Category: Connecticut Travel

Looking for some fun to relieve the winter doldrums? Head to the cute town of Kent in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut for “More in March”, a town wide event that is taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 18, 19 & 20. The Kent CT merchants are putting a twist on shopping by featuring fantastic sales, special events and fun promotions.

If you like to shop, you will love this quaint village. Kent has an eclectic array of stores featuring quality merchandise. Shop owners work hard to guarantee that their inventories are unique and interesting. You can shop for everything from bird houses and bird seed, to books, to clothing and jewelry to antiques and, even, vintage guitars. You’ll enjoy strolling through town, visiting favorite shops and discovering new ones! Pop into one of Kent’s fine eateries for lunch or coffee and dessert.

Wherever you start your walk through town, you will be delighted with the friendly atmosphere, the customer service and the appreciation for you, as a customer. Come to Kent and kiss the winter blues goodbye. For a complete list of participating businesses visit www.kentct.com. For more info on Litchfield Hills visit the website.

The Kent Historical Society is hosting a talk on the Covered Bridges of Litchfield Hills. Covered bridges that date back to colonial times are an iconic image of Northwest Connecticut, and the Kent/Cornwall area boasts some of the oldest of these structures still in existence in New England. On Sunday, March 20, 2016, at 2:00 PM at the Kent Town Hall, these beloved landmarks will be explored by an expert who knows their history and their engineering.

Author William S. Caswell Jr. will share many historic photographs and information gathered for his book, Connecticut and Rhode Island Covered Bridges, which boasts rare vintage images and postcard memories of days gone by.

During their heyday in the 1800s, more than 150 covered bridges dotted the landscape of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with many concentrated in the hills of northwestern Connecticut. Since then, fires, floods, and progress have claimed all but three of the historic structures.
Connecticut was the birthplace of two of the nation’s best­ known covered bridge designers: Ithiel Town and Theodore Burr. Half of the covered bridges currently standing in the United States are supported by trusses patented by Town or Burr.

Kent’s Bulls Bridge is an example of a modification of Town’s lattice truss design, for which he received his first patent in 1820. The covered bridge in West Cornwall is another example of the modified truss design. They are two of the remaining three covered bridges in the state.
Caswell, an engineer for the NH Department of Transportation, is president and historian for the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, and also maintains a website dedicated to gathering and sharing covered bridge photographs and information.

Free to members; $5 suggested donation for non­members. For more information please call 860.927.4587 or email info@kenthistoricalsociety.org.

For more area information and events www.litchfieldhills.com

Scouts are tasked with being thrifty, and, on Sat., March 12, The Maritime Aquarium is giving them the chance to be just that.

March 12 is Scout Day at the Aquarium. Any Girl Scout or Boy Scout wearing her or his uniform to the Aquarium that day receives discounted prices of $11 for Aquarium admission, or $15.75 for the Aquarium plus an IMAX® movie. (Regular prices are: $12.95 & 17.95 for ages 3-12; and $17.95 & $22.95 for ages 13-17.)

The in-uniform discount applies to Scouts of all levels. Even adult Scout leaders in uniform pay only $11 for Aquarium admission, or $15.75 for the combination ticket. (Regular adult prices are $19.95 and $24.95.) The discount is not available for advance online purchases.

Scout Day at The Maritime Aquarium offers Scouts and their families and leaders the chance to get close to sharks, seals, sea turtles and all of the Aquarium’s fascinating marine animals, most of which are native to Long Island Sound. In addition, Scouts can stop by bonus “Leave No Trace” activity stations, staffed by local Boy Scouts, to learn how to minimize their impact on the environment.

As a special Scout Day bonus, Scouts can thrill to the new IMAX movie “National Parks Adventure,” playing on the Aquarium’s six-story screen more than two months before it opens to the public. Narrated by Robert Redford, the film offers the ultimate off-trail adventure into the nation’s awe-inspiring great outdoors and untamed wilderness. Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Arches, Everglades, the Redwoods and other parks are illuminated as never before with the power of IMAX cinematography, revealing a tapestry of natural wonders that will inspire young adventurers. Release of the movie coincides with our National Parks’ 100th anniversary.

On Sat., March 12, “National Parks Adventure” will play on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Tickets for these screenings are open to non-Scout families as well.)

An Aquarium sleepover for Scouts on the night of March 12 is sold out. Scouts who purchased tickets by Feb. 1 received the admission discount online and will receive a unique Maritime Aquarium Scout Day event patch.

Scout Day at The Maritime Aquarium is hosted by the Powahay District of the Boy Scouts of America’s Connecticut Yankee Council.

For more information about Scout Day or about the popular Connecticut family attraction’s exhibits, IMAX movies and programs, call (203) 852-0700 or go to www.maritimeaquarium.org. For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Cruise out for the chance to see some of the seals and waterfowl that spend their winters in Long Island Sound during Seal-Spotting & Birding Cruises offered this winter by The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. These invigorating 2½-hour outings take place aboard the Aquarium’s R/V Spirit of the Sound™, the country’s only research vessel with hybrid-electric propulsion.

