A Thanksgiving Cooking Class @ The Silo

Fall and the harvest are a deep part of the cultural heritage of New England -- it is the time of year when the leaves turn while the flowers are still in bloom, the skies are a rich blue and there is a hint of frost in the air. Thanksgiving originated as a harvest festival in New England and has been celebrated since 1789 all across America. It is a time when families and friends come together to give thanks for all that they have and to celebrate life.

Cooking and entertaining is part of any celebration and the Silo at Hunt Hill Farm located on 44 Upland Road in New Milford is making cooking and planning for Thanksgiving easy by offering a "Classic Thanksgiving" cooking class on November 5 from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with Chef Daniel Rosati. The cost is $110 for full participation and can be reserved online.

Participants will learn how to cook a mouth watering menu that is sure to make your guests beg for more with recipes  so good that they will become part of your Thanksgiving holiday tradition!  The menu includes: Parmesan Herb Quick Bread, Autumn Corn Chowder, Butterflied Herb Grilled Turkey with Pomegranate Molasses Glaze, Brioche Sausage Sage Stuffing, Sweet Potato Gratin with Caramelized Shallots and Aged Gouda, Green Beans with Hazelnut Brown Butter, and Warm Miniature Pumpkin Cheesecakes to finish off the feast.

As a follow up to this class, don't miss the gingerbread classes that are being planned for kids and for adults in December! For more information www.litchfieldhills.com

Ghostly Sightings and Macabre Tales @ Lockwood Mathews Mansion

The Lockwood Mathews Mansion in Norwalk has organized two weekends of spooktacular fun on October 2- 23 and 28- 30 at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.  

A special Halloween tour, "Ghostly Sightings & Macabre Tales of the Victorian Era" will focus on the history of the house and the chilling customs and mourning traditions of the Victorian era.

Visitors may run into the Mansion’s ghosts, who are haunted by the darker memories that are part of the rarely spoken history of the Lockwood and Mathews families. These ghosts will wander throughout the first and second floors of the Mansion, but only during this very special and spooky Halloween tour.

Children under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Tours are $20 per person; advance payment and reservation are required. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For more information on schedules and programs please visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.

Visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com to sign up for a monthly newsletter of Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County.

All Hollows Eve @ The Glebe House Oct 22

As the leaves are changing color and the hint of the first frost is in the air get ready to celebrate autumn at the All Hollows Event event hosted by the Glebe House located on Hollow Road in Woodbury on Saturday, October 22.  This celebration takes place during the witching hours of  5:30 to 9 p.m.  

Ghosts, goblins, and assorted scary creatures will be on hand along Hollow Road, following a path lit by over 300 luminaries, some of Woodbury's earliest citizens will come back from the dead to lead mystery tours of the nearby Ancient Burying Grounds.

Besides touring the cemetery, visitors should plan to enter the Haunted Glebe House to experience a spine tingling tour with the home's frightening inhabitants and have a tarot card reading from Madame Suzolo. Complimentary refreshments of hot chocolate, cider and autumn treats will warm up our guests on this fall evening.

Parking for the evening will be in Hollow Park, whose entrance is next to the Glebe House. Only a limited number of tickets are available. Tickets purchased in advance are $10 per person or $5 for children 5-12. Tickets may be purchased at the Glebe House in person or by calling (203)263-2855; you can also send a check to: The Glebe House Museum. PO Box 245, Woodbury, CT 06798.

Learn about the beauty of Karesansui: Japanese Stone Gardens Old and New

The Greenwich Historical Society is hosting a special cultural landscape lecture at the Vanderbilt Education Center located on 39 Strickland Rd. in Cos Cob by Marc Peter Keane November 3. The doors to this lecture will open at 6:30 p.m. when light refreshments will be served.  The 45 minute lecture begins at 7 p.m. and is followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. The focus of this lecture will be on Karesansui: Japanese Stone Gardens Old and New.

Marc Peter Keane, internationally known garden designer and author will describe the history and tradition of karesansui gardens—those enigmatic arrangements of stone and sand—exploring how they came into being and why they are designed the way they are. Beginning with their early roots in sacred stones, iwakura, he will show how these gardens developed into the highly stylized forms we see today in Japan and around the world.

Keane will also discuss his own work designing contemporary karesansui gardens including the Spiral Garden built in Kyoto Prefecture's oldest extant residence (a designated cultural property), the Tiger Glen Garden at the Johnson Museum of Art, and the recently completed courtyard garden in Manhattan called Thrust!

