavement of people in the southern colonies and the Caribbean. The state became dependent on the lucrative business within the Triangle Trade. 

The First Company will form up at the State Armory and are expected to arrive at the Old State House around 10:30 a.m. and will then play the National Anthems of France and the United States, lay wreaths, and perform a rifle salute. The procession will march to the Ancient Burying Ground at 679 Main Street and will read names of the dead, lay a wreath, perform a rifle volley and Taps. A tour about the Revolutionary War soldiers will begin at 1:00 pm.

The First Company Governor’s Foot Guard, established in 1771 and based in Hartford, provided a 13-gun salute as the French disembarked at the ferry landing on the Connecticut River. After meeting at the State House, the generals walked to the home of Jeremiah Wadsworth (where the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum now stands) for a reception and discussions.