Category: Connecticut Travel

Seven Fairfield County historical organizations have banded together to continue the tradition with the Second Annual Great Letterboxing History Hunt. The event begins on Friday, May 15 and ends with a festive family get-together at the Wilton Historical Society on Sunday, May 31 from 3-4 p.m. Letterboxing, which originated on the moors of Dartmoor, England in the 1850’s, is an outdoor walking or hiking activity that combines elements of orienteering, stamp art and puzzle-solving in a treasure hunt-style quest. This is a wonderful family activity, offering a chance to learn about reading maps, following clues, and local history.

The event is a collaboration between the Fairfield Museum and History Center, the Historical Society of Easton, the New Canaan Historical Society, the Norwalk Historical Society, Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern Museum, the Weston Historical Society, the Westport Historical Society, and the Wilton Historical Society. Complete information about the Great Letterboxing History Hunt can be found at the event’s “host” — the Wilton Historical Society — at www.wiltonhistorical.org . Contacts, addresses, and links for each of the historical organizations, plus downloadable maps and clues will be posted.

All you need to get started is a nifty signature stamp and an ink pad. Anytime during the weeks of May 15 – May 31, get your stamp and ink pad, go to one of the historical societies listed, pick up the official Letterboxing History Hunt Map and clues there, or print one out at www.wiltonhistorical.org, and you are on your way!

Be sure to get a fun signature stamp before you start out! Make your own unique stamp or get an unusual one at the Wilton Historical Society. The Betts Store is offering Yellow Owl Workshop’s DYI “Carve-A- Stamp Kit” as well as some of their unusual stamps, all made in the USA.

Participants who stamp their official Map at all eight locations will be eligible for a prize, and will be entered in a drawing for a wonderful grand prize. All prizes will be awarded at the Wilton Historical Society closing get-together from 3-4 on Sunday, May 31. (Don’t forget to bring your fully stamped map!) A fun, family event, there will be refreshments and live music with Leigh Richards on acoustic guitar.

A Brief History of Letterboxing, from Letterboxing.Info from Silent Doug:

“According to legend, letterboxing began in southwestern England in 1854 when a Victorian gentleman named James Perrott hid his calling card in a jar in a remote area by Cranmere Pool on the moors of Dartmoor (the setting of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles). Perrot was a guide on the moor, and he encouraged his clients to leave their cards in the jar, as well. Eventually, visitors began leaving a self-addressed post card or note in the jar, hoping for them to be returned by mail by the next visitor (thus the origin of the term “letterboxing”. “Letterbox” is a British term for what we in the U.S. know as a mailbox). This practice ended in time, however, and the current custom of using rubber stamps and logbooks came into use.”

Letterboxing did not begin in the United States until 1998, when an article in Smithsonian prompted interest. In Connecticut, there are letterboxes and clues at all 32 State Forests!

It is hard to believe that 2015 marks the 95th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in the United States. To commemorate this landmark event that extended the right to vote to women, the Litchfield Historical Society will be presenting a new temporary exhibition examining the topic.

Ballots for Both! The Fight for Equal Voting Rights will explore the battle for woman suffrage in Litchfield and the state of Connecticut. The exhibit will also look at the larger movement in the state, the pro- and anti-suffrage organizations in Litchfield during the 1910s, activities of the groups, and local leaders. Also featured will be a selection of objects on loan from the Museum of Connecticut History.

In addition to this major exhibit, “The Lure of the Litchfield Hills will be on view through November 2015. This exhibit details the Colonial Revival period in Litchfield and the impact it had on this town in the 19th and 20th centuries. It traces the way residents embraced their ancestral past, developed the community to how it looks today, and experienced a time of change in architecture, fashion, and home decoration.

In addition to these two special exhibitions, The Litchfield Historical Society has been busy this winter adding new objects to view in their permanent gallery, which tells the story of Litchfield’s history through different periods. Cases feature history of Litchfield’s districts of Bantam, Morris, East Litchfield, and Northfield.

The Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House & Law School are open Tuesday-Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5 adults, $3 seniors and students, Free for children under 14 and Law School students. For additional information, please visit www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org or call us at (860) 567-4501.

