Noah Webster House

Early American Adventure Camp!
2026-03-30 00:00 (America/New_York) | CT

WordHouse Poetry - March 18
2026-03-18 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Join us at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for a FREE poetry reading on Wednesday, March 18 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Each program begins with an open mic and features two headlining poets. This month’s poets are Judith Liebmann and Jefferson Singer. No registration is required and donations are greatly appreciated to support the not-for-profit museum. Please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org/wordhouse-poetry/ for more information.
About the poets:
Jefferson Singer is a poet and clinical psychologist living in West Hartford. A recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize at Amherst College, as well as a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, he obtained a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Yale University and went on to forge a career as a professor of psychology at Connecticut College over nearly 4 decades. In recent years, he has increasingly focused on writing poetry and has had poems appear in Sixfold, Orenaug Mountain Poetry Journal, the Medical Literary Messenger, Hartford Arts Pages and the Winter Glimmerings anthology, among other journals. He published his first book of poems, In Common Things (Shanti Arts Press) in 2024. He has given readings at The Packing House, Noah Webster Library, and for Poets from the CT’s Four Corners, among other venues. For this upcoming reading, he will share new poems that focus on the extraordinary life of his late brother who successfully coped with chronic mental illness.
Judith Liebmann has published poetry in Scientific American, The New York Times, The Laurel Review, The Cream City Review among others and her work has been included in a number of anthologies. She recently published the collection, Ekphrasis (PreSSappel, 2024). She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Yale University, where she taught for many years and where she served as the Director of the Writing Program at the Center for Independent Study at Yale. She has been the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, a Wilson Fellowship, a Germanistic Society of America Grant, a German University Exchange Grant and a writing grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts

Webster Wool Spinning Day | Life on the Webster Farm
2026-03-14 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
March 14 – Webster Wool Spinning Day
Our costumed museum teachers will demonstrate how to spin sheep’s wool into yarn on our reproduction spinning wheels. Try your hand at “carding” the wool, finger-spinning or using a drop-spindle, while learning from a master.
Visit the museum on select Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. and enjoy live demonstrations from our experienced team of museum educators. Each demonstration will focus on a unique aspect of early American work and play. Stop by and learn about the trades and activities of life on the Webster farm!
This program is included in museum admission. Enjoy FREE general admission for children 12 and under for this event!
For more information, please email events@noahwebsterhouse.org.

Noah Webster: Partisan Federalist (1792-1843)
2026-03-12 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Noah Webster: Partisan Federalist (1792-1843)
Thursday, March 12, 2026
6:30 p.m.
Tickets available now at: https://noahwebster.yapsody.com/event/index/857209/Noah-Webster-Partisan-Federalist-17921843
In 1789, Noah Webster rejoiced along with his countrymen at the auspicious inauguration of George Washington, America’s first president. Webster wrote to his new brother-in-law to explain that the many months spent as a forceful advocate on behalf of the new Federal Constitution were now over, and he would leave his teaching and political work in Philadelphia to return to Connecticut; once back home, he could practice law, enjoy married life, and raise a family. Noah Webster was only 31 years old.
However, a quiet, private life was not yet possible for Webster, as there was much work left for him to do in service of his country. Daunting as it had been for the Founding Fathers to design a new Federal government that met the approval of citizens in thirteen, very diverse states, the business of governing the nation under the provisions of the new U.S. Constitution would threaten to tear the young nation apart.
All the Framers of the Constitution, (and Webster…whose ideas strongly influenced them) worried that political “factions,” or “parties,” would naturally contest each other for political power and control of national policies enforced by the new Federal government. They anticipated that these factions would appeal to the base of “popular” support and devolve into the kind of social anarchy that was then sweeping across Revolutionary France.
By the time President John Adams assumed office in 1797, those fears were realized. Although Webster spent significant time on his great educational works like the American Dictionary of the English Language, he continued to fully engage in media conflict on behalf of the Federalist Party. The Federalists dominated urban centers and the northeast but were losing influence with the rural districts, as the Democratic-Republican Party coalesced around the leadership of Virginians Thomas Jefferson & James Madison.
The presidential election of 1800 was a vicious contest on both sides but is recognized as our nation’s first “peaceful transfer of power”. When Jefferson defeated Adams, the torch was passed from one political party to another, a promising sign for the future of the republic. Yet, the threat of disunion loomed over America for the remainder of Webster’s life, and he died in 1843 with much trepidation that the American experiment might not endure.
This program is co-hosted by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, West Hartford 250, and the West Hartford Town Historian.
About The Presenter:
Craig Hotchkiss has joined the Noah Webster house team as an education consultant and developed two high school outreach programs and public lectures on the life & legacy of Noah Webster, to coincide with the national, state & local initiatives surrounding the America250 anniversary on July 4, 2026.
Mr. Hotchkiss taught United States History at South Windsor High School for 33 years, including Honors & Advanced Placement classes, and served as the History Department Chair for nearly a decade.
Upon retirement, Craig served as the Education Manager at The Mark Twain House & Museum, where he presented scores of public outreach programs at schools, libraries, and other civic organizations throughout Connecticut and the entire Northeast. Mr. Hotchkiss was also the Site Director for the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Teacher Workshops at the museum for 5 years and taught a graduate level course Museum Education at Trinity College in Hartford.
This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.

