Category: Connecticut Travel

Cruise out for the chance to see some of the seals and waterfowl that spend their winters in Long Island Sound during The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk’s new season of Winter Creature Cruises.

These invigorating outings aboard the research vessel Oceanic occur many weekends from mid-December through early April. That’s when the seals come down from northern waters, which serve as their summer breeding and pupping areas.

On the Aquarium’s cruises you will seek out the seals to observe them as they come up at low tide to rest on rocks, shoals and shorelines on and near the Norwalk Islands. Dates and departure times vary by the tide schedule. Initial cruises are: Sat., Dec. 12 at 9:30 a.m.; Sat., Jan. 15 at 1 p.m.; and Sun., Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.

Participants will learn from Educators that are onboard about the seals’ natural histories and use artifacts to discuss seal anatomy. You will learn what happens with the Sound’s general marine population during the winter: who stays, who migrates in (besides seals) and who migrates out. Educators will also point out wintering waterfowl on the Sound, including buffleheads, mergansers, Old Squaw and other feathered seasonal visitors. Last years participants saw two species of seals in the Sound: harbor seals and gray seals, both are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which limits how closely anyone may approach them.

Participants can help with their cruise’s plankton and water-chemistry 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.

Bring binoculars, cameras and – because there is limited cabin space – plenty of warm clothes! The 21/2-hour cruises are good for ages 8 and older.

Tickets for a Maritime Aquarium Winter Creature Cruise are $20.50 (or $18.50 for Aquarium members). Weekday charters for school groups are available.

Advance ticket purchases are strongly recommended; walk-up tickets will be sold, space permitting. Get advance tickets by calling (203) 852-0700, ext. 2206, during weekday business hours or by going online anytime to http://www.maritimeaquarium.org.

For more information about Maritime Aquarium study cruises, exhibits, IMAX movies and other offerings, call (203) 852-0700 or visit Cruise out for the chance to see some of the seals and waterfowl that spend their winters in Long Island Sound during The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk’s new season of Winter Creature Cruises.

These invigorating outings aboard the research vessel Oceanic occur many weekends from mid-December through early April. That’s when the seals come down from northern waters, which serve as their summer breeding and pupping areas.

On the Aquarium’s cruises you will seek out the seals to observe them as they come up at low tide to rest on rocks, shoals and shorelines on and near the Norwalk Islands. Dates and departure times vary by the tide schedule. Initial cruises are: Sat., Dec. 12 at 9:30 a.m.; Sat., Jan. 15 at 1 p.m.; and Sun., Jan. 16 at 1 p.m.

Participants will learn from Educators that are onboard about the seals’ natural histories and use artifacts to discuss seal anatomy. You will learn what happens with the Sound’s general marine population during the winter: who stays, who migrates in (besides seals) and who migrates out. Educators will also point out wintering waterfowl on the Sound, including buffleheads, mergansers, Old Squaw and other feathered seasonal visitors. Last years participants saw two species of seals in the Sound: harbor seals and gray seals, both are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which limits how closely anyone may approach them.

Participants can help with their cruise’s plankton and water-chemistry 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.

Bring binoculars, cameras and – because there is limited cabin space – plenty of warm clothes! The 21/2-hour cruises are good for ages 8 and older.

Tickets for a Maritime Aquarium Winter Creature Cruise are $20.50 (or $18.50 for Aquarium members). Weekday charters for school groups are available.

Advance ticket purchases are strongly recommended; walk-up tickets will be sold, space permitting. Get advance tickets by calling (203) 852-0700, ext. 2206, during weekday business hours or by going online anytime.

For more information about Maritime Aquarium study cruises, exhibits, IMAX movies and other offerings, call (203) 852-0700 or visit www.maritimeaquarium.org.

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On Friday 12/10 and Saturday 12/11 Watertown/Oakville will celebrate the first annual “The Spirit of the Holidays” a town-wide event celebrating the spirit of peace, the spirit of community, the spirit of giving and the spirit of celebration and fun.

Friday night will open with a children’s walk and candlelight sign at the Gazebo. The Watertown Methodist Church will host A Night in Bethlehem and the stores will stay open late for holidays shopping with specials and hospitality.

On Saturday, more than 80 artists and craftartists will be at the Depot Square Mall; Watertown Methodist Church and the American Legion. Live music will be hosted at The Father’s House, 523 Main Street from 12noon until 7pm, along with free gift wrapping and open house. There will be open houses all over Town with great buys and refreshments. Crafts and Open Gym for children will be in several locations.

