Category: Connecticut Travel

Litchfield: The Making of a New England Town

On Saturday November 3, Historic New England and the Litchfield Historical Society host an event with local author Rachel Carley to award Litchfield: The Making of a New England Town Historic New England’s eighteenth Book Prize.

The afternoon starts at 1:00 p.m. with a reception and remarks by the prize winner Rachel Carley, followed by a book signing. The award-winning book, published by the Litchfield Historical Society is available for purchase at the event.

To attend, please call 617-994-5934 or e-mail Events@HistoricNewEngland.org. The event is free, but space is limited. The Litchfield Historical Society is at 7 South Street, Litchfield, Connecticut.

Litchfield: The Making of a New England Town is a lively exploration of the town’s history and architecture, not only during the colonial period but also during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book is generously illustrated with maps, photographs, and paintings of this quintessential New England town, including many that are published for the first time. Carley is a preservation consultant and architectural historian. Her previous books include Building Greenwich, Architecture and Design, 1640 to the Present; The Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture; Cuba: Four Hundred Years of Architectural Heritage; Cabin Fever; A Guide to Biltmore Estate; and Wilderness A to Z. She is a resident of Litchfield.

About Historic New England’s Book Prize

The Historic New England Book Prize recognizes works that advance the understanding of the architecture, landscape, and material culture of New England and the United States from the seventeenth century to the present. This includes works in the decorative arts, archaeology, historic preservation, and the history of photography. To qualify, works need not deal exclusively with New England but must make a significant contribution to our understanding of New England and its relation to the wider world.

About Historic New England

Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. We bring history to life while preserving the past for everyone interested in exploring the authentic New England experience from the seventeenth century to today. Historic New England owns and operates thirty-six historic homes and landscapes spanning five states. The organization shares the region’s history through vast collections, publications, public programs, museum properties, archives, and family stories that document more than 400 years of life in New England. For more information visit HistoricNewEngland.org.

For area information visit www.litchfieldhills.com

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Kick off the Winter Season at Mohawk Ski Area!

To kick off the winter season, Mohawk Mountain Ski Area is presenting Warren Miller’s 63rd film called Flow State on Friday, November 9 and Sat. November 10 at 7 p.m at the Ski Lodge located on 46 Great Hollow Rd. in Cornwall CT. The doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets are $12. Buy your tickets by visiting www.mohawkmtn.com by phone at 860.672.6100 or at the door.

Warren Miller’s Flow State kicksoff the winter sports season for the 63rd time and will connect audiences with inspiring mountains and sensational athletes from around the globe. If you love ski or snowboard action of amazing magnitude this show is a must see.

Flow State gives viewers the ultimate experience and is where the mountain meets the mind. An instant classic, Flow State takes its viewers to the tallest peaks and most extreme climates for the most exhilarating action possible on snow. Skiers and snowboarders of all ages will be inspired, entertained and motivated to get out on the snow – and to win great prizes in our door prize drawings!

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5th Annual Washington Green Cemetery Tour Oct. 26

The 5th Annual Washington Green Cemetery Tour, with a special Gunnery theme, will take place on Friday October 26th from 6:30-8:30pm.

Costumed guides will lead groups of visitors every ten minutes from the Gunn Museum to the Washington Green Cemetery where the town’s departed citizens will be stationed at their gravestones to tell their tales of tragedy and triumph.

Tour groups will follow a path of 1,000 luminaries spanning a quarter of a mile through the shadowy cemetery and will hear the dramatic experiences of past students and faculty from the Gunnery.

Features of this magical theatrical evening will include tales of murder, town controversies, the Titanic disaster, Civil War soldiers, abolitionists and more. This event is not to be missed!

Tours depart every ten minutes from the museum and last about 45 minutes, bring a flashlight. Complimentary refreshments will be served in the Gunn Library. While this event is free, donations are greatly appreciated. The rain date is Sunday October 28.

The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Route 47, on Washington Green, Connecticut. Call 860-868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for information.

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Sharon Audubon Enchanted Forest and Kids’ Day Oct. 20 & 28

The Enchanted Forest…meet a Bear….

Family fun is in the works at the Sharon Audubon Center the last two weekends in October. Both events are “non scary” and geared toward families with children pre-K through 2nd grade.

The Audubon’s popular Enchanted Forest will be held on Saturday, October 20th. Guided groups will meet friendly costumed animal characters along a candlelit trail and hear how the animals live their lives on the Audubon grounds. After the tour, which lasts approximately 45 minutes, participants can enjoy a cup of hot chocolate inside the Center building before taking a hayride back to the parking area. This non-scary program is ideal for children up to 8 years old and their families. Tours begin every 10-15 minutes between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00pm. Participants should bring an extra flashlight. Admission is $4 per person. Children under 2 are free.