The 2026 Connecticut Spelling Bee
2026-03-08 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | University of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT, 06117
The Connecticut Spelling Bee will return to West Hartford on Sunday, March 8, 2026, and participants will compete for the chance to represent the state at the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The 9th Annual Connecticut Spelling Bee is presented by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, Connecticut’s Official Regional Partner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competition begins at 1 p.m. on March 8 at the Hoffman Auditorium at the University of Saint Joseph, located at 1678 Asylum Avenue in West Hartford.
Students who have made it to The Connecticut Spelling Bee have already won their school- or town-wide spelling bees. This year, thousands of Connecticut students in grades 1-8 participated in the spelling bee program. From that, 60+ are eligible to move on to The Connecticut Spelling Bee. This makes 2026 the largest and most competitive Connecticut Spelling Bee in recent history, a number that grows each year.
Cheer on Connecticut’s top spellers! The Connecticut Spelling Bee is free and open to the public (first come, first served). Live recordings are prohibited. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. For more information about The Connecticut Spelling Bee, please email us at events@noahwebsterhouse.org.

Exhibit Opening: Hope on the Horizon
2026-03-05 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Hope on the Horizon

March 5 – April 30, 2026
The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is delighted to present an exhibit featuring original oil paintings of local artist Christopher Straus. “Hope on the Horizon” will be on view at the museum from March 5 through April 30, 2026.
An opening reception for “Chris Straus: Hope on the Horizon” will take place on Thursday, March 5, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society. The community is invited to meet the artist, experience the exhibition, and support both Straus and the museum by purchasing original paintings, gift cards, and limited matted giclée prints available in the museum’s West Hartford Gift Shop.
Straus is deeply rooted in the West Hartford arts community, studying at the West Hartford Art League and regularly painting alongside fellow local artists. Over the past 14 years, he has built a loyal following for his vibrant landscapes, flowers, and sunsets, which radiate a sense of joy and optimism. Drawing from family photographs, he is highly selective about the images he chooses to paint, and he is closely involved in visually editing the compositions he will paint. He hopes guests will visit the exhibit and leave with a smile and refreshed sense of hope. Christopher has surpassed the limits placed on him as an individual with intellectual and motoric special needs.
Straus’s artwork has long resonated with local audiences, including through his popular greeting cards, which are currently regularly sold at Good Cause Gifts at West Hartford & Berlin, CT.