Bring the family – make this a new holiday tradition.
More information at Watertown Recreation 860-945-5246 or breen@watertownct.org

Decorated in turn-of-the-century Christmas style, the elegant Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum, 192 Main Street in Torrington, will open its doors to holiday visitors beginning Saturday, December 11, 2010. The museum staff will offer guided tours of the house, built in 1900 and home to the Hotchkiss and Fyler families for more than half a century. Tours will be conducted Wednesday through Sunday and will start every half hour from 12 noon to 3:30 pm.

Christmas at the Hotchkiss-Fyler House features lavish holiday decorations typical of the early twentieth century. Garlands of greenery trim the staircase, doorways, and mantels and floral arrangements, wreaths, and poinsettias adorn the richly appointed interior. The dining room table is set for a Christmas dinner with the fine china, crystal, silverware, and linens that belonged to Gertrude Fyler Hotchkiss.

A number of Christmas trees will be on display throughout the house, including
a table-top tree in the sunroom decorated with late nineteenth and early twentieth century ornaments on loan from a private collector as well as a full-size tree in the reception room with hand-made Victorian-style ornaments and vintage trimmings from the Torrington Historical Society’s collection on its branches, antique toys gathered below.

The second floor of the house will feature items from the Society’s collection that reflect the life styles and fashions of the 1920s through the 1940s. In addition, a tree will be decorated with handmade ornaments based on early twentieth century Christmas advertisements from Torrington shops.

Admission is $7 for adults, free for members and children under 12. The house is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and on Christmas Day, December 25th. For more information, call (860) 482-8260.

They call this little town of Bethlehem “Christmas Town”, and with good reason. The annual Christmas Town Festival, scheduled for December 3 and 4, celebrates its 30th birthday this year as one of New England’s favorite celebrations. Thousands travel to this small village in the Litchfield Hills every year to mail holiday cards with a special Bethlehem greeting. The town’s historic Bellamy-Ferriday House opens to visitors for the occasion, and Bethlehem boasts a rare Christmas jewel, a museum-quality 18th century crèche on view in a vintage barn at the Abbey of Regina Laudis

30th Anniversary Celebration

This year’s special birthday celebration starts on Friday night at 6 p.m. when Santa turns on the lights on the towering 75-foot tree on the village green, with festive background music by the Region 14 choirs and bands, talented local groups. On Saturday, the gaily- decorated quaint buildings around the green will brim with over 70 art and craft exhibitors and there will be good food galore. Strolling carolers and musicians from the First Church Bell Choir will keep things lively, hayrides will be offered in front of First Church and Santa will be waiting at the firehouse to pose for pictures with young friends. Collectors can garner this year’s unique annual Christmas Town pewter ornament, sold only during the Festival.

The Bethlehem post office will open for special hours during the festival, Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The idea of mailing cards from Bethlehem dates to 1938, when a local Postmaster, the late Earl Johnson, realized that people were coming to town just to mail their cards. He designed a “cachet,” a special rubber stamp featuring a tree and lettering that said “From the Little Town of Bethlehem, Christmas greetings.” New cachets have been added each year since. More than 60 are now available and over 200,000 cards are now mailed each year from this small town post office.

Historic Home Tours

Bethlehem’s beautiful eighteenth century Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden also will open on Saturday, lavishly decorated for the holidays. Guides will be on hand to give tours and the family-friendly program will include games, prizes and surprises for children. Special entertainment is planned by The Sweetest Key, an all-female a cappella group, with a concert at noon and caroling from 1 to 2 pm. Refreshments and hot cider will be offered in the Visitor’s Center.

Magnificent Crèche

Another eighteenth century treasure is the crèche housed in a barn on the 400-acre property of the Abbey of Regina Laudis. The recently restored Neapolitan crèche is similar to the famous crèche in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and came from the same donor, Loretta Hines Howard. It is a remarkable creation containing 68 figures 14 to 16 inches high dressed in their original elaborate costumes. Along with the Holy Family, the figures vividly portray children, women bearing gifts, merchants, peddlers, angels, the Three Kings, and peasants with their farm animals. The Crèche is thought to have belonged to Victor Amadeus the Second, King of Sardinia, and is believed to have been presented to him on the occasion of his coronation in 1720. It is open free to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Christmas Town Festival will be held at the junction of Rte. 61 and Rte. 132 in Bethlehem on Friday, December 3rd from 5 to10 p.m., and Saturday. Dec. 4th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free parking is available at the Bethlehem Fairgrounds on Route 61, where free shuttle buses will take visitors to and from the Festival. For additional information, see