Disappointing visit to the Noah Webster House West Hartford, Conn.

As part of Open House Connecticut I decided to visit the Noah Webster House which is something I have always wanted to do. We arrived mid-afternoon and had a very short wait for the next tour. They were not offering the introductory video which I found quite disappointing. It was not nearly as disappointing however, as what happened once the tour began. 

I have been on hundreds of house tours all over this country and Europe and I have to say, this one was the most uninformative one I have ever taken. You can tell immediately that they are used to dealing with school children. We, however, were all adults. I do not need to be told what a bed warmer is. I wanted to hear about Noah Webster. I was doomed to disappointment.

If I want to find out how to make candles, I can go to a hundred other places but where else can I find out about the Webster family? Do you think that they might want to mention that Noah was a descendant of Governor Webster and that his ancestor was one of the early pioneers to the New World? 

The word dictionary was never mention and we were never told why we should be visiting this house, why it was preserved and his contribution to the United States. We learned nothing about his family, did he have siblings? These are the types of thing we expect to learn when we visit historic properties. 

The only thing that belonged to Noah Webster was a tall clock and that was not pointed out to us. The only reason I found out it was his was because in the kitchen I asked if anything was original to the house. 

So if you have children and want to learn about making candles and bed warming in colonial times, this is the tour for you. If you want to be treated like an educated adult who enjoys history don't waste your time. The only good thing I can say is that it was free, had I paid I would have been even more disappointed.