The British Are Coming

This historic and popular “signature bus tour” of the Westport Historical Society follows the route the British took when they landed at Compo Beach in 1777 for an invasion of Danbury, where the British intended to raid supply warehouses maintained by the patriots. 
Town historican  Allen Raymond will be our guide pointing out significant historical battles along the route  from Compo Beach to Ridgefield and Danbuy.  The trip includes a visit to the area of the epic battle between the British and the local militia in Ridgefield, followed by a guided tour of Ridgefield’s famous Keeler Tavern Museum. The fee covers the coach bus, a souvenir map and a catered box lunch. 

For Reservations, call 203-222-1424

Lantern Tour

Join the Westport Historical Society and Green’s Farms Church in this unique tour of the GFC Upper Cemetery, located across the parking lot from the Church on Hillandale Road. The church is celebrating its 300th anniversary on June 12, 2011 and has invited the WHS to feature this cemetery in conjunction with the anniversary celebration.  Guided by Peter Jennings, the tour will visit the gravesites of several Westporters and GFC members, including the Sherwood Family, Edward Coley Birge and Charles Rowe, sexton of GFC and a freed slave. Don’t miss this chance to learn about some of Westport’s most notable residents!

Cockenoe Island, Westport

DID YOU KNOW!..Cockenoe island, off Seymour Point is only accessible by boat (less than 1 mile from shore).  Known for birds and wildlife crabbing, shell fishing and trails, it is an ideal spot for camping and picnics.  In 1967, the United Illuminating Company wanted to build a nuclear plant perceived as a clean and inexpensive source of energy.  Opposition to the plan was swift and the town preserved the natural beauty of the island.  Life Magazine heralded Westport’s acquisition of Cockenoe as one of the most significant conservation victories in the nation.

Discover more of this natural treasure with town historian Allen Raymond.  He remembers visits to the island as a young boy and will share great memories about their wonderful destination.  Please join us for this premiere tour that will take close to 3 hours.  Intermediate level kayak ability is required. 

Reservations required:  Call 203-222-1424 or e-mail bbrauner@westporthistory.org

Kayak rentals available at Longshore Sailing School,(separate fee), call 203-226-4646

Saugatuck River, Photo Laurence S. Untermeyer

Join us as we paddle to the first fishway on the Saugatuck just upstream from King’s Highway North in Westport, learn about the river, its rich history and The Conservancy with our guide Sally Harold, Project Director of the Conservancey’s Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership.

Kayakes are available for rental at Longshore; singles are $38 and doubles are $48. Pick up and reserve kayakes from Stephanie at 203-226-4646.  The tour is 2 1/2 hours, meet  at 1:00 pm at Longshore if renting.
For reservations, please call 203-222-1424 or e-mail bbrauner@westporthistory.org

Photo by Kat Cameron

Toast the Tour will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at a gracious Westport home. The garden tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at several beautifully landscaped homes in Westport and Fairfield. The marketplace will take place on the grounds of the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, Westport, and the adjacent Veterans Green, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 13. All three events, which are eagerly anticipated every year, benefit the myriad programs of the Westport Historical Society, an educational organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and celebrating the history of Westport.

 The sponsors to date are BNY Mellon Wealth Management, the lead sponsor; Berchem, Moses & Devlin, Attorneys & Counselors at Law; The Fresh Market; Kowalsky Bros.; Leigh Overland Architect; Patriot National Bank; Weichert Capital Properties & Estates; Contour Landscaping Co.; Tauck and Romano; Fountainhead Wines & Distillations: Green Village Initiatives; HSBC; SIRDevelopment/Westport Residential; Venture Photography; Catamount Wealth Management; Cindy and Rob Citrone; Goldman, Gruder and Woods; Darton Insurance; Venture Photography; and William Pitt Sotheby’s; International Realty. Connecticut Cottages & Gardens Magazine is the media sponsor.

For $250, individuals and small businesses have a unique opportunity to be part of the 19^th Annual Hidden Garden Tour and Artisan Craft and Garden Marketplace and Toast the Tour events by becoming Garden Patch sponsors.

