On Sunday, September 17, the Kent Historical Society is presenting a program: The First Great Awakening: Fervor and Ferment” as part of its Sunday Series lectures in the Kent Town Hall Sunday, September 17, at 2 p.m. The featured speaker is Thomas Key of Salisbury, who is an instructor for the Taconic Learning Center and a speaker at the Scoville Library, and has given over 75 lectures on a number of historical topics.
In the 1730s, a wave of religious revivals, sponsored by the established clergy of the Reformed Churches, swept the Thirteen Colonies. The fervor disrupted the connection between church and state in New England. These revivals involved extreme emotional displays by the thousands of people who heard the sermons of Jonathan Edwards and various itinerant preachers. Though there was little lasting impact on the religious commitment of the colonies, the ideas presented probably moved the colonies closer to declaring independence from Great Britain.
Mr. Key studied engineering, was a flight officer in the US Navy and retired as a Commander in the US Naval Reserves. His professional career was with an international engineering firm, designing and constructing nuclear and fossil power plants, steel mills, and chemical plants. He’s also had a career as a landscape painter exhibiting in over thirty galleries and invitational/juried shows from Delaware to Maine.
The Sunday Series lectures have been designed to give context to the Kent Historical Society’s 2017 exhibit, “The Founders of Kent,” on the emergence of one New England town in the 18th century. The exhibit and related Sunday Series events are sponsored by the Kent Barns and the Kent Lions Club.
The Kent Historical Society sponsors the Sunday Series every other month September through May. Free admission for members; $5 suggested donation for non-members.
For more information please call 860.927.4587 or visit www.kenthistoricalsociety.org. To sign up for a free monthly newsletter on Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County visit www.litchfieldhills.com
Connecticut Travel 
Published by