Local history came alive Saturday for visitors to the Gen. David Humphreys House in Ansonia during “open house day,” a statewide event designed to get more people to Connecticut’s museums and parks.
The nonprofit Derby Historical Society is based at the historic house at 37 Elm St.
Humphreys, who was born in the house in 1752, was an aide-de-camp of Gen. George Washington.
Derby once consisted of parts of Ansonia, Seymour, Shelton, and Oxford.
Derby Historical Society President Timothy Dillon was on hand to show off the organization’s latest acquisition: Derby Junction, a “n scale” model train layout depicting the Lower Naugatuck Valley in 1918.
The layout is set up in a newly-constructed, climate-controlled building next to the Society’s Sarah Riggs Humphreys’ House at 37 1/2 Elm St., behind the Humphreys House.
Dillon said the layout had been bequeathed in 2001 to the historical society by Benjamin Bacon, a member of the family that once owned the former Bacon Printing Co. in Derby.
Story continues after the photo gallery:
It was transported to the Valley from Florida and stored at the John I. Howe House in Derby ever since, Dillon said. There was no way to display it properly at the Humphreys house property — until now.
The L‑shaped layout measures about eight-feet by 12-feet. It contains 100 buildings, as well as bridges, cars and trees.
The next step is to get period trains for the display. The trains currently on the tracks aren’t from the 1918 era, but are there for the viewer’s perspective, Dillon said.
Seymour resident Chris Corwell stopped in to view the display with his daughter, Alina.
“It definitely captures the essence of time gone by,” he said. “It’s very cool.”
Bacon had researched the railroad lines and the physical characteristics of Ansonia, Derby, and Shelton to create the train layout.
Derby Historical Society Deputy Director Paula Norton said about 50 attended the open house.
Costumed docents gave tours of the Humphreys House to several people throughout the afternoon.
Visitors were treated to a demonstration by re-enactors of the 6th Connecticut Regiment, which became part of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
They included Ross Kenney of Fairfield, portraying Lt. Abel Bachelor, Abby Sweet of Portland as Rufus Wheaton, Richard Schreiner of Derby as Ezra Foot, and his daughter, Willow Schreiner, 11, who portrayed a drummer.
Also on hand was docent Dawn Sotir, who demonstrated spinning wool from the alpacas on her Coon Hollow Farm in Oxford.
Visitors also took tours of the Humphreys House, which was built circa 1698. It is currently undergoing extensive exterior renovations.
