Center Memorial Park

This free history walk features the “Great Lawn” and proceeds along streets and lawn to view historic mansions and the nine acres purchased by the Town in 2005 for open space and historic preservation. Cheney district commission members Tom Ferguson and Susan Barlow will comment on the historic landscape and buildings. There is some steep and uneven ground, so participants should wear sturdy shoes or boots. No dogs, please. Extreme weather cancels, but the walk will be held if light rain.

A talk by Manchester Historical Society president and CCSU professor, Steve Armstrong. How did Connecticut cope with the Revolution?

A visit by Ye Olde Lebanon Towne Militia, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Cheney Homestead, 106 Hartford Road. Kids and adults welcome. An outdoor living history demonstration including musket drill and colonial life with demonstrations of cooking, crafts, and military and civilian life of the Revolutionary War era. A food truck will be available for purchasing refreshments. Rain or shine. Free. Donations welcome.

The Yale Peabody Museum will visit, bringing fossils found in the Buckland section of Manchester in the nineteenth century. Visitors can see the actual dinosaur fossils and talk to Yale paleontologists. There will be fun activities for young and old. Throughout 2026, we feature the special exhibit Mathias Spiess Tour Book of Manchester: Dinosaurs, Podunks, Colonists , at our regular open houses 10:00 to 2:00 on the first Saturday of the month, May through December, and on CT O

Hikers will trace the route of the former railroad, built in 1869 to connect the main rail line in the North End with the Cheney silk mills in the South End. At 2.5 miles, it was the shortest private freight-and-passenger railroad in the United States. We will start our hike in the North End, heading south toward Center Springs Park. We will see the foot-bridge over Bigelow Brook. About 3 miles round trip, with fairly flat terrain. Extreme weather cancels. No dogs, please. Free.

A talk by Manchester Historical Society president and CCSU professor, Steve Armstrong. Looking back to 1976, and reflecting on a previous celebration of our country’s founding.

Visit historic Downtown, starting at the parking lot at the corner of Main and Park Streets, near St. James Church (enter the lot from Park Street). The walk will take about 1.5 hours, and will include a visit to the offices of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, which is celebrating its 125 th anniversary this year. Our Downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rain or shine. Led by Manchester’s Town Historian, Susan Barlow. Downtown photo by Dick Jenkins.

A talk by Manchester Historical Society president and CCSU professor, Steve Armstrong, emphasizing primary sources in describing life in the eighteenth century. There will be a book table fundraiser.