The cruises seek out the harbor seals and gray seals that migrate down into the Sound from northern waters, which serve as their summer breeding and pupping areas. Seals often can be seen near the Norwalk islands when they “haul out” to rest on rocks exposed at low tide. Aquarium educators will point out these federally protected marine mammals and talk about their natural histories. And they’ll also generally discuss what happens to the Sound’s marine population during the winter: who stays, who migrates out, and who migrates in (besides the seals).

“As exciting as it is to see the seals that are exhibited inside The Maritime Aquarium, it’s truly a memorable experience to see them out in Long Island Sound,” said Tom Naiman, the Aquarium’s director of education. “Those encounters also remind us how important the Sound is as a habitat for our marine-mammal friends, and all the other creatures that call it home.”

These cruises also give birders unique “on-the-water” access to see and photograph visiting winter waterfowl, such as buffleheads, mergansers, Brant geese and long-tailed ducks. Plus, cruise participants can help Aquarium educators with plankton samplings. Data collected during the cruises is added to the Long Island Sound Biodiversity Project, which is an ongoing census of the Sound’s animal species.

This online database is sponsored by the Aquarium and includes students in collecting data on the physical and biological contents of Long Island Sound. Binoculars will be provided. R/V Spirit of the Sound has a climate-controlled cabin but, because the best viewing is outside on the deck, participants should bring plenty of warm clothes.

The cruises offer memorable family fun but please note that all passengers must be at least 42 inches tall. Tickets for a Seal-Spotting & Birding Cruise are $24.95, or $19.95 for Aquarium members. Capacity is limited so advance reservations are strongly recommended. Walk-up tickets will be sold, space permitting. Reserve your spot by calling (203) 852-0700, ext. 2206, or by going online to http://www.maritimeaquarium.org.

Cruises are offered: Sun., March 13 – 1 p.m. Sat., March 19 – 1 p.m. Sun., March 20 – 2 p.m. Sun., April 3 – 1 p.m.

The public will have the opportunity to experience an exhibition tour and page turning of rare books during a special event, Folios First: Uncovering Shakespeare, on Saturday, March 12, 2016, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm at Pequot Library. This program is free and open to the public, with registration encouraged online at pequotlibrary.org.

The term “folio,”, is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form. Shakespeare folios from the earliest days of printing were often used for expensive, prestigious volumes. In the Seventeenth Century, plays of the English Renaissance theatre were printed as collected editions in folio. Thirty-six of Shakespeare’s plays were included in the First Folio collected edition of 1623, which was followed by additional folio editions, referred to as the Second Folio, etc. This year celebrates the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and Pequot Library created a three-month exhibition to commemorate this anniversary.

For one night only, join Pequot Library to see its Shakespeare Folio collection from the 1600s and explore Uncovering Shakespeare, an exhibition containing historic Pequot Library material from its Special Collections written by and related to Shakespeare and his work. The materials on view March 12 and in this exhibition have not been seen at Pequot Library for at least a quarter of a century.

Take a night to see why Shakespeare’s Folios are so wonderful; look at King Lear and Othello from the First Folio, and complete Second, Third, and Fourth Folios all printed in the 1600s and bequeathed to Pequot Library by Dean Edmonds in the 1970s. Enjoy customized insights by Director, Heather-Marie Montilla, and Special Collections Consultant, Elizabeth Beaudin, PhD, as they tour the public through Pequot Library’s Perkin Gallery and Reading Room, while conducting page turnings of the rare book material.

Please visit http://www.pequotlibrary.org to learn more about this vibrant library, educational, arts and cultural institution. All classes and programs are open to everyone. For information: (203) 259-0346 ext. 15. For more area information www.visitwesternct.com

The Palace Theater and Waterbury Neighborhood Council present the return of their third CONNfection event, a showcase featuring Connecticut made food, wine and craft beer, on Wednesday, Mar. 9, from 5:30p.m. – 8:30p.m. at the Palace Theater in Waterbury. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased by phone at 203-346-2000, online at www.palacetheaterct.org, or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main St. in Waterbury.

CONNfection attendees will have the delight of sampling some of the best locally sourced products that Connecticut has to offer, including pastas, sausages, artisanal breads, gourmet olive oils, smoked cheeses, specialty condiments, cookies, chocolates, cupcakes and more. Guests will also have the opportunity to sample an array of craft beers and fine wines from a variety of local breweries and vineyards.

Vendors scheduled to appear at this year’s event include 1249 Restaurant, Black Hog Brewery, Brass Works Brewing Company, Carrott Top Kitchens, The Cheesy Smoke House, Dottie’s Diner, Emelyn Sweets, Fascia’s Chocolates, Gift Baskets Galore, Hardcore Sweet Cupcakes, Hogan’s Cider Mill, Polly & Joan’s Cordial Company, Provender Catering, The Olive Oil Factory, The Pasta Gallery, Sunset Meadow Vineyards, Sweet Confections by Regina, Sweet Maria’s Bakery and others.

For more area information www.litchfieldhills.com