Coming to America: Washington's Swedish Immigrants

The Gunn Memorial Museum on 5 Wykeham Road in Washington Connecticut is exploring its' European roots with a new exhibit that runs through January 12, 2014 called Coming to America: Washington's Swedish Immigrants.  This exhibition shares the little-known story of Swedish immigration to this small New England town.

Known for their superior agricultural skills, 1.3 million Swedes immigrated to America during the 19th and 20th centuries, escaping conscription, famine, and poverty. Washington, Connecticut became one of their new homes, where many found employment as laborers and servants on local farms and estates owned by wealthy New Yorkers.

Beginning in 1870, over one hundred Swedish families settled in Washington and built two churches across the street from each other. One, the Salem Covenant Church, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Swedes made up 22% of Washington's population in 1910, and many of their descendants still reside in town today. This exhibit tells their story.

The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Rt. 47, on Washington Green. The Museum is open to the public Thursday through Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday from 12pm-4pm. Call the Museum at 860-868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for more information.

Kitchen Tour of Litchfield Hills

The 11th annual Litchfield Hills Kitchen Tour to benefit the Housatonic Musical Theatre Society will be held Saturday, November 2, 2013 from 10 am – 4 pm.  This year’s tour will feature six kitchens in the towns of Kent and Cornwall.  

Kitchens on the tour will 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; a center hall colonial that is a complete renovation featuring a large center kitchen island, a bar area and a traditional dining room.

To enhance the experience of Kitchen Tourists, local caters and restaurants will be offering a sampling of delicacies at each kitchen on 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.

Tickets for the Kitchen Tour are $35 in advance and $40 the day of the Tour.  For information, go to hmts.org or call (860) 364-6022 or email hmtsct@gmail.com.

For  information on Litchifeld Hills visit www.litchifieldhills.com

Halloween Thrills and Chills in Litchfield Hills CT

It is that spooky time of year again and Bristol Connecticut in the Litchfield Hills is "spook central"! 

For chills, make haste to the Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce Family Theme Park in Bristol, which has been called "The granddaddy of the horrifically good time." 

An unholy order of monks keep watch over the graves in the dark caverns of the Catacombs here and a dark and misty fog envelops the graveyard where zombies and night stalkers have wakened from the dead. Some are real, others are amazing animatronic creations made by The Haunted Graveyard's crazed staff. Recommended for adults, teens and very brave children, the park opens at dusk weekends from from October 4-27, and runs to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, to 10 p.m. on Sundays. 

If you go to www.hauntedgraveyard.com you can download a $3 off adult combo admission that is valid on 10/18, 20, 25, and 27 that is good for up to 4 people. Lake Compounce will also be operating 17 thrill rides including Boulder Dash, Ghost Hunt, Down Time, and Zoomerang. Proceeds will benefit the American Diabetes Associations.  For information on Lake Compounce www.lakecompounce.com.

This will be the 47th year for the annual Witches Dungeon Halloween Classic Movies Museum in Bristol. The Graveyard Of Classic Ghouls sets the atmosphere as you enter the dungeon where accurate life-size figures of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi, and others are featured in 13 scenes or dioramas based on the vintage movie chillers. 

Many of the figures are made from the actual life casts of the actor's faces, plus some original costumes or props, in a wax museum style setting with special voice tracks by Vincent Price, Mark Hamill, and John Agar. Many Hollywood props are on display and vintage films may be shown outdoors, weather permitting. 

Special highlights this year include a display of original movie props and weather permitting showing of silent horror classics on an outdoor screen.  Hours are Friday through Sunday evenings, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Oct. 18-20, 25-27 and Oct. 31 – Nov. 3. The Museum is not recommended for children under age 7.  For more information visit www.preservehollywood.org.

For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

Halloween.... historically... in Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County....

At the historic Glebe House Museum on Hollow Rd. in Woodbury on Saturday, October 26 costumed spirits will lead the way through the Ancient Burying grounds, where 30 of Woodbury's most famous and infamous 'spirits' await at their grave sites to relate tales from the darker side of 18th and 19th century Woodbury. There will be a spooky candlelit tour in the museum itself and stories and tales from Moll Cramer, the Witch of Woodbury, told in the Museum cottage. Madame Suzolo will be offering Tarot Card readings and there will be free fall refreshments for all. The Hollow will be closed to traffic and the area, including the walk to and through the cemetery will be lit with over 200 luminaries. Hours are 5 pm to 8:30 p.m.  Individual tickets are $12 and Family tickets Mom, Dad and their children are $25.

