Tag: CT events

Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound at the Bruce Museum

Found in estuaries around the world, oysters play a significant role in ecosystems and economies. These bivalve mollusks have sustained Native Americans and created waterside cultures. The Long Island Sound’s native oyster, the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), is a keystone species in the local environment, providing critical habitat and food for many other species, recycling nutrients, cleaning the water as it feeds, and driving an industry. Its value lies in these worthy attributes rather than in its potential for jewels. Like other true oysters, the Eastern oyster rarely produces a pearl. If it does make one, the pearl lacks the lustrous quality of those produced by pearl oysters, which are in a different family.

Eastern Oyster Eastern Oyster Crassostrea virginica Bruce Museum Collection Photo by Paul Mutino
Eastern Oyster
Eastern Oyster
Crassostrea virginica
Bruce Museum Collection Photo by Paul Mutino

The Bruce Museum celebrates the Eastern oyster in the exhibition Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound, running through March 23, 2014.

The exhibition will explore the science and history of the Eastern oyster in Long Island Sound, examining how its nutritional and commercial values have made the Eastern oyster a popular commodity for residents along the Sound for eons.

Hassam_Sloop Childe Hassam (American, 1859 – 1935) Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob, 1902 Oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.100
Hassam_Sloop
Childe Hassam (American, 1859 – 1935) Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob, 1902
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.100

Native Americans harvested oysters from mile-long natural beds and collected individual oysters that were up to a foot long. By the early 1800s, the natural beds had become depleted and oysters were cultivated on artificial beds.

The oyster industry was a powerful force in the local economy by the end of the 19th century. However, overfishing, pollution, natural disasters, and disease brought about a decline and the industry was seriously threatened through the early to mid-20th century.

In recent years, the oyster trade has experienced resurgence as a result of improved aquaculture techniques and oysters’ popularity among food connoisseurs who enjoy their distinctive flavor, which varies with each local environment.

Organized with the assistance of scientists and historians and developed in cooperation with the Town of Greenwich Shellfish Commission, Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound features hands-on, interactive displays, videos, specimens of bivalves from around the world, and historical objects that appeal to all ages. Objects from the Bruce Museum collection are supplemented by loans of shells, oystering tools, food-related items, and boat models from local collectors including oysterman Norm Bloom and institutions such as the Yale Peabody Museum, Rowayton Historical Society, National Gallery of Art, Grand Central Oyster Bar, and Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Milford Laboratory.

Complementing the exhibition will be a science lecture series in the fall and a history lecture series in the winter in addition to a variety of programs suitable for all ages.

About the Bruce Museum

Explore Art and Science at the Bruce Museum, located at One Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm; closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for students up to 22 years, $6 for seniors and free for members and children under 5 years. Individual admission is free on Tuesday. Free on-site parking is available and the Museum is accessible to individuals with disabilities. For additional information, call the Bruce Museum at (203) 869-0376 or visit the website at www.brucemuseum.org. For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

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Historic Marble Dale Church Celebrates 250th Anniversary

Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church of Marble Dale, a village in the township of Washington located in the Litchfield Hills will launch the celebration of its 250th year on January 12, 2014, at 9:30 a.m.,with a period service based on the 1764 liturgy and congregants attired in vintage dress.

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The Episcopal Church in Connecticut began with the conversion of The Reverend Solomon Palmer, pastor of the Congregational Church in Cornwall. He founded a church in 1760, and the first St. Andrew’s was built in 1765. A second church building, located adjacent to the Northville Cemetery, was used from 1793 until the present church in Marble Dale was built in 1822. This landmark brick church, at the blinking light on Route 202 in Marble Dale, is one of the earliest Gothic Revival structures in New England.

The church was built with local materials, chestnut timbers from Aspetuck sawmills, marble quarried from a nearby stone mill, and brick fired in an area kiln.

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Nathaniel Wheaton, grandson of Joseph Wheaton and the founder of St. Andrews, was ordained and became the first President of Trinity College. He retired to Marble Dale where he purchased and occupied the present Rectory on Wheaton Road. He directed the addition of the Church’s transept and chancel in the 1850’s. The original Nave windows, parts of which were saved, were replaced with stained glass windows made by Tiffany in 1880.

Smaller changes were made to the building in the 1960’s, and a complete restoration was done in 1994 and 1995. StAndrew’s is now the second oldest church building in the Town of Washington and is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

In addition to its rich architectural history, St. Andrew’s has played a pivotal role in the communities of both Marble Dale and Washington since Colonial times.

The January 12 service will give the community a rich view of life in Colonial Marble Dale, including the plain homespun clothing of the tradespeople and farmers and the richer dress of more prosperous residents. Everyone is welcome to attend the January 12 service, along with other period services and special events that will be held throughout 2014.