       The garden tour is a widely acclaimed and anticipated spring event that attracts hundreds of visitors.  Attendees are given the wonderful opportunity to stroll the grounds of private gardens at some of the most exquisite homes in the Westport area. The tour, the marketplace and the Toast the Tour wine-tasting party benefit the myriad programs of the Westport Historical Society, which is an educational organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and celebrating the history of Westport.

Garden Patch Sponsorship includes name recognition on the society Web site, a link to the sponsor page with company information, a link to the Garden Patch sponsor’s Web site, listing in all event releases, an opportunity to have company materials at the events, a chance to host at one of the gardens and two complimentary tickets to the garden tour.

                Among the Garden Patch sponsors are Trek Bicycles; Ruth Watson of Coldwell Banker; James Love Lee, The Edge of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty; The Gibbons Group of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty; Janice Parker Landscape Design, Mary Ann Laurita and David Waldman of David Adams Realty.

For a sponsor form, call 203-222-1424 or e-mail bbrauner@westporthistory.org.

                The garden tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 13. Tickets are now available and are $35 for WHS members in advance; $45 nonmembers in advance; general admission day of tour $50. For tickets, call 203-222-1424 or visit www.westporthistory.org. The marketplace is open on the day of the tour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, Westport, and the adjacent Veterans Green. Dozens of artisans and vendors from throughout New England will be on hand. Live family entertainment by local musicians also will be featured from 1 to 4 p.m.

                On Saturday, June 5 from 5 to 9 p.m., “Toast the Tour,” a lavish wine-tasting party, will take place in a splendid Westport location with delicious food, live and silent auctions, a container garden sale and live entertainment. The wine tasting, which is being produced in conjunction with Fountainhead, is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets to Toast the Tour are $75 and can be purchased by calling 203-222-1424 or visiting www.westporthistory.org

Hidden Garden Tour

Westport Historical Society will be selling tickets at the following locations:

Vineyard Vines at 90 Main Street, Friday, June 11, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Tickets also can be purchased at any time by calling 222-1424, on line or on the day of the garden tour at the Artisan Craft and Garden Marketplace on the grounds of the WHS, 25 Avery Place, and the adjacent Veterans Green.

The 19th Annual Hidden Garden Tour and Artisan Craft and Garden Marketplace, which are presented by and to benefit the Westport Historical Society, are widely acclaimed and anticipated spring events that attract hundreds of visitors, many of whom are budding horticulturists and discriminating gardening enthusiasts.

On Sunday, June 13, attendees will stroll the grounds of six distinctive private gardens in Westport and Fairfield – a unique property above the river, an artist’s enclave sheltered by a yacht harbor, an example of sustainable green living, a manor enveloped in an array of perennials, an elegant colonial surrounded by mature trees and roses, and a warm and welcoming spot that is designed in concert with the land’s natural contour.

At one waterfront home, visitors are in for an added treat as the owner is a Westport legend and has lived in town since the 1940s. A sculptor and art collector, her pieces surround her property and pool area. She has deftly placed them in locations to blend into the natural environment. Visitors will see a deer chewing on the grass, a hippopotamus gazing at onlookers, tennis players in full stride and a weathervane keeping tabs on the climate. In addition to graciously opening up her property, the artist will generously donate to the WHS 20 percent of the purchase of sculptures on the day of the tour.

The tour and the marketplace benefit the myriad programs of the Westport Historical Society, which is an educational organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and celebrating the history of Westport.

“The Hidden Garden Tour is one of two major fundraising events for the Westport Historical Society; the other being the Hidden House Tour in December,” said Cynthia Lee, one of the co-chairwomen of the garden tour planning committee. “Both events are vitally important to sustaining and supporting the mission of the historical society.

“Not to mention that the tour and the Artisan Craft and Garden Marketplace are perfect ways to spend a Sunday – rain or shine.”

