11th Annual Historic Homes And Gardens Tour Is This Weekend

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown Historical Society will present its 11th Annual Historic Homes & Gardens Tour on Saturday, July 9.

In tipping its hat to the series of events being presented by groups and businesses all year to celebrate Newtown’s tercentennial, the historical society has added a few extra features to this year’s tour. In addition to having a number of privately owned homes and gardens on the tour, there will be a champagne reception on Friday, July 8, at which time Town Historian Dan Cruson will offer his lecture “Newtown’s Painted Ladies: Victorian Architecture in a Small New England Town.”

The lecture will offer information about some of Newtown’s homes, including just-discovered information about the builders of some of the town’s most historic homes.

The historic homes and gardens tour will run on Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm and will take place rain or shine.

Tickets for the tour are $25 and include Friday’s lecture by Mr Cruson along with the tour on Saturday. Tickets that have not sold by Saturday morning will be available at Matthew Curtiss House (44 Main Street), but only between the hours of 10 am until noon, or until they sell out.

Proceeds from the sale of homes and gardens tour tickets benefit Newtown Historical Society, the upkeep of Matthew Curtiss House (the society’s headquarters), and the society’s educational programs.

For a few hours, Newtown resident Mary Mitchell will be at the antique barn behind the home of Shane and George Miller, at 50 Main Street, where she will be signing copies of Touring Newtown’s Past: The Settlement and Architecture of an Old Connecticut Town.

That book, which Mrs Mitchell co-authored with her dear friend, the late Al Goodrich, has gone into a second printing. All proceeds from the sale of Mrs Mitchell and Mr Goodrich’s book have always and will continue to benefit the historical society.

Visitors will be invited to sip some cold lemonade and chat with Mrs Mitchell about her books. Four of the properties on the tour this year were featured in Touring Newtown’s Past

Also at the Millers’ barn will be copies of Eleanor Mayer’s History of Cherry Grove Farm, a brand-new book by Newtown resident Andrea Zimmermann. As with Mrs Mitchell’s book, all proceeds from the sale of Ms Zimmermann’s book will directly benefit Newtown Historical Society.

In the town’s Hanover district, Mae and Bob Schmidle host a special presentation of “A Flag For Newtown: Tercentennial Folk Art Flag Show.” The collection of folk art-style paintings, antique paintings, new sculpture, and a silk flag designed especially for the tercentennial will all be presented.

The self-guided homes and gardens tour this year will offer ticket-holders access to four private homes and gardens — the two-story farmhouse, antique barn and gardens of Peggy Jepsen Gross, 16 South Main Street; 1 Orchard Hill Road, the pre-Revolutionary War home and gardens of Marilyn and Tucker Frey; the property owned by Richard and Nora Murphy, which includes a 1½-story circa 1767 Colonial and its gardens, at 159 Poverty Hollow Road; and at 25 Zoar Road in Sandy Hook, the storybook pre-Revolutionary War cottage and the 14 acres surrounding it owned by Deb and Mike Osborne.

Three private gardens will be open for visits. The gardens are on the property of master gardener Sydney Eddison, at 65 Echo Valley Road; master gardener Maureen McLachlan, at 32 The Boulevard; and the gardens of Betsy Kenyon, who lives at 62 Main Street.

Also open on Saturday will be The Pleasance, the public garden at 1 Main Street that was created by The Newtown Bee, under the supervision of owner and publisher R. Scudder Smith.

A map with the addresses and directions to all of the tour’s locations will be distributed to all tickets holders on Saturday. They will be available Matthew Curtiss House, 44 Main Street, between 10 am and noon.

Docents will be positioned at each stop on the self-guided tour. They will greet visitors as they reach each stop of the tour and offer information about each home and/garden.

For additional information leave a message on Newtown Historical Society’s answering machine, 426-5937, or visit www.NewtownHistory.org.