It's A Haigood Life!: State Capitol Visits - Hartford, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island

During our stay in CT at the end of July, we took a few field trips to visit the area. We have tried our best to visit all of the state capitols during our travels whenever possible. Most of the capitol buildings offer free public tours, which provide great history lessons and interesting facts about each individual state. One afternoon, my Dad joined us on a road trip to Hartford to attend a public tour of the state capitol building.

The state capitol in Hartford was built in the 1870s. Before that, the Connecticut General Assembly met alternately in New Haven and Hartford. After the Civil War, plans were made for one state capitol meeting place and building in Hartford.

The building is very ornate and although it has been modernized in many ways, you can still find evidence of the past as you explore it. For example, there were two watering fountains for horses located by the interior stairwell. Many years ago, people came here to fill their buckets with water for their horses.

Inside the capitol, there is a statue of Nathan Hale, who is known as "Connecticut's Hero" for his brave service during the Revolutionary War. Hale, who was born in CT, was a soldier in the Continental Army and volunteered to go behind enemy lines as a spy to determine the movements of the British. He was caught and hanged at only 21 years old. His famous last words were:

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Of course, I always have to get a picture of the dome in every capitol building!!

During the last part of our tour, we stepped inside the senate chambers. The tour guide was very careful to remind us NOT to step on the Connecticut seal on the carpet in the middle of the room. Yes--it is a sign of respect not to walk on it, but he also mentioned it is very difficult to clean :)

According to local legend, the Lieutenant Governor Chair located at the center back wall was made from an oak tree that hid a special document hundreds of years ago. Apparently, Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden inside the hollow part of the oak tree. It was hidden there in attempts to avoid its confiscation by the English governor-general, Sir Edmund Andros. In 1687, Andros arrived in Hartford and demanded the document be handed over. There are a few different accounts of what happened, but the most popular is that after Andros made the demand, the lights were doused, and the document was taken out a window and then hidden in the Charter Oak tree.

All of us on the tour were invited to participate in the tradition to sit in the chair, "make a wish", and take a photo...

Our next state capitol visit was to Providence, Rhode Island. Although we did not make it for a tour of the building, we did get to drive by, get our photo, and mark it off the list:)

We spent most of our time during our day trip into Providence at the Children's Museum. This is one of the museums valid for a discount with our national museum pass. A huge sea creature marks the front of the museum...

There was a building table with all kinds of shapes to make anything your imagination could come up with! Or, you could use their suggestions listed in the instruction booklets.

Micah made a turtle (pictured above) and an apple (pictured below)...

I think all of the adults had just as much fun building as the kids did!

Caleb and Grandpa worked together to make a really cool, tall tower with wooden blocks.

Caleb and Joshua enjoyed the water room full of all kinds of water pumps, balls and water toys...

Micah enjoyed building a tower with the small wooden blocks. Then, he enjoyed taking out one piece at a time to watch it come tumbling down...just look at his mischievous smile :)