The rain date is October 27. www.theglebehouse.org.

The 6^th Annual Washington Green Cemetery Tour, with a special Swedish immigrant theme, will take place on Friday October 25 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 magical path of 1,000 luminaries spanning a quarter mile through the shadowy cemetery and hear the lively and dramatic stories of Washington's Swedish immigrants. The costumed character actors stationed at each gravestone will share the perilous tales of their travels to America, their work as domestics on estates in Washington owned by wealthy New Yorkers, and so much more. The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Route 47, on Washington Green. Rain date is Oct. 27. www.gunnlibrary.org/museum.html

The Hurd House in Woodbury on Hollow Rd. one of the oldest houses in the Western part of Connecticut is hosting a Halloween bash from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on October 26.  Children are invited to come to this magnificent historic house in costume and listen to a spooky tale, sip cider by the fire and afterward join the scavenger hunt for some ghoulish fun!  This event is free.

On October 26, Rain date Oct. 27, Plymouth is holding a PumpkinFest on the Green, 10 Park Street from 4 to 7 p.m. Bring your carved jack-o-lantern to enter the carving contest prizes; will be awarded. At 6 p.m. all the pumpkins will be lit for a spectacular display. Other event activities include face painting, live music, lantern tours of the old burying ground and a costume parade led by a bagpiper

On October 27 at 6 p.m. the Fairfield Museum and History Center on 370 Beach Road in Fairfield will host a bone chilling walking tour that explores Fairfield’s haunting legends and folklore as night descends. Participants will hear about body snatching in the cemetery, ghost legends at the Tavern and stand on the site where wary townsfolk tested alleged witches in the 17^th century.  Cost is $8 per person. www.fairfieldhistory.org

As the sun sets, the spirits come out to play…take a lantern-lit tour through the Mill Hill graveyard in Norwalk on Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26 at 6 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.  Listen to new chilling tales from the Norwalk spirits at “A Haunting at Mill Hill”.  Meet Anna Howard, the spirit that roams the Norwalk River and Margaret Gale, the wife of an organ grinder, who met her untimely end along a deserted Norwalk road, plus more stories of murder, death and destruction! Refreshments follow each tour in the historic Little Red Schoolhouse. Limited space on each tour, book early! Event held indoors during inclement weather.  Bring a flashlight.  For tickets call 203-846-0525 or visit www.norwalkhistoricalsociety.org.  Cost: Adults/Teens (ages 13 & up): $14, Child (ages 8-12): $9

Kitchen Tour in Litchfield Hills November 2

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

Monster Mash at the Stepping Stones Museum For Children Oct. 26

It will be a night of tricks and treats as Stepping Stones Museum for Children welcomes all into its halls of wonder for the museum’s annual Halloween party. Celebrate this mystifying holiday the Stepping Stones way at Monster Mash: Questions and Mysteries on Saturday, October 26, from 6:00 – 8:30 pm.  You’re sure to have a monstrously-good time during the museum’s kid-friendly costume party. It’s a night to quench the curiosity in everyone!

Monster Mash: Questions and Mysteries will be a spellbinding night jam-packed with not-so-scary family fun. Guests can meander through the museum on a scavenger hunt, find out what is fact or fiction as their minds are boggled by the wonders of real life. They will make their own magnifying glass, uncover mysterious messages and scrawl their own secrets with invisible ink, use their nose to sniff out solutions to questions and use their hands to feel for the answers. Of course there will be masquerading down the catwalk during the spooktacular costume fashion show and the BOO-tiful evening will end when they strut their stuff in the puzzling parade throughout the museum.  

Don’t fret about bringing the littlest visitors.  At this Halloween party, we won’t have you crying for your “mummy.” There will be age-appropriate activities for all visitors, so that the whole family can enjoy this costume party.

Tickets for this event cost $10 per person for museum members and $12 per person for non-members.  Children under the age of one will be admitted for free.  Monster Mash tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable.  Registration is required.  Space is limited, so register early.  Call 203 899 0606, ext. 247, or visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org/monstermash.

About Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, Conn., is an award-winning, private, non-profit 501(c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children and families. Located on five acres in Mathews Park, the LEED Gold certified museum encompasses five hands-on galleries, state-of-the-art Multimedia Gallery, Family and Teacher Resource Center, cafe and retail store.

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

For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com