VOICES
OF HERSTORY:
Women's Character Workshop
Saturday May 10, 10 AM - 2 PM
Westport Center for Senior
Activities, 21 Imperial Avenue
Ages 9 - 99
Workshop fee is $45 per attendee (includes lunch and performance)
10% discount to WHS members
$20 additional materials fee (optional)
Workshop and performance are both free for all
Seniors
VOICES
OF HERSTORY:
Inspire!, the musical production
Saturday May 10, 2 PM
Westport Center for Senior
Activities, 21 Imperial Avenue
Tickets $10, Seniors Free
The
Westport
Historical Society, Westport Center for Senior Activities
and Beaux
Chapeaux Productions are pleased to announce a joint one-day character workshop for
daughters, mothers and grandmothers who wish to reflect on the deepest meaning
of character through studying some of history’s greatest female characters.
Susan Tanner Meisel
|
Relive the words, accomplishments and essences of style for some of
life’s most memorable women – Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Golda Meir,
Mother Teresa, Jackie Kennedy, Madame Curie, Sylvia Plath, Peggy Guggenheim,
Katharine Hepburn, Helen Keller and Princess Diana – as you take part in a
history-making production composed by Suzanne Tanner Meisel (of Westport and
Los Angeles). The show, which will premiere Mother’s Day weekend at the
conclusion of the Workshop, is titled VOICES OF HERSTORY: Inspire!
It is a one-woman musical whirlwind reviving the timeless wisdom offered by
each of these immortal women through dramatic songs, engaging narratives and
period hats from Tanner-Meisel’s prized millinery collection.
The show introduces each character with spoken narrative roles -- to be
performed by local females of all ages wherever the show runs -- thus making
it an engaging, timeless, living history. Those attending the workshop will
be offered a chance to perform these speaking roles in the production
following the workshop. In keeping with the stylized production, all
attendees are encouraged to wear a hat of choice – for personal character.
The
workshop itself will explore the inner workings of these great women to
unearth their core attributes of character. What were Eleanor Roosevelt and
Golda Meir’s views on physical beauty and world peace? What inspired Rosa
Parks to muster the courage to sit on the ‘wrong’ seat in the bus, leaving
behind her modest life to become the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement?
(Hint: she wasn’t tired.) What did Princess Diana want more than anything,
and may have achieved in her premature death? The workshop will investigate
details from each Voice’s private persona to learn her story… and how
to gauge and develop our own characters based on the finest role models time
has produced.
Harvard-educated Tanner-Meisel combines her study of Music Psychology with her
passion for songwriting, performance and Women’s History to offer this unique
class, open to mature females aged 9 to 99. Multiple generations are
encouraged to attend for a gap-defying feminine experience.
The
Workshop will be held at the Westport Center for Senior Activities on
Saturday, May 10th from
10:00 to
2:00 p.m. (lunch will be
served at 1:00 p.m.) with the hour-long performance beginning promptly at 2:00
p.m. Workshop fee is $45 per attendee (includes lunch and performance); 10%
discount to WHS members. There is a $20 materials fee (optional); Workshop
and performance are both free for all Seniors.
VOICES
OF HERSTORY: Inspire!, the musical production, is open to the
public and will begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. on Sat., May 10th , at
the Westport Center for Senior Activities, 21 Imperial Ave., Westport,
CT. Show tickets are $10 (free for Seniors). To register for the Workshop,
or to purchase/reserve tickets to the show, please call Susan Gold at the
Westport Historical Society (203.222.1424).
Beaux
Chapeaux Productions
is dedicated to creating progressive programs with a social conscience. A
portion of the proceeds from this Workshop will be donated to WHS.
Walk the Beach
Sunday May 18, 12-1:30 PM
Guided tour meets at the Compo Beach cannons at
12 pm, and will last 1-1/2 hours. Includes a discussion of the British landing
in 1777, plus a special guided historical tour of Compo Beach, the Marina and
the Sound (formerly Schlaet’s Point), with discussions about clamming,
fishing, sailboat racing and swimming (in both summer and winter).
Refreshments will be served.
Fee: $5 WHS members, $8 non-members
Reservations required. Call 222-1424 or email
sgold@westporthistory.org.
Destination Westport Tours
Ride the Route of the Raiders
(the British Raiders, that is)
Saturday May 24, 7:30 AM Sharp!
Join us for a unique bike ride, meeting at
the parking lot on Soundview Avenue, across from the entrance to Compo
Beach. Be sure to bring: road bike, helmet, beverage for the ride and
any food supplements you might need. The bike ride will cover almost
60 miles roundtrip following the historic route taken by the British when
they landed at Compo Beach in 1777 on their way to Danbury to pillage
Patriots’ ammunition supplies. Limited number of riders.
For required reservations and more
information call 203-222-1424 (ask for Susan Gold) or email:
sgold@westporthistory.org
Fee: $10 donation to WHS, includes a souvenir
map, route directions and a sweet treat.
Special thanks to Deej Webb and Scott
Williams for creating the route map and this great cycling adventure.
Main Street Walking Tour
for UN Representatives and their Westport Hosts
Saturday June 28, 11 AM – 12:30 PM
This is a special guided tour of Westport’s
historic Main Street, conducted for United Nations guests who, during this
annual one-day event, visit Westport homes each year on the last Saturday in
June. Called “jUNe” Day, the event was conceived by the late Ruth Steinkraus
Cohen, who felt this would be a marvelous way to introduce residents of other
lands to the small-town life of Westport. UN attendees (and any Westporters
who wish to join the tour) meet at The Westport Historical Society at 11 am.
