NOAH WEBSTER HOUSE

 
West Hartford, CT – This is where Noah Webster was born on Oct. 16, 1758.

Here is a segment from the Noahwebsterhouse.org website:

When Noah was 43, he started writing the first American dictionary. He did this because Americans in different parts of the country spelled, pronounced and used words differently. He thought that all Americans should speak the same way. He also thought that Americans should not speak and spell just like the English.

Noah used American spellings like "color" instead of the English "colour" and "music" instead of "musick". He also added American words that weren't in English dictionaries like "skunk" and "squash". It took him over 27 years to write his book. When finished in 1828, at the age of 70, Noah's dictionary had 70,000 words in it.

Other things that Noah did:

Attended Yale, was a teacher, help start Amherst College in Amherst, MA.

The Noah Webster House can be toured, see site for details.