Current property caretaking responsibilities include opening the 1865 Pine Grove Schoolhouse during summer (June-September annually - will reopen summer 2022), proper archival storage of many stored artifacts in the 1823 Schoolhouse Number 3  located at 8 East Main Street, adaptive reuse of the Horse Guards Barn, and post-fire adaptive reuse of The Derrin House on West Avon Road.

In 1972, the National Register of Historic Places designated a section of West Avon as the Pine Grove Historic District: This area includes the Pine Grove Schoolhouse and five homes built prior to 1865. A comprehensive historic building survey of the Town of Avon by the State Historic Preservation Commission in 1997 was updated in 2017. Many sites have been identified as potential historic districts. The complete survey can be viewed in the History Room at the Avon Free Public Library or at www.ctcda.org.

Membership in The Avon Historical Society is open to the public. To join or volunteer with us, please feel free to call Avon Historical Society directly at 860-678-7621 to leave a message or email us at:  [email protected].

We welcome you to explore our website to find information about Avon’s history or contact us if you have further questions.

Reading the minutes of each year's Annual Reports is a great way to gain an understanding of all that we do!

Here are minutes from the past five years.  If you are interested in reports from earlier years, please send us a request at [email protected]

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2017

The Society’s logo represents a strong draft horse pulling a laden barge along the 36-foot wide canal. This early vital form of transport carried produce, freight and passengers, linking Avon from Simsbury to New Haven, then ultimately on to Long Island Sound or New York City. The Farmington Canal officially operated between New Haven, CT and Northampton, MA from 1829-1827 before it was replaced by the railroad. Today the canal routes are filled in, but sections are still open to the public as a series of trails for hiking or cycling.  A detailed historic map of the Canal in Avon is available from our Gift Shop.

The original logo was used from 1974 until 2017 when the Society’s website and promotional materials were redesigned for a more contemporary look. The same “saddlebag brown” color was retained because it is a heritage color that echoes the paint commonly used on tobacco sheds, houses, and barns in the valley.

The latest update to the logo has been to recognize our 50th anniversary!