Kids Day at the Sharon Audubon Center

Audubon Kids’ Day is taking place on Sunday, October 28th from 12-3pm. This is a fun, autumn afternoon for young children and their families and features brand new carnival-type games for 2012, kids’ crafts, live animals from “The Nature of Things,” a haybale maze, haywagon rides, professional face painting with glitter tattoos and food. Children are encouraged to come in costume and join in the costume parade around the Center grounds at 2:30. The event is held rain or shine. Admission is $7.00 per carload.

The Sharon Audubon Center is located on Route 4 in Sharon, for more information, contact the Audubon Center at (860) 364-0520 or visit http://sharon.audubon.org.

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Meerkats” And “Africa” Exhibits Extended Into 2013

Amazing Meercats Extend their Stay

Visitors to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk are getting more chances to be entertained and fascinated by a special collection of exotic African creatures, including six amusing meerkats.

The special exhibit “Africa: From the Desert to the Sea” will stay open for another five months, through Jan. 20, 2013. And its companion exhibit, “Meerkats,” has been extended through Labor Day 2013. Previously, both had been scheduled to close after this Labor Day (Sept. 3).

The meerkats are very popular with visitors young and old to the Aquarium. The extention of ‘Africa’ through the holidays and into the new year allows the Aquarium the necessary time to prepare for their next special exhibit.

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are members of the mongoose family that live in social “mobs” in the Kalahari Desert, in the southern African nations of Botswana and South Africa. (Timon, the comical sidekick in Disney’s “The Lion King,” is a meerkat.)

The Maritime Aquarium’s “Meerkats” exhibit features six sibling meerkats – three males, three females – born in July 2009 at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their Aquarium exhibit offers lots of opportunities for climbing, digging and exploring. For young Aquarium visitors, a special viewing bubble lets children pop up right among the meerkats.

The animals are so popular that the Aquarium installed a “meerkat cam,” for visitors who want to check up on the animals’ activities remotely. (Click on it at www.maritimeaquarium.org.)

The “Africa: From the Desert to the Sea” exhibit displays some of the fascinating but lesser-known aquatic creatures of Africa, including lungfish, electric catfish and colorful cichlids and reef fish.

Both special exhibits are free with Maritime Aquarium general admission, which is $13.95 for adults, $12.95 for seniors 65+, and $10.50 for children 2-12.

A new special exhibit, “Dangerous Creatures,” is scheduled to open on Feb. 16 in the space currently occupied by “Africa: From the Desert to the Sea.”

For more information about The Maritime Aquarium’s exhibits, IMAX movies and programs, go online to www.MaritimeAquarium.org or call (203) 852-0700.

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The Design Show at Peter Lawrence Gallery


The Peter Lawrence Gallery is proud to announce a new exhibit “The Design Show” which will run from October 12-November 11, 2012, with an opening reception on Sunday, October 14, 2012 from 1-5 pm.

The Design Show will feature handmade, sustainable, live-edge furniture by award winning woodworker Peter Lawrence Scalera, and assemblage pieces by Arista Baltronis made of antique tools that have been refurbished and covered with Swarovski Crystals.

Scalera, who is co-owner and regular exhibitor at the Peter Lawrence Gallery will premiere a new series of “wood under glass” pieces at this show. Scalera has been working in wood design for over forty years, and recently completed a full, custom furniture fit-out at CraftBar in NYC. Additionally, he has completed major projects at Eva Scrivo Salon, Craft Restaurant, Colicchio and Sons restaurant (also in NYC), and numerous residential interiors in NY and CT. The 2010 “Best in Show” recipient at the Providence “Fine Furnishings and Craft Show” says of his own work: “I’ve always thought of my work as ‘Functional Art.’ Function plays a large part in my designs.”

Arista Baltronis will exhibit work from her ‘hardware on the rocks” series of assemblage pieces. Baltronis meticulously refurbishes old tools of all kinds before applying Swarovski Crystals to the surface of each piece, transforming old tools into works of art. Baltronis, whose past exhibitions include the Alexandria Museum in Los Angeles, and the Viridian Gallery in NYC says of her work “I am having such fun with this new direction of work. It is very exciting and challenging to learn new skills and new techniques and apply them to an everyday object to make it into something completely unique.”

The Peter Lawrence Gallery is located at 703 Kent Road in Gaylordsville, CT, and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12-5pm. There is no admission charge to the gallery or to any gallery event. We are continuing to exhibit sculptures by James Travers in the sculpture garden through November. For more information please visit www.peterlawrencegallery.com. For travel information www.litchfieldhills.com

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