Historical Society

Open House Season Opens Sunday

Newtown Historical Society will kick off its season of Open Houses at its 18th Century Matthew Curtiss House headquarters with a demonstration of the art and craft of blacksmithing.

On Sunday, September 16, from 2  to 4 pm, the house at 44 Main Street in Newtown will be open for tours by costumed and knowledgeable docents, who will explain how the house would have been used in the 18th Century. The docents will also discuss the furnishings and accessories which dress the society’s house museum.

Meanwhile, in the back yard, blacksmith Joseph Magnarella will set up his portable forge and demonstrate his avocation. Mr Magnarella started as a tool collector in the mid-1960s, and gradually moved beyond collection to showing his collection under the auspices of the Century Museum and Collectors Association.

He has been concentrating on the blacksmith trade for about eight years, working from the Century Museum and Collectors Association’s permanent forge at the Rhinebeck, N.Y. Dutchess County Fairgrounds. In order to take his show on the road, Mr Magnarella also developed a traveling forge so that he might give demonstrations of the art to a wider audience.

Newtown Historical Society’s Open Houses are free and the public is welcome to tour the Matthew Curtiss House and attend the demonstration. Call 426-5937 for further information.