Marc Peter Keane is a landscape architect based in Ithaca, New York. He lived in Kyoto, Japan, for 18 years, designing gardens for private individuals, companies and temples, and continues that work now from his studio in Ithaca. He has authored four books on the subject of karesansui. More about his work and books can be found at his beautiful website. 

For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Enjoy a Wicked Walk in Mysterious Downtown Bridgeport!

The Barnum Museum located on 820 Main Street in Bridgeport is hosting a fascinating—and slightly macabre—Wicked Walk lantern stroll of historic downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, led by author-historian-lecturer Michael Bielawa. October provides the perfect time to visit scenes of suspected hauntings, Victorian-era murders, and unexplained phenomena. Remarkably, these mysteries and mysterious sites are centrally located and within easy walking distance.  

The evening tours will be offered on two dates: Thursday, October 27, and Friday, October 28, 2016 at 6:30.  Tickets are available through eventbrite.com.  (Visit eventbrite.com and “search for event” using Barnum Museum or Mysterious Bridgeport.)  Tickets should be purchased at least a day in advance; group size is limited, so early reservations are suggested.  Tickets are $5 per person for Barnum Museum members, and $15 for others.  Please note that this program is not recommended for children under 12 years of age.

The program begins in the People’s United Bank Gallery located at the rear of The Barnum Museum, 820 Main Street in Bridgeport.  Please plan to arrive at 6:30 pm, so that the tour can leave by 6:45 pm.  In case of a weather cancellation on either of those dates, the tour will be offered on Sunday, October 30, with an earlier start time of 4:30 pm.  

Bring a camera if you wish, as the author encourages participants to take photographs in order to help document the area’s paranormal activity.  Participants may return to the museum after the walk for hot cider and refreshments.  Mr. Bielawa will also sign copies of his books.

Michael Bielawa is versed in the paranormal. He continually studies, and uncovers, haunting tales of southern New England’s shadowy past. These tales are based on fact, and have been documented through research at regional libraries, historical societies, through old documents, and personal interviews. Mr. Bielawa is the author of the award-winning books, Wicked Bridgeport and Wicked New Haven. His essays on the supernatural have appeared in FATE Magazine and Fortean Times. Mr. Bielawa has appeared on WTNH Channel 8’s Connecticut Style and Good Morning Connecticut segments and on WPLR, WICC, NPR, WABC-AM as well as various other programs.

Please call (203) 331-1104 ext. 100 during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, if you have any questions. 

Colonial Cookery and Customs for Kids at the Wilton Historical Society

Every month, the Colonial Cookery and Customs for Kids workshop at the Wilton Historical Society located on 224 Danbury Road in Wilton teaches kids in grades 4 – 8 a Colonial "reciept" (recipe) used in the Connecticut region. While the food is prepared, kids learn about Colonial manners, morals and way of life.

In October, the children will be making pumpkin bread and apple butter. The production of apple butter was a popular way of using apples in colonial America, well into the 19th century. The product contains no actual dairy butter; the term butter refers only to the butter-like thick, soft consistency, and apple butter's use as a spread for breads. Typically seasoned with cinnamon, clove, and other spices, apple butter is usually spread on bread, used as a side dish, an ingredient in baked goods, or as a condiment. Apple butter is also used on a sandwich to add an interesting flavor, but is not as commonly used as in historical times.

The workshops feature relatively simple dishes made with local, seasonal ingredients. The recipes used will be adapted for modern kitchens. This is done for safety reasons, and also so that the attendees can recreate their meals at home. All participants will sample their own cooking and take home recipe cards - as well as any leftovers! The children will learn how a Colonial kitchen would have operated, in order to appreciate the modern conveniences we take for granted. Previous sessions have made bannock cakes, pease porridge, pickles, an amulet of green peas, apple tansey and fairy butter.

Members: $10; Non-members $15. Space is limited --- so please register by contacting info@wiltonhistorical.org or call 203-762-7257.

To sign up for a monthly newsletter on Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County and for more event information www.visitwesternct.com

One Room School House Open October 23

On October 23, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. visitors to the bucolic town of Roxbury will have the chance to visit a rarely opened historic one -room schoolhouse.  The schoolhouse is located on the Widmark Preserve at the corner of Tophet and Schoolhouse Roads in Roxbury.

 One of eight schoolhouses that once dotted the Roxbury landscape, the Good Hill School House, or No. 4 as it was known on local tax assessor's records, was built in the 1800s with a fieldstone foundation and rustic wooden planks, likely by local farmers.  It served students until the turn of the 20th century when all Roxbury students began attending Booth Free School, the town's current elementary school.