The garden tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 13. Tickets are $35 for WHS members in advance; $45 nonmembers in advance; $50 general admission day of tour. For tickets, call 203-222-1424 or visit www.westporthistory.org.

The Artisan Craft and Garden Marketplace will take place on the day of the tour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, Westport, and the adjacent Veterans Green. Admission is free.

Numerous artisans and vendors from throughout the area will be on hand with a trove of garden and home treasures. Catch a Healthy Habit Café will be serving lunch.

Among the artisans are:

• From Farm to Market: sustainable garden products and small home items

• RF Steelwerks: welded steel garden ornaments

• M. Saverine Decoupage: plates

• Fieldstone: floral boxes, sachets, totes, cosmetic bags

• Pam Older Designs; easy-to-wear handmade jewelry in silver and gold

• Ostilly Collections: Designer-inspired handbags, straw bags, evening bags, belt and buckles, sarongs

• Vasiliki Lagis Handbags: leather, snake skin embossed

• Cynthia Alexander: bejeweled lavender pillows, precious and semi-precious jewelry

• Buckle Bling: one-of-a-kind belt buckles, pins, necklaces

• Diamer Fine Jewelry: 14K and 18K gold with diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones

• Suzanne Saltzman: evening bags with semi-precious stones, silk and cotton shawls

• Elizabeth Stewart Designs: unique crafted items, napkin rings, silk flower pots, knitted items

• Laszlo Accessories: Fashion and hair accessories

• Jean Forte Gifts/Mixed Nuts: Vintage and new home accessories including silver, china, glass

• Oliver Green: Fabric D-Ring Belts

• Lula-Belle: sterling silver and fashion jewelry

• Anita Designs: home furnishings, accessories and gifts

• Brigitte Recchione: decoupage

• Fete: vintage inspired garden and home accessories

• The Olive Oil Factory; oils, vinegars and bread dippers

• Millie Rae’s: home and garden items

• Yumnuts Naturals: six varieties of all natural dry roasted nuts

Live family entertainment by local musicians will be featured from 1 to 4 p.m.

Tour tickets with a map and directions to the gardens may be picked up or purchased as early as 9 a.m. on the day of the tour at the ticket tent at the garden marketplace.

The event sponsors are BNY Mellon Wealth Management, the lead sponsor; Berchem, Moses & Devlin, Attorneys & Counselors at Law; The Fresh Market; Kowalsky Bros.; Leigh Overland Architect; Patriot National Bank; Weichert Capital Properties & Estates; Contour Landscaping Co.; Peter Romano/Robin Tauck Foundation; Fountainhead Wines & Distillations; Green Village Initiatives; HSBC; SIR Development/Westport Residential; Venture Photography; Catamount Wealth Management; Cindy and Rob Citrone; Darton Insurance; Goldman, Gruder and Woods; William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty; Trek Bicycles; Ruth Watson of Coldwell Banker; James Love Lee, The Edge of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty; The Gibbons Group of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty; David Waldman of Adams Realty; Mary Ann Laurita of Prudential Connecticut Realty; Janice Parker Landscape Design; Trillium Architects; and Plantscapes Organics. Connecticut Cottages & Gardens Magazine is the media sponsor.

For more information, call 203-222-1424 or visit www.westporthistory.org.

 For more information, call 203-222-1424

Westport For Dummies

We are offering Westport for Dummies Tour on Friday, March 26 10am -noon    This special guided bus tour was created to give a thorough overview of key places in Westport as well as an historical overview of Westport’s legendary residents and events.

The tour is given by Allen Raymond, Town Historian, Ron Malone, Former Chief of Police, and Peter Jennings, an 11th generation Westporter.

 Fee : $15, includes bus, guided tour and handout   Reservations are required. Call 203-222-1424 or email: bbrauner@westporthistory.org

Visit the earliest built houses in Westport

Clapboard Hill c. 1727

We are offering a unique one time only tour of the earliest known houses built in Westport from circa 1683 to circa 1727.