The Fairfield Museum and History Center located on 370 Beach Road in Fairfield has organized two special exhibitions that are sure to please art lovers.

The 7th annual juried photography exhibition, IMAGES runs through July 19 and showcases the exceptional work of talented regional photographers. The IMAGES photography competition offers a wonderful venue to highlight the work of up-and-coming regional photographers.The exhibition features roughly fifty photographs, usually picked from about 1,000 submissions, of photographers active in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Photos are judged in the following categories: landscape, portrait, architecture, nature and abstract to be displayed in this show. This is a juried show with a jury that is made up of prominent photographers including Howard Schatz, Suzanne Chamlin, LaTanya S. Autry, and Jeremy Frost.

The Fairfield History Center has also launched a second exhibition called, Howard Schatz: 25 Years of Photographs. The exhibition celebrates the remarkable twenty-five year career of Connecticut-based photographer Howard Schatz. This exhibition displays highlights of his work. Schatz is primarily known for his dynamic and intimate portraits of the human body, and his photographs make up a veritable catalog of body types and personalities, from newborns and mothers, to athletes and bodies underwater. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Time, and Life, among others, as well as displayed in museums and galleries worldwide. This exhibition runs through August 31, 2015.

For more information visit http://www.fairfieldhistory.org

On Saturday, May 9 at 8 pm, the Torrington Symphony Orchestra will present, “Viva Italia II,” at the Warner Theatre’s Nancy Marine Studio Theatre.

Conducted by Maurice Steinberg, “Viva Italia II” features Italian composers and melodies performed by guest soloists Christi McLain and Jerron Jorgenson.

Soprano Christi McLain made her New England debut with Connecticut Lyric Opera and was selected as a finalist for Connecticut Concert Opera’s American Opera Idol competition. Before relocating to CT, Christi McLain received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from Arizona State University. Dr. McLain has performed throughout Europe including Germany, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg. This spring, she will be joining the Hartford Opera Theatre.

A native of South Dakota, tenor Jerron Jorgensen performs, conducts, and arranges for a number of organizations in the Hartford metropolitan area. Jerron is pursuing doctoral studies at The Hartt School of Music, where he is also honored to serve as a Teaching Fellow in voice. In addition, Jerron presides as the Director of Music at First Congregational Church of Granby, and Music Director for the Connecticut Yankee Chorale in Torrington.

The Torrington Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1961 and has been an active part of the musical community ever since. The 45-plus Torrington Symphony amateur and professional musicians are drawn from 25 Connecticut towns, New York and Massachusetts.
Tickets are $22. Children 12 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Warner Theatre Box Office at 860-489-7180 or online at http://www.warnertheatre.org

White Flower Farm dates back to the late 1930’s when two journalists from New York bought the property and took up gardening. With the curiosity of journalists, and the resources of New York at their fingertips, they quickly realized that American gardening in the 40’s was, with few exceptions, an intellectual backwater with little or no interest in new plants, original design ideas, or even modern cultural practices. It was, in short, a marketplace waiting for new leadership and White Flower Farm was born.

Today, White Flower Farm continues to collect and evaluate plants from around the world, discarding the fakes and weaklings and propagating commercial quantities of the very best for sale through three seasonal catalogues. The farm also maintains extensive trial and display gardens at the nursery and welcome thousands of visitors every year, many of whom take home plants selected at The Store.

This May, White Flower Farm is hosting two exciting events perfect for garden lovers. On May 9 at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. White Flower Farm is hosting a container gardening workshop. At this “make and take” workshop participants can select their pots and plants and watch as the professional staff of White Flower Farm assembles your creation. Prices start at $45, which includes 5 annuals of your choosing and a decorative container. Other choices available for additional fees.

On May 15-17, White Flower Farm is once again celebrating the annual “Great Tomato Celebration” now in its’ tenth year. Visitors can choose from over 100 tomato varieties, seeds and seedlings in addition to vegetables and herbs.
White Flower Farm is located on Rte. 63 in Litchfield. For more event information at White Flower Farm http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/store-event-calendar.html

For more event information on all there is to see and do in Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com