The Pinnacles

Miss Elsa Gover

The Courtroom was at one time the former Town Courtroom and is used for our summer displays and meetings. Hanging on the walls are a number of Alfred Hepworth’s (1876-1962) paintings. Alfred Hepworth was born January 26, 1876 in Liecastershire, England. He came to America at the age of 3 or 4. He was a master cabinet maker and carpenter by trade. He started painting in oils at age 8 and studied at Hartford Art School, Eastford Atheneum, New York Art School and Yale Art School. In 1950 he married Isabelle Robbins and they never had any children. Hepworth was a self styled realist. He was an avid recorder of the Plainville scene. He seemed to prefer landscapes and portraits. He died on December 30, 1962 at the age of eighty-six. One of his paintings titled The Pinnacles aka Pinnacle Rock is a spectacular view, an outstanding geological feature of Plainville’s eastern mountain. Hepworth lived at the gap in the mountain on New Britain Ave. The Tunxis Indians as well as the early settlers used Pinnacle Rock as a lookout. He considered this to be  one of his best paintings. The second was a portrait of Miss Elsa Gover. Miss Gover had come to Connecticut with a convention of religious people. She lost her money somehow and ended up staying at the Hepworth’s and posing to earn her passage back to Hawaii. Her pose was a favorite of his.