The Widmark Preserve was established in 1997 when the actor Richard Widmark donated 4 acres and the one-room schoolhouse in memory of his wife Jean.  The Widmark Trust donated an additional 22.91 acres in 2004 to expand the preserve and help establish a greenbelt that now encompasses 720 acres of connected, permanently protected land. The greenbelt includes the 22-acre Styron Preserve, the 32-acre Matthau Preserve, the 55-acre Arthur Miller and Inge Morath Miller Preserve, the 467-acre Good Hill Preserve and the 100-acre Miller Preserve donated by Rebecca Miller in 2014.

About the Roxbury Land Trust

The Roxbury Land Trust has preserved a total of 3,630 acres of farmland, woodlands, wildlife habitats, watercourses, wetlands and open space in Roxbury and neighboring communities since it was established in 1970. Nationally accredited by the Land Trust Alliance, the non-profit organization, which is governed by a volunteer board of directors, is supported by membership dues and charitable contributions. The Land Trust does not receive annual operating support from the town, the state or the federal government. The Roxbury Land Trust maintains 32 preserves with 30 miles of hiking trails and three active farms, as well as offers a range of educational programs.  For more information, visit www.roxburylandtrust.org  or call 860-350-4148.

Howl-O-Ween - fun for the whole family @ Beardsley Zoo

Howl-O-Ween  is an annual Halloween themed event at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo.  This family fun event takes place on Oct. 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29 from 6:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

This family-oriented event features activities and attractions geared toward children from 8-15, although brave youngsters have found the event to be quite enjoyable.

For the more timid, there are events such as magic shows, face painting, fortune tellers, dancers and more. Braver children (and parents!) can enter the zoo's special haunted attractions: The Haunted Hayride, Farmer Beardsley's Farmstead, and the Ghastly Greenhouse.

Tickets for this event are $12 pre-sale and for Zoo members and $15 on the night of the event. The ticket purchase includes two haunted houses, a haunted hayride, all performances, face painting, carousel rides and more.  Food and beverages are not included, but are available at the Zoo's Peacock Cafe during the event. Parking at the zoo is free!

For tickets and more information http://www.beardsleyzoo.com/howl-o-ween/

Guided Tours October15 Unlocks the Magic @ Palace Theatre in Waterbury

Friday, October 15 is your chance to learn some of what makes the magic happen behind the curtain along with the history and lore steeped in ninety-five years as an entertainment venue during the Waterbury Palace Theater's upcoming monthly tour from 11a.m. to 12:30p.m. Admission is $5.00 per person and can be purchased online at www.palacetheaterct.org, by phone at 203-346-2000, or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main St. in Waterbury. Groups larger than ten people are asked to contact the Box Office to book their reservations in advance.

During the tour, attendees are led through nine decades of the theater viewing and hearing facts and lore, about the stunning architecture and backstage magic related to the Palace's rich history. In addition to exploring the many spaces within the theater, patrons also have the opportunity to visit hidden areas not seen by the general public - the green room, wig room and star dressing rooms, you can even stop to take a selfie at the stage door. Tour takers will also be able to experience the thrill of walking across the stage and viewing the venue's hidden backstage murals featuring show motifs painted and signed by past performers and Broadway touring company cast members. Guests will also browse a collection of the theater's pre-restoration photos, in addition to viewing elements from the Palace's Tenth Anniversary History Exhibit, which include a visual timeline of historic milestones dating back to 1922, as well as original theater seats from the 1920s.

Each tour is approximately 90 minutes and is led by a team of engaging volunteers well-versed in the theater's rich history, architectural design and entertaining anecdotal information. The walking tour covers five floors of history and architecture, including grand staircases from the 1920's. While elevator access is available, guests with walking disabilities or health concerns are asked to inform the Box Office ahead of time, so that the tour guides can make accommodations in advance to insure a pleasurable experience for all.

In addition to the regularly scheduled monthly dates, the Palace tour makes a memorable activity for alumni groups, client cultivation and other groups. Accommodations can be made for private tours that include refreshments or lunch. For inquiries contact Deirdre Patterson at 203.346.2011.

For general information about the venue visit www.palacetheaterct.org  For more area information and to sign up for our newsletter www.litchfieldhills.com

THE MARITIME AQUARIUM TRANSFORMS INTO THE AQUA-SCARIUM

Kids in Halloween costumes can get free admission to The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk on the final two weekends in October when the popular family attraction transforms into the Aqua-Scarium.

Children age 3 to 12 who come to the Aqua-Scarium in costume on Oct. 22, 23, 29 or 30 get free admission (a $15.95 value) with each paying adult. Adult admission is $22.95. (The offer requires one paying adult for each free costumed child.) Plus, each of the four weekend days, kids can collect candy and prizes in safe trick-or-treating (while supplies last), and everyone can take part in family-fun (non-scary) activities and encounters.