Bristow: A Life Remembered
2026-02-19 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Bristow: A Life Remembered
Thursday, February 19, 2026
6:00 p.m.
Tickets available now at: https://noahwebster.yapsody.com/event/index/857207/the-story-of-bristow
Bristow, sometimes spelled Bristol, was a resident of the West Division of Hartford (now West Hartford) in the mid to late 1700s. Regarded for his agricultural knowledge, he was enslaved by the Thomas Hart and Sarah Whitman Hooker family until 1755. Hooker family lore maintained that he was granted his freedom, but his manumission papers show that he purchased his freedom from Thomas Hart Hooker. Bristow lived with his former enslaver, Sarah Whitman Hooker, in his later life and rests in Old Center Cemetery on North Main Street, West Hartford. In 2004, West Hartford named its third middle school after Bristow, a colonial era resident of what is now West Hartford.
This program is co-hosted by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, West Hartford 250, and the West Hartford Town Historian.
About The Presenters:
This lecture will be presented by Booker & Elena DeVaughn.
This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.

WordHouse Poetry - February 18
2026-02-18 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Join us at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for a FREE poetry reading on Wednesday, February 18 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Each program begins with an open mic and features two headlining poets. No registration is required and donations are greatly appreciated to support the not-for-profit museum. Please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org/wordhouse-poetry/ for more information.

This month’s poets are Angela Siew and Scott Frey.
Scott Frey is a poet, educator, and author of Heavy Metal Nursing, which won the 2023 Tampa Review Prize for poetry. His new collection, Strange Vigil, won the Black River Chapbook Competition, hosted by Black Lawrence Press. Among other places, his work appears in Passages North, New York Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, Bellevue Literary Review, and The Missouri Review, where he was awarded the Perkoff Prize for poetry. He and his wife also run a non-profit charity, The Charlotte Frey Foundation, whose mission is to help children with multiple handicaps and life-threatening illnesses and their families improve their quality of life. He and his family live in Granby, Connecticut. Find his work online at scottfrey.org
Angela Siew is a multilingual poet with an MFA from Emerson College. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, and the City of Boston. Her chapbook, Coming Home, was awarded a 2025 Connecticut Artist Fellowship Grant and is available from Cut Bank. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Salamander, Meridian, and LEON Literary Review, among others. Learn more at angelasiew.com.

Noah’s Valentine | Life on the Webster Farm
2026-02-14 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
February 14 – Noah’s Valentine
During the 18th century, Valentine’s Day became very popular. Visit the Noah Webster House to learn about Noah’s love life, read his love letters and then write your own letter to a loved one with authentic quill and ink, just like Noah himself!
Visit the museum on select Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. and enjoy live demonstrations from our experienced team of museum educators. Each demonstration will focus on a unique aspect of early American work and play. Stop by and learn about the trades and activities of life on the Webster farm!
This program is included in museum admission. Enjoy FREE general admission for children 12 and under for this event!
For more information, please email events@noahwebsterhouse.org.

Early American Decorative Textiles | Life on the Webster Farm
2026-01-24 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
January 24 – Early American Decorative Textiles
Textile production was mostly done out of necessity for clothing and other household goods. However, decorative needlework, knitting, crocheting, weaving and dyeing was an early American art form. See examples of textiles from our museum collection, watch our loom in action, & make your own textile creation!
Visit the museum on select Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. and enjoy live demonstrations from our experienced team of museum educators. Each demonstration will focus on a unique aspect of early American work and play. Stop by and learn about the trades and activities of life on the Webster farm!
This program is included in museum admission. Enjoy FREE general admission for children 12 and under for this event!
For more information, please email events@noahwebsterhouse.org.

Working for the Revolution: Patriot Women's Lives During the War
2026-01-22 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Working for the Revolution: Patriot Women’s Lives During the War
Thursday, January 22, 2026
6:30 p.m.
Tickets available now at: https://noahwebster.yapsody.com/event/index/852655/Working-for-the-Revolution

The talk will explore how women contributed to the American Revolutionary effort politically, economically, intellectually, and even militarily. Using original sources like newspapers, court records, letters, and pension records, Dr. Hermes will show how Indigenous, Anglo-European, and African-descended women all helped to further the Patriot cause.
This program is co-hosted by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, West Hartford 250, and the West Hartford Town Historian.
About The Presenter:
Katherine Hermes is the publisher and executive director of Connecticut Explored magazine, a non-profit history publication produced for readers interested in Connecticut’s past. She is professor emerita of history at Central Connecticut State University, where she taught Early American history for 25 years. She has created and been involved with a number of digital public history projects, including Forgotten Voices of the Revolutionary War: People of Color and the Redding Encampment, 1778-1779.
This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.

