Category: Connecticut Travel

Kick off the holiday shopping season and give back to the community at Sip and Shop Night at the Norwalk Historical Society Museum on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 6:00pm – 8:00pm. The museum is located at 141 East Avenue next to the Norwalk Health Department, in the red brick house with blue double front doors. Parking is available at Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Avenue. Shop for one of a kind holiday gifts, meet local artist/designer Karen Ponelli and pay it forward by donating to our women’s “Suit Drive” benefiting Dress for Success. The event is free and includes a wine and cheese reception. RSVP: info@norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.

A special highlight of this event is a talk by local artist/designer Karen Ponelli who will discuss how her contemporary art techniques are transformed into scarves and accessories. Ponelli will be selling unique silk and textured scarves from her new line of contemporary artwork. Some of her scarves were created by a California based company using the artists’ paintings and designs to produce wearable products. In addition, Ponelli will have her one of kind scarves available that she creates from start to finish, which includes selecting and hand-dyeing the fabrics. Shop her hand-dyed silk flower accessory pins, framed and matted artwork, hand painted gift wrap and stationery as well as other unique, artful items great for gift giving.

More treasures await in the Norwalk Historical Society Museum Gift Shop, where you’ll find a collection of locally handmade items. A perfect place to find unique holiday gifts produced by Connecticut artists and artisans. Round out your evening with wine, cheese and a peek at the museum’s three exhibits: Norwalk Collects: Celebrating Four Historic Collections; Norwalk: Portrait of Diversity and Eating off the Landscape: The Farrington-Lockwood Dessert Service.

About Dress for Success

Suit Drive” benefiting Dress for Success, which promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Donations of clean in-season “interview appropriate” clothing, handbags and accessories, no more than three years old will be graciously accepted. Donations must be on hangers and tax-deductible receipts will be provided upon request. For a specific list on what to donate please visit http://www.norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.

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The P.T. Barnum Museum located in Bridgeport is offering a very special behind the scenes tour of the treasures of this museum for a lucky winner and eight friends. The bidding opens on November 1 and concludes on November 15. Winners must take the tour by May 31, 2017.

The aptly named “Tiny Tour” will focus on the extraordinary life of “General Tom Thumb” and his wife, Lavinia Warren. The museum tour will include a behind-the-scenes look at rarely seen personal items in the collection, such as the couple’s jewelry, custom-made clothing, accessories, calling cards, and even a slice of their wedding cake, now more than 150 years old! (But don’t worry, it isn’t moldy or gross – and you’ll find out why during the tour.) Guests will also see hand-colored books and prints, special souvenirs, and rare broadsides promoting Tom Thumb’s tours. To place a bid visit https://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/browse.action?auctionId=264831017

The Tiny Tour is your special opportunity to discover some of the most treasured collections at the Barnum Museum. While the gallery features incredible artifacts such as the couple’s miniature carriages and furniture, this tour also introduces you to items not usually seen by the public. In order to preserve these rare and unique items for future generations, many cannot be continuously displayed. You and up to seven additional guests will be welcomed by the Barnum Museum Director and the tour will be led by the Curator. At the conclusion, guests will be treated to “tea” featuring cake similar to the kind made for Charlie and Lavinia’s wedding.

A little biographical information! Charles S. Stratton was a Bridgeport native, born in 1838. He weighed over 9 pounds at birth, but stopped growing around 7 months old. P. T. Barnum met “Charlie” shortly before the boy turned five, and quickly recognized his innate charm and natural ability to entertain. Barnum brought Charlie and his parents to his American Museum in New York City, taught him to act, and gave him the stage name “General Tom Thumb.” Charlie was also known as the “Man in Miniature” because he was only two feet tall but perfectly proportioned.

Tom Thumb became famous and wealthy through his performing and partnership with P.T. Barnum, and the two traveled overseas as well as touring America. Tom Thumb’s acts included singing, dancing, miming and most famously, portraying characters like Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte. His 1863 marriage to Lavinia Warren, a beautiful and bright “woman in miniature” from Massachusetts, became front-page news at the height of the Civil War, and their wedding attracted thousands of guests. The couple did a three-year tour of the world, becoming America’s first international celebrity couple. Sadly, Charles died of a stroke at age 45, on July 15, 1883. Lavinia remarried in 1885 and lived to be 77.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will host its annual Victorian Tea on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. This event will feature a talk by textiles, fashion merchandising, and design expert Susan J. Jerome titled, From Downton Abbey to Camelot, at 295 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT.

