Another Capitol in Hartford, CT

We're about 20 miles southeast of Hartford so we were off to the Capitol this morning. It's a beautiful building, inside and out. The current capitol was completed in 1878 and replaced the the "Old" State House built in 1796 and designed by Charles Bulfinch who also designed the Massachusetts State Capitol in Boson.



The current Capitol was completely restored 25 years ago and it still sparkles. 24 caret gold covers the dome. Here's a photo from the second floor looking up to the dome.
This is a photo of the Genius of Connecticut. The original bronze statue was on the top of the dome, but removed after a wild storm left her shaking. During World War II she was donated to the war effort and melted down. Luckily, the plaster cast was found in the basement during the restoration and covered with a bronze coating, it looks like the original.




A retired school teacher was our guide. We joined her and the 5th grade school class she was sheparding, partway through the tour. The tour starts in the Legislative Building, finsihed in 1988
We caught the beginning of the next tour and was able to see the beautiful artwork in the building, including the doors of the hearing rooms. From there we went back into the Capitol and into the House of Representatives. They're in session until next week. Their legislature is "part-time", six months one year and three months the next. They were debating something about farms. I don't know the details of the underlying bill, but the amendment they were debating would prohibit municipalities from enacting zoning to eliminate farm stands. The loss of farm land in recent years was cited and the need to help farmers. Of course, someone tried to talk about the difference between small family and large corporate farms, but they were in a hurry and the amendment passed. Would be nice to know what they were amending.