Last month’s “Rural Heritage” featured a new enterprise in town, a first for Hampton – the Quiet Corner Winery at 217 North Bigelow Road. The property itself, however, is one of Hampton’s oldest.

Sometime between 1717 and 1723, early settler Samuel Ashley purchased five, one-hundred acre lots in the town’s northeastern section known as Apaguag. The parcel encompassed the property east and west of North Bigelow, from Pomfret Road, along Hammond Hill, and south at least as far as Sarah Pearl Road. Samuel Ashley is listed as one of the first members of the church, established as a parish in 1723. He also sold a parcel of his land to Reverend William Billings, the first pastor, who subsequently built the first parsonage at the summit of Hammond Hill.

Ashley’s house at 217 North Bigelow was the first to have been built on his property. The earliest written reference to the property’s buildings is 1756, however since the house is oriented south, it was probably built prior to 1750, which makes it one of the town’s oldest. After 1750, houses start to face the street. The parcel east of North Bigelow was sold to Samuel’s brother, where the home at 218 North Bigelow was built directly across, and facing, the street.

The property, known as “Ha’ Penny Farm”, stayed in the Ashley family until 1867, for approximately 150 years. The 1869 map of Hampton identifies different residences on either side of North Bigelow, familiar old names like Holt, Fuller, Burdick, and including the residence of R. Ashley directly north of Bigelow’s old brick school house.

Elizabeth Milner, a frequent contributor of poetry to the Gazette, and whose family is still associated with the place they called “Windrush Farm” wrote: “When my husband and I took over Windrush Farm from my husband’s parents, Jim and Annis Milner, the acreage included a small piece of land up the hill, on the east side of the corner of North Bigelow, where a new house was being built. On this piece of land there was a stone cistern supplying good water that gravity fed to a stone well near the drive shed, later the garage, near the front gates of Windrush Farm.”

Jim and Annis purchased the property from George and Content Miner, who was, reportedly a Taft. The Miners “came for summers in Hampton from Providence,” Elizabeth relayed. “Mr. Miner had written a book about the art community of Providence, he painted, and he had encouraged his grandchildren to paint.” When the Milners moved in, the walls of the barn were decorated with the watercolor paintings of the Miner’s grandchildren.”

“There existed the remains of a very early barn, out building, or even perhaps a small dwelling on the north side of the land below the house and upper field, but new owners may have cleared the remains away,” Mrs. Milner wrote. The barn still standing on the property identifies the “Ha’ Penny Farm” as a dairy operation. “When my husband and I became owners of the farm, the barn was in need of repairs. The far side of the barn where the cows entered into the barn had to be removed as it was in very bad shape. We regretted that this was necessary because it had been a very special part of the building. The back area was at the same level of the lower field and so it had a sloping roof that joined the main building and was not the same height as the main part of the barn. Each cow came into this section through a separated opening with wonderfully turned arched dividers that were quite ornamental, They seemed to us to show very clearly how valuable each cow was to the owner,” she described. “The barn itself was completely and carefully lined with narrow wood set on an angle which again showed the care taken when the building was originally constructed. A fine large window at both upper ends of the barn made it a glorious place to be on a sunny day.”

The Milner’s daughter decided she wanted to be married at Windrush Farm, with the ceremony on the lawn and the reception in the barn. “So the barn was cleaned and the interior scrubbed and the platform at the far west end was set with tables for food and a long table going from one end to the other end of the barn was set with tables for dining.” On June 29, 2003, “a gloriously warm and sunny day, Wendell Davis performed the service on the lawn… there were drinks on the stone terrace, dinner in the barn, toasts and dancing.”

Besides a respectful and loving shelter for the cows, later horses, an art gallery of sorts, and a wedding, the barn knew other interesting uses. In 1963, the barn, owned by the Miners at the time, served as a stage for the play Rumpelstiltskin, which was filmed by William Claiborne, whose company was Sterling Educational Films. Mr. Claiborne lived in New York City and summered here on Fisk Road.

“The first thing that comes to mind is the little tune that led to the end of Rumpelstiltskin,” Jeff Woodward, who played the title role, wrote. “As I remember it:
Today I dance,
tomorrow I sing,
the next day here the Queen’s child I’ll bring
‘tis lucky indeed not a soul does know
my name is Rumplestiltskin, Ho Ho Ho.
“In the movie Louie Chatey and someone else I can’t recall were sent out into the forest to search for me by the Queen, find me dancing around a ‘campfire’ singing that tune.The next day when I appear in the Queen’s room and get ready to scoop up the baby, Diane Hansen, the Queen, starts out with, ‘Is it Aardvark?…is it Ishkabibal?’and with a smug smile, ‘or is it, perhaps, Rumplestiltskin?’ I proceed to jump up and down shouting ‘The Devil told you that! The Devil told you that!’ until I disappear leaving a smoking hole in the floor.”