Guided Tours
2025-12-26 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Visit the Noah Webster House on Friday, December 26, 2025 and enjoy guided tours from 1pm-4pm. No advance registration required. Guided tour included in ticket price (Adults – $14, Students/Seniors – $12, Members – FREE)

Author Talk with Stefan Fatsis & John Morse | "Unabridged"
2025-12-11 18:00 - 19:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is excited to host an evening with author Stefan Fatsis & John Morse (former president & publisher of Merriam-Webster Dictionary) on December 11 at 6:00pm. Fatsis will be discussing his most recent book, Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary.
Join us for a vibrant, lively, and illuminating journey through the exotic world of Merriam-Webster, dictionaries, and language, at a time of rapid-fire change in the way we create, consume, define, and use words.
Please click here to reserve your spot now!
Attendees may reserve a General Admission ticket, which includes admission into the event. Or, reserve event admission including a copy of Unabridged to be available and signed for you at the event. (only 10 available– act now!)

Holiday Market
2025-12-07 10:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-06 10:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-05 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-11-16 10:00 - 15:00, 2025-11-15 10:00 - 15:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Holiday Market

November 15 & 16 ~ 10am-3pm
December 5 ~ 5pm-8pm
December 6 & 7 ~ 10am-3pm

The Noah Webster House at 227 South Main Street is excited to host the Sixth Annual Holiday Market in 2025. Enjoy the opportunity to find the best gifts for family and friends while also supporting small, local businesses this holiday season. This market is offered over two weekends, featuring over 20 different local artisans each weekend. Artisans will be set up throughout the museum offering a wide range of handmade gift items.
The Holiday Market will be open for shopping on Saturday and Sunday, November 15 & 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (first weekend), Friday, December 5 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, December 6 & 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (second weekend). No registration is required. The museum suggests a $5 donation upon entry, which helps support museum educational initiatives.
The West Hartford Gift Shop is the anchor vendor at the Holiday Market and will have many products available. The gift shop also carries a selection of literary-themed items including scarves, notecards, and drinkware.
The new West Hartford collectible holiday ornament will be announced soon! A limited number of ornaments are available, so it recommended to pre-order at westhartfordgiftshop.com. Ornaments may be picked up at the Holiday Market.
The museum is offering this holiday tradition to support local businesses, many of them newer and without their own brick and mortar location. Artisans will be showcasing their artwork in many categories including jewelry, candles, pottery, notecards, woodworking pieces, fiber arts and so much more.

WordHouse Poetry - December 3
2025-12-03 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Join us at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for a FREE poetry reading on Wednesday, December 3 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Each program begins with an open mic and features two headlining poets. No registration is required and donations are greatly appreciated to support the not-for-profit museum. Please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org/wordhouse-poetry/ for more information.

Benjamin Grossberg and Margaret Lloyd
Margaret Lloyd was born in Liverpool, England, of Welsh parents and emigrated to a Welsh immigrant community in central New York State. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Leeds, England. She is the author of five poetry books, most recently Sleeping in the Same World (Kelsay Books, 2024). Her poetry honors include a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, fellowships to Breadloaf and to Hawthornden Castle in Scotland, and a writing residency at Yaddo. Lloyd has also published widely in literary journals such as Poetry East, Willow Springs, New England Review, AGNI, Planet: The Welsh Internationalist, Stand, and Poetry Wales. Lloyd is Professor Emeritus at Springfield College, Massachusetts. Find more about Lloyd at her website: www.margaretlloyd.net
Benjamin S. Grossberg’s collections include My Husband Would (University of Tampa, 2020), winner of the Connecticut Book Award, and Sweet Core Orchard (University of Tampa, 2009), winner of a Lambda Literary Award. He also wrote a novel, The Spring before Obergefell (University of Nebraska, 2024), which also received a Lambda Literary Award. A new chapbook, As Are Right Fit, was recently published by Harbor Editions (2024). Ben is Director of Creative Writing at the University of Hartford.

