Synagogue remembered after 125 years

  • 2017-06-18
In nearby Montville, the living offspring of the early Jewish Russian inhabitants of the area commemorated the synagogue their ancestors founded 125 years ago.

Built in 1892, it was the first synagogue in rural Connecticut. It stood in the Chesterfield woods next to Route 85 and Route 161 before it burned down in the mid-1970s. Now there is a plaque at the site as a memorial and it is noted as the 24th preserve for archaeology in the state. It is also on a ‘historic places register’ for the nation. Near the site, which has some stones left over of the foundation, are the remains of a mickveh, a basin for use in a Jewish ritual similar to baptism.

The site is maintained by the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society. Over 50 people from the United States and Canada make up the NEHFES. According to Nancy Savin, the organization's president, it was a humble synagogue with only one room which individuals from various places founded. It also had a creamery. The buildings were the central hub for the community of Jewish Russians until its downfall in the Great Depression. Most of the community did not speak English and had children in local schools. Those children and their descendants are now an essential part of the world.

The site could be the visual subject of local Hanukkah Holiday Cards.
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