This unique guided bus tour was created to give a residents an insight into how families lived in years gone by with a visit to the inside of these antique houses.  The tour is limited to one bus.

The tour is given by Bob Weingarten, WHS Historic House Research Director

Long Lots Road c. 1683-87

Fee: $40 for WHS Non-Members and $35 for WHS Members, includes bus, historical description of houses and inside tour.   Reservations are required. Call 203-222-1424 or email: bbrauner@westporthistory.org

November 22, 3:00 pm
Willowbrook Cemetery, 395  Main Street

photo by Dave Matlow

Explore  Westport’s only non-sectarian cemetery with its unique headstones, labrynths and mausoleums.  Learn more about notable Westport people buried there. 

Admission: $5 per person, $15 for a family of 4 or more
Reservations and Information: 222-1424 or e-mail sgold@westporthistory.org

Please  Join Us  SUNDAY • DECEMBER 6 • 2009 

Enjoy a delightful day of architecture, art & antiques

Tour five festive homes & historic Adams Academy, 11 to 4, then Celebrate,

4:30 to 7:30, at Twilight Soirée, with music, wine, hors d’oeuvres & silent auction.

Photo by Laurence S. Untermeyer

 A sample of silent auction items at our Twilight Soiree

A Magnum of Sergio extra Dry by Mionetto
Heaven on earth, by Janet Slom, oil on canvas 40×52 inches
Lamp by Kismet

For TICKETS/DETAILS
BUY YOUR TICKET NOW!

Call: 203.222.1424

23^rd Annual Holiday House Tour

 11:00 AM-4:00 PM

A self-guided odyssey of Architecture, Art and Antiques, in five marvelous homes.

 ELEGANT 18^th c. GREENS FARMS HOMESTEAD

Turning heads for generations of passersby, and now restored and transformed for the next century by its gifted and passionate owner, this stunning 18^th c. Greens Farms Colonial residence is a showplace for casual elegance. High ceilings, third floor Italianate windows, a sunken sun porch and the front door’s Connecticut River Valley broken scroll pediment are among serial delights that belie evidence of the original Gideon Wakeman 1782 post-and-beam, central chimney saltbox.

 A ROMANTIC CONNECTICUT COTTAGE

Flanked by exquisite English gardens and festooned with window boxes, this wonderfully long 1930’s house, on a long lot, first disarms, then charms, visitors with its back-to-front flow and side-to-side garden views, often at eye level, as in the enchanting sunken library dining room. At heart, this home and its grounds are a paean to family, history and years living and studying landscaping in England.

 FORTY HOUSES IN ONE

Nicely sited at the end of a cul-de-sac, this lovely home, viewed from the curb, offers no hint of the astonishing tour within a tour that awaits inside. For thirty-seven years, the owners have been collectors, builders, decorators and curators of an incredible array of fine and antique miniatures, a.k.a. doll houses, from around the world, fully appointed in miniature, and incorporated into their interior décor. Unforgettable!

 FABULOUS VICTORIAN HYBRID

When Sidney Watts built his towering, direct waterfront, Queen Anne-style home in 1881, a veranda embraced three sides. Later, the water course was moved, the veranda was removed, and a Civil War-era wing was annexed to the west façade. Remarkably, the clapboard of these two structures matched. A recent interior refreshing hails the Victorian idiom of sumptuous colors, patterns and holiday décor.

 GREEN, SUSTAINABLE & WATERFRONT MASTERWORK

On land passed through two generations of family, and sited to afford water views in three directions, this grand new residence pays homage to the Adirondacks, Arts & Crafts and New England coastal shingle styles. The generous interior spaces provide a spectacular showcase for custom millwork, stylish use of sustainable and recycled materials and the triumph of year-round, fuel-free, geothermal climate control.

You will be asked to remove your shoes upon entering each home.

No photography inside the homes.

Tickets may be picked up at the Westport Historical Society

Mon. Nov. 30 – Sun., Dec. 6, 2009, 10 am to 4 pm.

No tickets will be mailed