Hearth Cooking | Life on the Webster Farm
2025-11-29 12:00 - 14:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Visit the museum on select Saturdays from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. and enjoy live demonstrations from our experienced team of museum educators. Each demonstration will focus on a unique aspect of early American work and play. Stop by and learn about the trades and activities of life on the Webster farm!
This program is included in museum admission. Enjoy FREE general admission for children 12 and under for this event!
See below for specific program offerings! For more information, please email events@noahwebsterhouse.org.
Thank you to our 2024-2025 Sponsor, the Rotary Club of West Hartford!
November 29, 2025 – Hearth Cooking
Try your hand at cooking meals over the open flame in our 18th-century reproduction fireplace! Our museum teachers will discuss how the Webster family prepared meals, where the ingredients came from… and tools that were used in cooking and baking.

Oh, How We Danced! | A Masters Lecture
2025-11-12 18:00 - 19:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
“Oh, How We Danced”
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
6:00 p.m.
Click here to reserve tickets now!

Learn about how early American families passed the time with music and dancing. Enjoy a presentation of 18th-century dance music through songs, visuals, and readings. Guests will have the opportunity to then participate in a demonstration of a popular Country Dance, just as Noah Webster might have enjoyed!

About Fran Hendrickson:
Frances Cibel Hendrickson has devoted her life to preserving and sharing the music, dance, and culture of the 18th century. With her late husband, Charles Cyril Hendrickson, Fran brought these historical arts to modern audiences along the historic east coast of North America and Canada through performance, research, and publishing. The Hendrickson Group uncovered and republished hundreds of forgotten 18th-century dances, both tunes and instructions from original handwritten and printed sources. Today, Fran educates and delights audiences through music, dance instruction, and historical presentations.

This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.

WordHouse Poetry - November 5
2025-11-05 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Join us at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for a FREE poetry reading on Wednesday, November 5 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Each program begins with an open mic and features two headlining poets. This month’s poets are Monica Ong and Virginia Shreve. No registration is required and donations are greatly appreciated to support the not-for-profit museum. Please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org/wordhouse-poetry/ for more information.
A visual poet and the author of Silent Anatomies (2015) and Planetaria (2025), Monica Ong brings a designer’s eye to experimental writing that surfaces hidden narratives of women and diaspora. Her work has been exhibited at the Poetry Foundation and her fine press visual poetry editions and literary art objects reside in over sixty distinguished institutional collections worldwide. In 2024, Ong was named a United States Artists Fellow.
Virginia Shreve, Town of Canton Poet Laureate, Beat Poet Laureate of CT 2020-2022, and newly-minted Lifetime Beat Poet by the National/International Beat Poet Foundation, resides in the small river village of Collinsville, CT, with husband and dogs, none well-trained, but all good-natured. Her poems have appeared in various anthologies, The Southern Poetry Review, Naugatuck River Review, Slippery Elm, Phantom Drift, Your Daily Poem (online), and others.

Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley
2025-10-29 18:30 - 19:30 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
6:30 p.m.
Tickets available now at: https://noahwebster.yapsody.com/event/index/852483/before-salem-witch-hunting-in-the-connecticut-river-valley

Decades before the Salem Witch trials, 11 people were hanged as witches in the Connecticut River Valley. The advent of witch hunting in New England was directly influenced by the English Civil War and the witch trials in England led by Matthew Hopkins, who pioneered “techniques” for examining witches. This history examines the outbreak of witch hysteria in the Valley, focusing on accusations of demonic possession, and the role of the clergy.
This program is co-hosted by the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, West Hartford 250, and the West Hartford Town Historian.
About The Presenter:
Dr. Richard S. Ross, is Professor Emeritus and former College Librarian at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut. He holds an MA from Northeastern University, an MLS from Simmons College and a PhD from Boston College. He has taught at Boston College, Northeastern University, the University of New Hampshire, and Trinity College. He has held administrative Librarian positions at Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the University of New Hampshire and Georgetown University.
This America250 presentation is supported by Eversource Energy & The Rotary Club of West Hartford.

West Hartford Hauntings
2025-10-25 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-10-24 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-10-23 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-10-18 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-10-17 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-10-16 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | CT
West Hartford Hauntings is the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society’s spooky, theatrical cemetery tour! Don’t wait to get your tickets– this event sells out every year!
Click here to get tickets now!
Your ghostly guide leads you on a lantern-lit tour of Old North Cemetery where you experience tales of death, disease, and real history. Due to some scary content, it is suggested that participants be age 10 or over. We hope to see you among the graves.
The lantern-lit tours take place on October 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, & 25.
Old North Cemetery, 80 North Main Street, West Hartford, Connecticut.
Tours leave every 15 minutes starting at 6 p.m and run for 45 minutes.
Members Save: Noah Webster House Members save on Hauntings tickets! Not a member yet? Click here to join today!

Groups Save: Save 10% with groups of 10 or more during the first weekend only (October 16, 17, & 18).

Parking: You can park on Loomis Drive. From there, walk to the welcome table at the cemetery entrance.
Chaperone: Children under the age of 16 must be chaperoned by an adult.
Please be timely: Arrive 15 minutes before your tour time. If you miss your tour time we cannot guarantee that we can fit you on a later tour.
Weather: The event takes place rain, snow, or shine. Please dress for the weather. In the event that an extreme weather event requires schedule changes you will be notified at the email address you use when purchasing tickets.
No refunds: Tickets are non-refundable.
Sign Language Interpreted Tour: Saturday, October 18 at 6:00 p.m.
Conditions: The tour takes place on the paved cemetery path, but there are areas of uneven ground. Attend one of the first two tours of the evening there will still be ambient light. Later tours take place in very dark conditions.

WordHouse Poetry - October 15
2025-10-15 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT, 06107, United States
Join us at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society for a FREE poetry reading on Wednesday, October 15 from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Each program begins with an open mic and features two headlining poets. This month’s poets are Ciaran Berry and Srinivas Mandavilli. No registration is required and donations are greatly appreciated to support the not-for-profit museum. Please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org/wordhouse-poetry/ for more information.
Ciaran Berry was born in Dublin and grew up in Connemara and Donegal. He is the author of four collections of poetry, States (2025), Liner Notes (2018), The Dead Zoo (2013), and The Sphere of Birds (2008), all published by The Gallery Press. His work has been featured in AGNI, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, Best of Irish Poetry, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, The Southern Review, and The Threepenny Review. The accolades his work has received include a Whiting Award, the Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition, and two Pushcart Prizes. He lives with his family in West Hartford, Connecticut and co-directs the Creative Writing Program at Trinity College.

Srinivas Mandavilli is Chief of Pathology at Hartford Hospital and the author of the chapbooks Howrah Bridge (Main Street Rag, 2025) and Gods in the Foyer (Antrim Books, 2016). His work has been featured in the anthologies Hum Aiseich Bolte (Trancscendent Zero Press, 2022) and Of Hartford in Many Lights (Grayson Books, 2024) as well as numerous literary journals including Rattle, Poetry Wales, The Night Heron Barks, New Square, Modern Haiku, The Raven’s Perch, Verse Virtual, and Journal of the American Medical Association. Mandavilli is one of Matwaala poets (a South Asian Diaspora Poets’ collective), a Pushcart Prize & Best of the Net nominee, and lives in West Hartford with his wife Bela.
