Open House Sunday

At Matthew Curtiss House

The annual holiday open house of the 18th century Matthew Curtiss House-Museum will take place on Sunday, December 3, from 11 am to 5 pm. Entry to the building, at 44 Main Street in Newtown, will be free of charge. The building is headquarters for Newtown Historical Society.

The Garden Club of Newtown will festively dress the building with traditional decorations reminiscent of holiday celebrations of years gone by.

“It will be lovely, but very simple, decorations,” said garden club member Jo-Ann Scebold.

“We are going to present the house [along the lines of] what they would have done at that time for the style of the family that lived in that particular house. It won’t be overly done, but it will be pretty,” she promised.

Guides in period costumes will offer informative tours of the building. Period room settings regularly include furnishings of the time alongside items of a later date, which help tell the history of Newtown.

Rooms suggest the way family possessions could have been added as one generation followed another. Recent significant furniture acquisitions of the historical society will be on display.

Warm apple cider and other refreshments will be offered, complementary, to all guests.

Also, all Newtown Historical Society publications and signed copies of David Merrill’s “Newtown, Connecticut” lithograph will be offered for purchase. For more information, contact the historical society at 426-5937.