Lilacs in Bethlehem

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Monday, February 28, 2022
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
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The True Story of Lilac Girls

This photo tour will take you through the historic Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden, including the residence, barns, and the historic formal garden. The lives of the house’s notable residents will be interwoven with lovely images of site.

The presentation concludes with the story of the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden’s connection to the runaway best-seller Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, who was inspired to write her novel after a visit to the house to see Caroline Ferriday’s famous lilacs.

Sponsored by a collaboration between the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library, Wethersfield Library, Lucy Robbins Welles Library (Newington) and the Cora Belden Library (Rocky Hill).

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Tour the historic house, built by 18th century Rev. Joseph Bellamy from 1754-1767, and the five-acre site which includes the 18th century residence, barns, and the historic formal parterre garden installed by Miss Caroline Ferriday, a philanthropist and the final resident of the house, and her mother, Eliza Woolsey Ferriday. While Rev. Bellamy influenced colonial life and preached with religious fervor throughout New England’s “Great Awakening,” Miss Ferriday championed human rights and social justice causes around the globe. Details from the lives of these notable residents will be interwoven with lovely images of site. The presentation concludes with the story of the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden’s connection to the runaway best-seller Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, who was inspired to write her novel after a visit to the house to see Caroline’s famous lilacs. Kelly’s forthcoming prequel, Lost Roses (2019), set in the World War I era, tells the story of Caroline’s mother Eliza and her fight to help Russian refugees displaced by the revolution.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly is based on the true story of Caroline Ferriday’s work as a member of the French Resistance and her interest in the fate of the “lapins” (rabbits) – female political prisoners subjected to medical testing at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. In her debut novel, Kelly transforms the horrors and inhumanities of war into a story of sisterhood and perseverance.