The tour lasts one hour.
Fee: $5 for WHS members, $8 for non-members,
FREE for United Nations guests and their hosts.
No reservations are required.
Walking, Wine–Tasting in Historic
Saugatuck
Saturday July 12, 3-4:30 PM
Meet near (or inside) the waiting room on the
New York bound side of the Westport train station at 3:00 pm, for an amble
down Railroad Place to Franklin Street, while viewing mattress and button
factories, grain elevators that were also used as automobile elevators, and
then to one of the few swing bridges in Connecticut. We then return along
Riverside Avenue to Railroad Place and some delicious wine-tasting at Depot
Liquors, with Italian appetizers provided by Tutti’s Restaurant.
Fee: $5 for WHS members, $8 for non-members. No
registrations are required.
Wilderness Salt Marsh Water Tour
Saturday August 16, 10 AM - 12:30 PM
Meet-and-launch begins at 9:30 – with push-off
at 10 am – at the site of the former Allen’s Clam House on Hillspoint Road
(near Old Mill). Reservations are required. Bring your own lunch: bottled
water will be provided. This is a relaxing paddle in a beautiful salt marsh
with plenty of wildlife. Use your own kayaks and canoes (a limited numbers of
kayaks are available on a first-come basis). Kayaks available for
rent from Longsore Sailing School. Fee is $18 for a single, $22 for a double
which includes drop-off and pick up. To reserve, call 226-4646.
We will be guided by naturalist staff from
Earthplace, and by Municipal Historian Allen Raymond, a lifetime resident of
Compo Cove, a small community of homes facing Long Island Sound that backs on
Sherwood Mill Pond. For skilled and/or adventurous boaters, you will be shown
an “add-on” route to follow – “the great circle route” – that involves gliding
under two bridges, and thence through the absolutely beautiful and – well,
let’s face it, some call it “breathtaking” – salt marsh behind Sherwood Island
State Park. You’ll then glide out into Long Island Sound next to Westport’s
Burying Hill Beach. You’ll continue paddling back along the shore – passing
Connecticut’s 9/ll Memorial, Sherwood Island State Park and the homes on Compo
Cove, and arriving at Old Mill Beach (the whole “circle route” adds about an
hour, or maybe a little less, to the tour). A limited numbers of kayaks are
available on a first-come basis.
Fee: $15 per person, and remember, reservations
are required.
Picnic in the Park with George!
Sunday September 14, 12-2 PM
George Washington that is, and the location is
Sherwood Island State Park. We meet at noon. To enter the Park, drive directly
through the gate and into the park. Keep driving straight, and turn into the
parking lot at the far right corner (you’ll see the entrance; to park, drive
between the hedges into the large parking area; we’ll meet on the Pavilion
porch). And, no, George didn’t sleep here; he may not even make our meeting.
BUT… he actually did sleep – several times – in the home of the Rev. George
Ripley, less than a mile from here.
We’ll picnic in the park (it’s beautiful in the
fall) with local historian Allen Raymond, who, together with former Police
Chief Ron Malone, will tell us the colorful history of the park, and about the
family for which it is named. We’ll walk the park and, from the Pavilion roof,
use binoculars to see the Empire State Building, and perhaps we’ll hear from
some who stood in this very same place to watch the 9/11 events at the World
Trade Center unfold. We’ll also hear legends and lore of local fisherman and
sea captains. Gourmet picnic lunch is included.
Reservations are required by Friday,
September 5.
Fee: $15 WHS members, $18 for non-members.
King’s Highway Historic District Walking
Tour
Saturday October 11, 2-3:30 PM
Meet at the parade ground – corner of Old Hill
and Kings Highway South. We’ll view historic houses in the Old Hill area,
Westport’s first Historic District. We’ll see what was once called “Taylor
Town,” named after residents of the 1700s, all of whom are buried in the old
Colonial Cemetery at the corner of Kings Highway North and Wilton Road (Route
33). We’ll see the homes of old seafaring families. This tour concludes with a
visit to an historic house, with refreshments.
Fee: $5 WHS members – $8 non-members
Annual After-Dark Lantern Tour
Sunday October 26, after sundown
Join host Peter Jennings at Lower Greens Farms
cemetery, located at the southeasterly corner of the intersection of Sherwood
Island Connector with Greens Farms Road. You’ll hear real histories about the
historically important people buried here. Ask for the exact time of the event
when you make your reservation.
Tickets: $5; $15 for a family of 4 or more.
An “Insiders” Tour of the New and
Remarkable
Fairfield History Museum and History Center
Sunday November 16, 1:45-3 PM
We will meet in the parking lot of the
Fairfield Museum, 370 Beach Road, Fairfield, at 1:45 pm for a special guided
tour for our Westport Historical Society group, as we are guided through the
History Center’s new 13,000 square-foot facility that historically complements
and blends with the other buildings in the museum’s complex. The new building
contains modern galleries, amazing historical exhibits, a research library and
reading room, a community meeting space and more. Tour will last one hour.
Refreshments will be served.
Suggested donation: $5
22nd Holiday House Tour
Sunday December 7, 11 AM - 4 PM
This Annual Westport Historical Society
“Holiday House Tour” is one of the highlights of the Holiday Season. Beautiful
homes – new and restored – have been generating oohs and aahs from everyone in
Fairfield County for years and years. Details will be forthcoming as the date
of the event draws closer. And we hope you won’t forget the fabulous “after
party” which always brings the festive Holiday House Tour to a blazing and
exciting climax.
$35 for WHS members $35, $45 for non-members.
Call the Historical Society at 222-1424 for reservations.