“I remember auditions were held after school,” Louis Chatey recalled. “There was a table set up on Scott Johnson’s lawn across the street and kids went over and were signed up. Mrs. Ostby and another woman served as casting directors, and they kind of looked you over and probably asked you a few questions and that was that. Steve Inman was cast as the King, Diane Hanson the princess, Jeff Woodward as Rumpelstiltskin and I was cast as the ‘special messenger’ who spied on Rumpelstiltskin and ratted him out to the princess. They called our troupe the ‘Hampton Ha’ Penny Players’,” a reference to the original name of the farm. “We filmed upstairs in the Miner’s barn, downstairs were dressing rooms. Mrs. Hanson was instrumental in doling out the costumes and I remember having to change into a pair of tights and a tunic separated from the girls’ dressing room by only a hanging sheet.”

“I seem to remember you in a yellow costume and we had cardboard spears,” PJ Navin added. PJ had a dual role, “a page – wardrobe change – now a passerby!”

“I think it was the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade that one afternoon my Mom brought us over to Eben Ostby’s house where we had lemonade and cookies,” Jeff wrote. “I don’t remember any formal tryouts or readings just some people I had never seen before and a bunch of kids from school and lemonade and cookies. Then at some point a few days later my brother Jerry and I were brought up to Mr. Miner’s barn which was in a flurry of activity. A young woman got me into a scratchy costume and stuck a fake beard on with some kind of smelly glue. We would spend some part of the day doing ‘scenes’; we didn’t have to memorize lines as the actual movie was narrated but we did have to act out the various interactions. At the end of the day the beard was removed with more smelly stuff, and our reward was Oreo cookies and more lemonade. I was most impressed with the seemingly unlimited cookies. Eventually filming was completed and summer returned to normal. I do remember at some point my Mom showed me a check for my acting job, I don’t know how much I was paid and I never saw any residuals, it was to be my one and only foray into the world of cinema. Looking back, I am not sure that being the most Rumpelstiltskinesque 2nd or 3rd grader was good for my developing ego, but fortunately I was an oblivious 7-year-old and there were cookies!”

Cindy Pike-Piontak, who was one of the ladies in waiting, remembered receiving “$5 each time we showed up for a filming.”

The following summer, Mr. Claiborne filmed “The History of Hampton”. According to Louis Chatey, the premise was that the school bus, driven by Leon Pawlikowski, broke down at 217 North Bigelow, and so the children disembarked and sat in a circle “in the field overlooking Hampton Hill where we were given a history lesson on Hampton. Cut-a ways were filmed of different historic spots in town.”

Alma Pearl recalled, “I was on the bus when it ‘had problems’. The first time he stopped suddenly we all went flying. They had to do it again slower so we stayed in our seats.” Alma’s line was to mention that there was once a dam in the valley.

“I can remember sitting in an armchair at Claiborne’s house thumbing through my scrapbook on Hampton for one of the shots,” Debbie Fuller recalled. “I also remember walking with Steve Inman on Route 97 near Burell’s farm by the sign for the town of Hampton and spelling out the word ‘consolidated’ so it would look like we were talking.”

“My part was to happily skip along the dirt road to The House the Women Built,” Debbie Moshier remembered.

Jeff’s brothers Steve and Jerry were in the history film. “I remember Steve got a $5 bonus to pretend to slip, falling into the water at Pine Acres Lake.”

For those who are wondering, the film was shown as part of the Town’s 250th anniversary, but, alas, lives on only in memories now.
After the Milners, Melanie and Mack Johnson purchased the property, expanding the house, without compromising the integrity of its age, and graciously hosting fundraisers and committee meetings. With Melanie as a Selectperson and Mack on the Gazette board, the couple were well know, yet we still referred to the place as “the Milners”.

And today, when people ask – “There’s a winery in town? Where is it?” and we of a certain age answer, “The Milner’s”, the new owners, the Paines, graciously understand this, too.

Dayna McDermot

The wind is silent and resting now it seems.

It’s allowing the sun to do its dazzling duty.

Lazy wind, we wait for your wondrous work again.

Will you later bring the clouds that give us rain?

The mornings are magic and mysterious times —

Cooler with fairy mist suspended in the valley

And webs of dew on the lawns and fields.

Too soon the full, fiery heat comes rising up.

It causes the eyes to blur and the air to shimmer.

Midday is motionless except for flitting butterflies.

The hay is high, an endless yellow landscape

Stretching to the pines and ancient apple orchard.

It steps daintily across the land breaking its promise.

Leaving before its job is done like a careless lover.

But sometime later it arrives with frightening force.

It tramples down the hay and tears off leaves.

It bruises the blossoms and empties the sky of life.

It pours in the dusty, open windows — wetting curtains.

It spills and over fills the shallow, metal roof gutters.

The peaceful Little River, down beyond the fields,

Becomes a waterway of rushing, fearful water.

Everyone knows it has ability to drench, destroy.

Then, later it is calm and simply satisfying —

The moderate friend who is constant and sweet smelling.

Then, the earth and all living things approve and rejoice,

While sucking in the viral water, the holy juice of life.

Rising up straight and strong again, blooms and leaves

Turn to drink deep of each life giving, delightful drop.

Hawks soar gleefully with grace over the fields.

Crows cackle and flutter their wings in the nearby trees.

Hosts of birds gather on the lawns to feast and fatten.

