Open House Day

Highlights

Historic

Collections

By Eliza Hallabeck

Across the state, Open House Day was celebrated this past Saturday with discounts and special incentives to bring visitors to Connecticut’s art galleries, attractions and museums. The Matthew Curtiss House celebrated the day by opening the house to inquisitive visitors, dressing in historical costumes and highlighting some of the Newtown Historical Society’s collections.

The Indian artifacts of the Newtown Historical Society were on display in five different cases in one of the rooms in the Curtiss House.

Most of the objects on display are possibly from the Newtown area, or just west of here. Other objects could be from as far away as the Rocky Mountains, according to Town Historian Dan Cruson.

“Most of this is local,” said Mr Cruson, while studying one side of the room’s display.

He also said the collection, known as the Knapp Collection, was donated in the 1970s to the Newtown Historical Society.

He pointed out an obsidian projectile point, could possibly have come from Wyoming. None of the objects are referred to as arrowheads because they are too large to have been attached to an arrow. Most of the projectile points on display would have caused an arrow to fall short on distance if they were attached, according to Mr Cruson.

Other objects in the collection were most likely tools. Mr Cruson pointed out stones that had been had what he said were cord markings. They could be about 500 to 1,000 years old and, according to a write-up Mr Cruson made for the display, probably came from North Carolina.

“They are truly ancient tools,” he said.