At the Aqua-Scarium activity station, youngsters can decorate a free trick-or-treat bag to use to collect candy and prizes at special stops throughout the animal galleries. Follow a special map to locate the cauldrons of collectibles. Also each day of Aqua-Scarium:

• Face-painters will enhance Halloween alter egos, turning guests into wild creatures, superheroes, princesses and more. Face-painting times are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Supplying the artistry will be Wells Noonan of Face-Painting by Wells (Oct. 22, 29 & 30) and Picasso Parties (Oct. 23).

• A dragon will be loose ... but not too loose ... at a "Meet the Dragon" station. Aquarium educators will invite guests to touch or hold a live bearded dragon, one of the nine species of dragons displayed in the "Dragons: Real or Myth" exhibit. "Meet the Dragon" times are 11 a.m.-noon and 1 to 2 p.m.

The Aqua-Scarium itself will be ghoulishly decorated for Halloween, with jack-o'-lanterns, seasonal accessories and staff dressed in costume.

For more details, go to www.maritimeaquarium.org or call (203) 852-0700. To sign up for a monthly newsletter on Litchfield Hills and Fairfield County visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Historic Walking Tour in Wilton

Join former First Selectman and Wilton historian Bob Russell on a walking tour of the Wilton Historical Society's preserved buildings at Lambert Corner. To be held on Saturday, October 15 at 11:00, the hour-long guided tour of includes Lambert House, formerly known as "Lilacstead", which was built on the site c.1726, and eight other buildings moved there in order to preserve them.

They are the Lambert Cottage, Kent District School, Hurlbutt Street Country Store and Post Office, Wilton Railroad Station, Davenport Barn, Cannon Family General Store, 18th-century Cannon Family Corn Crib and the not-to-be-missed George Davenport Greek Revival Privy. The entire site comprises Wilton's Historic District #1.The group will set out from the porch of the Historical Christmas Barn.

Mr. Russell, Wilton historian and author of Wilton, Connecticut: Three Centuries of People, Places, and Progress, will share some of the interesting stories of the people associated with the buildings. He may well recount the details from a chapter in his book concerning "the most sensational crime in Wilton's history, which took place in December 1897, when the last Wilton member of one of the town's most prominent families, a quiet unassuming gentleman schoolteacher, David S. Lambert, was shot down in cold blood in his home, the Lambert House".

The buildings at Lambert Corner were moved to the site of the original Lambert homestead, at the intersection of Routes 7 and 33, over the past 40 years. Most of the buildings are now used as shops and offices. The Wilton Historical Society was a pioneer in what is now called adaptive re-use – historic structures which have been updated for contemporary use. The Society has rescued, in total, 18 buildings typical of a New England rural community on three campuses in Wilton, all visible from Route 7.

The tour will end at noon at the Historical Christmas Barn store, 150 Danbury Road, where cider and cookies will be served. Comfortable walking attire is suggested.

Wilton, Connecticut: Three Centuries of People, Places, and Progress is available for purchase at the Wilton Historical Society's museum shop, the Betts Store.

Please register for this event: by e-mail: info@wiltonhistorical.org or call 203-762-7257 The Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road, Wilton CT 06897 www.wiltonhistorical.org

Fashion Show at the new Lord & Taylor October 8

If you want to keep up with the current fashion trends, don't miss the Fashion Event on October 8 from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the Lord & Taylor in Stamford located on 110 High Ridge Road. An added bonus is to get a peak at the final stages of their massive renovation.  

Lord & Taylor has always been about the dress. Recognizing that, this fashion icon is dedicating itself to assembling the best collections of dresses in the world. This  fashion event will highlight dress trends such as this year’s popular lace, shoulder exposure, shine, and velvet styles from Lord & Taylor’s exclusive dress line. 

Hosting this spectacular dress event will be local couture maven and entrepreneur Laura McKittrick of Greenwich Girl Magazine. Greenwich Girl is a dynamic and influential digital resource for all things pertaining to a female’s desired luxury lifestyle, presented with a youthful and sincere flare. Laura formed this stunning fashion forward and visually appealing media outlet five years ago, creating a dialogue among women, entrepreneurs, and influencers within the business, wellness, fashion and home design world.

Shoppers will have an opportunity to meet with Lord & Taylor style experts and explore the perfect dress for everything from day-to-night, formal and cocktail party attire, to job interview apparel, Sunday brunch styles, and more. Accessories, cosmetics, jewelry and intimates will also be featured topics. 25% OFF selected dresses and free basic alterations will also be offered.