St. Andrew’s is located at 247 Litchfield Road, Route 202, Marble Dale, across from The White Horse Pub. There is plenty of parking on Wheaton Road. Call 860-868-2275 or visit www.saintandrewsmarbledale.org for more information.

For area information on Litchfield Hills www.visitlitchfieldhills.com

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BETHLEHEM (CT) OFFERS A FESTIVE START TO THE HOLIDAY SEASON

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They call this little town in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut “Christmas Town” with good reason. Bethlehem’s Christmas Town Festival scheduled for December 6 and 7, celebrates its 33rd birthday this year as one of New England’s favorite ways to kick off the season. Wherever you turn, special treats are waiting, from the town green to the post office to the Abbey of Regina Laudis and the 1754 Bellamy-Ferriday House. Some of the unique attractions continue when the festival is over.
Vendors and More On the Green

The quaint town green, centered with a giant tree, is home to over 70 vendors with unique gift items, wreaths and delicious foods for sale. Strolling carolers and musicians help keep things lively, Santa will be waiting at the firehouse to pose for pictures with young friends, and everyone is invited to climb aboard for hayrides offered in front of First Church. Collectors can garner this year’s unique limited edition Christmas Town pewter ornament, sold only during the Festival.

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Bethlehem’s beautiful eighteenth century Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden will be festively decorated and open for tours and holiday cheer during festival hours. Guides will offer house tours and there will be hot cider and a scavenger hunt for children. The home is located at 9 Main Street North, information can be found at www.ctlandmarks.org

Hours for the Christmas Town Festival are Friday, December 6 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday, December 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, see http://www.christmastownfestival.com or phone 203-266-7510, ext. 300.

Christmas Town Mailings at the Post Office

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The Bethlehem post office is busy in December serving the many who come every year to mail holiday cards with their unique postmarks. Visitors can select favorites among the “Christmas Cachet” designs, hand-stamp and mail these unique greetings to friends and family. The idea of the special stamps dates to 1938, when a local Postmaster, the late Earl Johnson, 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 almost every year since. Over 70 designs are now available and nearly 200,000 cards are mailed each year from this small post office. Located at 34 East Street, the post office will have extended hours during the festival, Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Precious Crèches at the Abbey

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One of Bethlehem’s not-to-be-missed jewels is open all month for visitors. The museum-quality eighteenth century Neapolitan crèche on view in a vintage barn at the Abbey of Regina Laudis includes hundreds of beautiful hand-carved figures. Made of wood, terra cotta, and porcelain, the figures portray the Holy Family, angels, the Three Kings, merchants and peddlers, children, peasants and farm animals. This fabulous gift from artist and philanthropist Loretta Hines Howard is similar to the one Howard donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is prominently displayed every Christmas.

A second Crèche, The Lauren Ford Crèche, created by a favorite Connecticut artist, is displayed in a farm shed near the Lower Abbey Chapel. This charming rustic Nativity scene displays figures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph dressed in typical New England garb.

The Monastic Art Shop on the property offers crafts, cheeses, jams, herbal teas, flavored vinegars, herbs and honey, and all created on site by the Abbey’s residents.

The Abbey of Regina Laudis, located at 249 Flanders Road, is open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.abbeyofreginalaudis.org

For more information about holiday activities and a free copy of UNWIND, a full-color, 152-page booklet detailing what to do and see, and where to stay, shop and dine in Fairfield County and the Litchfield Hills of Western Connecticut, contact the Western Connecticut Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759, (860) 567-4506, or visit their web site at www.visitwesternct.com

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Coffeehouse at The Wheelers – Westport Historical Society

The Westport Historical Society’s Betty and Ralph Sheffer Gallery will sway to the rhythms of music and poetry t0n November 22 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. when it morphs into a Greenwich Village-style coffee house featuring singer/songwriter Suzanne Sheridan and friends.

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Westporter Sheridan, whose music influences include Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, will appear with Westport poet Ralph Adams. She will be accompanied on keyboards by Bob Cooper of Westport and Chris Brown on bass. The sessions are titled “Coffee House at the Wheeler’s,” a reference to Wheeler House, the society’s headquarters at 25 Avery Place.
A jingle and New York club singer in the 60s, Sheridan says she dropped out in the 70s because she couldn’t relate to disco and decided she was going to do it her way, performing music that made her happy. Her goal has always been to bring “intelligence and heart to the music scene,” she says. In addition to tunes by Mitchell and Cohen, her dates at the WHS will feature Kansas City blues, jazz and such all-time rock faves as “You Send Me,” “New York State of Mind,” “Johnny Be Good” and “Stand By Me.”

