The mission of the Kent Historical Society is to collect, preserve and present writings, artifacts, photographs and memorabilia portraying the heritage of Kent from pre-Colonial times to the present. The Society strives to be the premier research and education center for all who are interested in the history of Kent and the surrounding area. To this end, the Society maintains archives at The Swift House, 12 Maple Street, as well as a museum with rotating displays at Seven Hearths, 4 Studio Hill Road, our 1751 house in the Historic District of Kent.

   
 

Jabez Swift of Sandwich, MA, came to Kent in 1743 with his cousin Reuben. Jabez purchased Lot 18 on the "Grate Plain", the flat land along the Housatonic River that today holds our downtown area. In the First Division of land, the Plain was the common grazing ground laid out in ten acre lots, one for each of the original 52 Proprietors' home lots. The majority of these first landowners built their homes in Flanders, 2 miles north of present Main Street. Flanders is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Learn More

 
   
 

The little pre-Revolutionary one room schoolhouse sits high atop Skiff Mountain on the edge of the Marvelwood School campus. Given to the Kent Historical Society in 1972 by Pauline Skiff Gunn, a descendant of the original builder, the schoolhouse is now visited as part of the Society's "History for Kids" program with the Kent Center School. However, the schoolhouse is sadly underused, and we are investigating more avenues of presentation for this little gem.
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The prized possession of the Kent Historical Society is Seven Hearths, an imposing pre-Revolutionary house located in the heart of the Flanders Historic District in Kent. Discovered by hundreds of new visitors who came to Kent in 2005 for the Smithsonian's Barn Again!© exhibit, Seven Hearths is now undergoing significant restoration. What began as the repair of the crumbling north chimney has now expanded to an exciting re-creation of a more accurate 18th century version of the house.
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