Rain Or Shine, Visit Sandy Hook

Homes And Gardens Next Weekend

The Newtown Historical Society has announced its seventh annual House & Garden Tour will take place on Saturday, July 7. Between the hours of 11 am and 5 pm, rain or shine, six properties in Sandy Hook and one public Main Street property will be open for visits. Knowledgeable guides will be available at each location, and each location will offer a rare look into a private home and/or garden.

Tickets for the tour are $20 each, and will be limited to only 200 sold in order to avoid overcrowding at the private homes. Organizers and homeowners have requested that the tour be open to children over the age of 12.

Tickets may be purchased in advance at C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street in Newtown. To order tickets by mail, payment should be sent to Historic House Tour c/o Newtown Historical Society, PO Box 189, Newtown, CT 06470.

Because the tour is being held rain or shine, refunds will not be given in the event of inclement weather.

Tickets from orders received after July 1 may be picked up the day of the tour at the Matthew Curtiss House, 44 Main Street in Newtown. Maps with directions to each of the seven properties will also be available at this location the day of the tour for all ticket-holders.

If available, any remaining house and garden tour tickets will also be sold at Matthew Curtiss House the day of the tour. All proceeds from this event will support the historical society, specifically its maintenance of the Curtiss House as a museum.

The tour is completely self-guided, and ticket holders can visit the homes in any order they choose. There will be members of the historical society at each location to check tickets and answer questions. Each property will be clearly marked with balloons.

Open this year will be the gardens of Pat Benkovich, an award-winning member of Garden Club of Newtown, at 1 Chestnut Knoll; and the home and grounds at 47 Great Ring Road, where Cathy and Mark Hunihan live in the lovingly restored circa 1715/1845 Old Bailey Homestead.

Also open will be the circa 1795 Asa Chambers House, a wonderful early Cape-style house owned by Lois and James Barber, at 33 Zoar Road; and the circa 1790 Colonial with cottage gardens at 39 Button Shop Road, which Gail and David Friedman are restoring by following the diaries of a previous owner, Elizabeth Hastings-Morse.

One-quarter of a mile from the Friedman home, the conifer gardens of Kris Atwood and Rob Cuchetto will welcome visitors, where the rare and unusual species abounds on the Botsford Hill Road property. Also, the home and gardens of Sallie and Michael Meffert, at 32 Gelding Hill Road, will be open. The Mefferts live in a circa 1720 saltbox called “Three Chimneys,” on the Theophilous Nettleton homestead, which was part of a land grant settled during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714).

In the center of Newtown at 1 Main Street, The Pleasance will also be open. This property, a gift to Newtown from The Newtown Bee and the R. Scudder Smith family, will be open for visits from 1 to 5 pm. (A private party will be on the grounds until 1 pm.) Established in October 1997, the Bee’s public garden offers a variety of grasses and blooming shrubs and borders, gravel pathways, a gurgling 19th Century cast iron three-tier Fiske water fountain, a gazebo complete with tables and chairs, and a bocce court.