Adams, whom Sheridan considers the unofficial poet laureate of Westport, draws on his experiences growing up on the Kansas plains dreaming of buffalo and Indians and his days sailing the world’s seas with the Merchant Marine.
Cooper played piano with the John Mooney Blues Band in the late 1970s, performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He was also the keyboard player for Harvey Robbins’ Doo-Wopp Hall of Fame concerts from 2000 to 2009.
Brown, who has homes in Bethel and on Candlewood Lakes, studied jazz and classical music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. A horn player in addition to a bassist, he enjoyed a long collaboration with Paul Winter and the Winter Consort, serving as music editor of Winter’s Grammy-winning 1994 album “Prayer for the Wild Things.”

Though contemporary music programs are something of a departure for the WHS, executive director Sue Gold says they serve the mission of “enriching the community and creating an opportunity for Westporters to gather together. A $10 donation will be requested at the door, and reservations are required. For more information visit www.westporthistory.org, to reserve,call the Westport Historical Society at (203) 222-1424.

For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

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Secret of Circles at Stepping Stones Museum for Children

What do a bagel, a ball and a banana all have in common? Cut them through the center and each one has a circle inside! Circles are extremely familiar because they are simply everywhere, but why? The solution to this mystery and many others can be found by exploring Secrets of Circles, a new 2,000-square foot exhibit at Stepping Stones Museum for Children through January 5, 2014.

Circles are pretty amazing shapes. If you look around, you’ll find them in the wheels of a car, the clocks on the wall, the Frisbees you play with or the tortillas on your table. So simple, and yet so incredibly powerful, the circle is found in many places in nature and has been used in many ways by people throughout time and across cultures. But why are they so ubiquitous? What makes them the best shape for both pizza and a barrel? What other secrets can they possibly have?

Discover the secrets at Stepping Stones this fall. Explore this intriguing phenomenon with eighteen interactive, original components that place visitors at the center of experiences rich with the math, science, engineering, and beauty of circles. Whether you are drawing a perfect glow-in-the-dark circle at the Compass Table or building your own gear contraptions in Gear UP!, children and adults alike are uncovering the properties of a simple shape with powerful applications.

Circles are one of the first shapes that very young children learn to identify. As children get older, studying circles helps them understand basic STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) concepts. The exhibit is not only educational, but provides hands-on activities that are really fun for children and families.

Secrets of Circles is designed to intrigue a wide range of ages, as well as visitors from different backgrounds. Signage is tri-lingual, (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese) and spaces are wheelchair accessible. The rich colors, beautiful bamboo plywood, eco-friendly building materials, and cultural and historical artifacts within the exhibit represent people and circles from around the world and over time. The exhibit will inspire many questions and encourage further investigation.

Visit Secrets of Circles and your world will suddenly be transformed into a delicious puzzle for your investigation. After all, circles are everywhere, and each circle has a secret for you to uncover!

ABOUT STEPPING STONES MUSUEM FOR CHILDREN

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is an award-winning, private, non-profit 501 (c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children and families. For more information about Stepping Stones, to book a field trip or schedule a class, workshop or facility rental call 203-899-0606 or visit http://www.steppingstonesmuseum.org.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is located at 303 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT, exit 14 North and 15 South off I-95. Museum hours are: Memorial Day through Labor Day, Monday-Sunday from 10 am-5 pm; and Labor Day through Memorial Day, Tuesday—Sunday and holiday Mondays from 10 am-5pm. Admission is $15 for adults and children and $10 for seniors. Children under 1 are free. To learn more visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org or call 203 899 0606.

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11th Annual Kitchen Tour in Litchfield Hills November 2

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Once again, this year, kitchen fans can look forward to another great line-up of unique and awe-inspiring kitchens offered by the annual Litchfield Hills Kitchen Tour. This highly anticipated tour is known for including a wide range of kitchen styles from cozy country chic to breathtaking ultra modern. The tour has grown in popularity because of the ideas and innovations that participants can take home to their own kitchens. This year, the 11th annual Kitchen Tour to benefit the Housatonic Musical Theatre Society will be held Saturday, November 2, 2013, from 10 am – 4 pm.

Kitchens in Cornwall and Kent are featured on this years’ tour. The kitchens range in style and size to inspire a variety of approaches to the “heart of the home.” This year’s homes include a barn designed for entertaining with a large kitchen island and table with cherry wood from a backyard tree; an Early Modern House finished in 1939 for Pulitzer Prize winner Hatcher Hughes, recently restored by the present owners to its original splendor; a restored barn with two storybook cottages; a house built for large crowds and family get-togethers featuring a beautiful screened-in detached room with a massive stone fireplace; and a center hall colonial that has a large center kitchen island,a bar area and a traditional dining room. An added bit of fun on this tour are the local samplings of goodies offered at each kitchen on the tour.

Tickets for the Kitchen Tour are $35 in advance and $40 the day of the Tour. There will also be a number of raffle prizes offered. Advance Kitchen Tour ticket buyers will receive two complimentary raffle tickets for the various raffle prize drawings. For information, go to www.hmts.org or call (860) 364-6022 or email hmtsct@gmail.com. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

JanetLeave a comment