A Taste of History: Civil War Food Challenge

On Saturday, June 11 at Mill Hill Historic Park, 2 East Wall Street in Norwalk from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m visitors to this event will have the opportunity to taste diverse dishes from the Civil War era.  Dishes will be interpreted by 12 local eateries vying to be judged "the best" in different food categories for A Taste of History: Civil War.  Participants include American Steakhouse, Ash Creek Saloon, Bacchus, Barcelona, B.J. Ryan's, Dry Dock, Hummel Brothers, Jeff's Cuisine, New York Bakery, O'Neill's, Sweet Ashley's (all in Norwalk) and Nick's Pizza (Stamford).  The winners will be chosen by attendees during the event on Saturday, June 11, at Mill Hill Historic Park, 2 East Wall Street.  Between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., attendees will purchase ballots ($20 - adults/teens; $15 - 12 or younger) and sample dishes prepared by the participants, then vote for their favorites.

During the event, attendees can visit a Civil War encampment to see demonstrations and talk with re-enactors from Company A of the 11th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. Displays will focus on Civil War cooking, weapons and the life of soldiers.  Attendees at A Taste of History also can explore an exhibition of quilts from before the Civil War to the present organized by the Historical Society as part of the six-month Norwalk Quilt Trail.  In addition, WEBE-108 will broadcast live from the event.

A Taste of History: Civil War is presented by the Norwalk Historical Society as a fund-raiser for restoration of the Civil War Soldiers Monument in Riverside Cemetery.  The statue was erected in 1889 by Buckingham Post No. 12 of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization made up of Union Army veterans, to serve as a memorial for more than 32 Civil War soldiers whose families could not afford a "proper" burial. Over the years, this monument has deteriorated and the zinc Civil War soldier was pulled the off its granite base in 2002. Currently, the pieces of the statue are on display at the Norwalk Historical Society Town House at Mill Hill.

As one of its projects in honor of the Sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War, the Norwalk Historical Society has mounted a campaign to repair the statue, christened "Chester," and return it to its rightful place. Through a grant from the Historic Preservation division of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, monuments conservator Francis Miller of ConservArt, Inc. is preparing a treatment report that will outline the steps needed to restore the monument.