Susan J. Jerome is Collections Manager at the University of Rhode Island Historic Textile and Costume Collection. Her talk will explore how the highly popular television show, Downton Abbey, illustrates the clothing worn by the aristocracy during the first years of the 20th century, while Jacqueline Kennedy reigned over a modern American gentry in a parallel Camelot, inspiring designers even as social forces re-defined fashion’s inspirations. The Mansion’s Victorian Tea will feature a traditional English tea menu by Susan Kane Catering and a hat contest with prizes.

This fascinating talk on clothing fit for royalty, surrounded by the timeless splendor of this iconic National Historic Landmark, is a perfect pairing to a quintessential English tea and an afternoon not to be missed and sure to brighten an afternoon in November.

Tickets for the Tea are $35 for members and $45 for non-members. Proceeds will support the Museum’s artistic, cultural and educational programs. For Victorian Tea reservations please contact: info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, 203-838-9799.

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The Glass House located on 199 Elm Street in the town of New Canaan is hosting a series of public programs — including conversations, performances, and gatherings — that sustain the site’s historic role as a meeting place for artists, architects, and other creative minds.

On Tuesday, November 22 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Isay Weinfeld— one of Brazil’s most renowned architects — will discuss his work and current projects, including the new Four Seasons restaurant in New York, with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Paul Goldberger.

Isay Weinfeld is the head architect of a studio in São Paulo that bears his name. Amongst countless projects developed over a career that spans nearly 40 years, highlights include the hotels designed for Grupo Fasano in São Paulo, Punta del Este and Porto Feliz; the Livraria da Vila bookstores in São Paulo; the Square Nine Hotel in Belgrade; the feature film Fogo e Paixão; and a line of office furniture designed for Geiger/Herman Miller. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Prêmio Rino Levi awarded by Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil/SP (for Casa Inglaterra, in 2000), Prêmio da VI Bienal Internacional de Arquitetura de São Paulo (for Praça da Amauri, in 2005) and MIPIM AR Future Project Awards, organized by British magazine Architectural Review (for Edifício 360º, in 2009, and for Edifício Oka, in 2012).

Paul Goldberger, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, spent fifteen years as the architecture critic for The New Yorker and began his career at the New York Times, where he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism for his writing on architecture. Goldberger is the author of many books, most recently Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry, Why Architecture Matters, Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, and Up From Zero. He is also the chairman of the Advisory Council of the Glass House and the Joseph Urban Professor of Design and Architecture at the New School.
Tickets are $50 per person and are available online at http://theglasshouse.org/whats-on/isay-weinfeld-paul-goldberger/

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The Lockwood Mathews Mansion in Norwalk has organized a weekend of spooktacular fun on October 28- 30 at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

A special Halloween tour, “Ghostly Sightings & Macabre Tales of the Victorian Era” will focus on the history of the house and the chilling customs and mourning traditions of the Victorian era.

Visitors may run into the Mansion’s ghosts, who are haunted by the darker memories that are part of the rarely spoken history of the Lockwood and Mathews families. These ghosts will wander throughout the first and second floors of the Mansion, but only during this very special and spooky Halloween tour.

Children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Tours are $20 per person; advance payment and reservation are required. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For more information on schedules and programs please visit http://www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.

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Flanders Nature Center located on Church Hill Road in Woodbury invites families to come to their main campus, the Van Vleck Sanctuary in Woodbury, on Sunday, October 30 from 1 – 3 PM for a Family Fun Halloween Scavenger Hunt!

Participants in this fun filled event should check in at the historic Van Vleck House, located at 5 Church Hill Road in Woodbury, to pick up a map and list of clues about the hidden creatures found along the trails. With the map in hand, participants will set off on an independent hike to search for creatures; along the way they will discover facts about some of Halloweens “creepy” and not so creepy creatures learning fascinating facts about spiders, bats, nocturnal animals and things that go “BUMP” in the night! There will also be hayride shuttles up the hill to explore the secret stairs in the forest and to investigate creatures that live in a hidden brook.

Once families have collected all the facts they will turn them in at the Van Vleck House to claim a prize and enjoy some refreshments. Flanders offers this non scary and fun family event to create awareness of the benefits of some of Halloween’s mysterious and often misunderstood local wildlife. The hikes are family friendly and appropriate for all ages and skill levels.

To take part in this event, please pre-register at www.flandersnaturecenter.org or call Flanders at (203) 263-3711, extension 10. The cost per family for members is $10 per family. All proceeds benefit Flanders programming. To sign up for a monthly newsletter for Litchfield Hills visit www.litchfieldhills.com