Worms leave their dreary, dark homes to come for moisture.

The breeze comes again and pushes aside the clouds.

The sun, allowed to tidy up remaining puddles, has arrived.

And I, delighted, watch the scene with satisfied pleasure

Admiring the aftermath of nature and its circling, life forces.

                                                                        Elizabeth Milner

Of all of the best and easy breakfasts to make, I find a fruit Dutch Baby one of the most delightful. You can use any fruit, but peach delivers in a way that oozes summer. Perfect as breakfast or dessert.

Peel and slice 3-4 good size peaches in a cast iron or ovenproof frying pan. Sauté with a few TBS of butter and a spoonful of sugar until almost soft.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup flour, 3 TBS sugar, 2 TBS baking powder, a pinch of kosher salt, 3 eggs, 2/3 milk or plain kefir. Whisk together until smooth. Pour over fruit in pan and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 35 min. It will rise up considerably and be light and fluffy. Serve immediately with whipped cream or dusted with powdered confectioner’s sugar.

And while we’re on the subject of breakfast, I cannot help but recommend Rosetta Fisher’s Bake Shoppe bagels at Organic Roots Farm. As most purveyors of a good bagel know, there is a dearth of good ones to be had here in the hinterlands. With the loss of Bagel One in North Windham, traversing to Vernon and Rein’s deli seemed the only option. No longer.

Alas, I am not the bagel expert in our household. My wife, a transplanted Jewish Chicagoan, is the one I rely on. After trying the “everything” and cinnamon raisin, they were declared “more than kosher” and quite delicious! Get thee to Organic Roots!

Mary Oliver

We usually reserve annuals for containers to place throughout the garden, in urns, terra cotta pots, old coal bins, wooden buckets, window boxes and hanging baskets.  They make spectacular splashes of color all season, never looking fatigued, always vibrant, especially when first planted in early spring among the subtler flowers, and later in fall, when they experience a sort of resurgence as the garden fades. Containers require little maintenance, beyond cleaning the receptacles in spring, planting the annuals, and watering them whenever there’s no rain. They’re also portable, easily transported to colorless spaces, bridging the seasons of perennials by providing color between the peonies and the lilies, the phlox and the chrysanthemums.  There are also varieties which deserve   a place in the soil.

The most common annuals seen in the garden in earliest spring are pansies. Their cheerful, velvety faces, brimming in window boxes or edging a garden at the entrance to a home, harken nostalgia, and though they are usually spent by the first of July, I wouldn’t do without them.  Sweet alyssum,   a flurry of pristine white, also fills small spaces in spring, spreading to form a snowy blanket. Later in the season, impatiens, which comes in myriad, vivid colors, happily sprawls across the rims of shaded areas and begonias, valued for their clusters of red, pink or white flowers rising above glossy green or bronze leaves, are also attractive ground covers.

Another common annual seen throughout the growing season is the marigold. Its use was initially practical – with their pungent scent, marigolds successfully repel harmful pests, such as aphids and mosquitoes, while attracting beneficial insects like ladybugs, and were therefore grown in vegetable gardens. But they’re beautiful flowers in their own right, with their fiery hues skirting lilies equally ablaze, or contrasting with the smoldering tones of coleus. Zinnias also serve an important purpose. As the favorite flower in what was once called “the cutting garden”, their performance in vases is unparalleled,   with a color range greater than any other, a variety of forms, from single petal composites to double ruffles and layers, and sizes, from six inches to three feet.  Their usefulness in bouquets is not their only attribute. Zinnias require little maintenance, sprouting and growing rapidly after a simple scattering of seeds, to provide extraordinary color in the garden all summer.

Two other popular annuals easily grown from seed are sunflowers and nasturtiums.  Like zinnias, the velocity of sunflowers’ growth gives them a ‘magic bean stalk’ quality, making them good candidates for children to start from seed.  Sunflowers form impressive walls in the garden, producing enormous sunny discs in summer, and their seed heads invite feasting birds. The bright red, orange and yellow petals of nasturtiums provide a charming rim in the herb garden. Their leaves and flowers, offering a peppery flavor, are a wonderful addition to salads.  Nasturtiums are among several annual herbs which include basil, rosemary, marjoram, savory, parsley, cilantro and dill, all fine selections for a kitchen garden where they can be readily and frequently snipped for dinner.

Cosmos is also suitable for the perennial garden. A sprawling plant with composite petals and fine, feathery foliage, cosmos will supply reliable blooms all summer long, spilling across a garden of pastels with varieties of palest pink to deep raspberry, or electrifying a garden of orange and gold with scarlet flowers.  With its windswept appearance, cosmos works particularly well in a wildflower garden, where it will attract bees, butterflies, and birds.

Nicotiana, or “flowering tobacco”, offers textural interest in the garden with dramatically large leaves from which branches of pendent blossoms rise. Flowers are pristine white and intoxicatingly fragrant, especially in the evening, making this annual a perfect candidate for the moon garden, as long as it’s provided with plenty of space to spread.

Cleome is also a splendid annual for the perennial garden, reaching six feet to tower over other flowers with slim stamens of white, purple or pink and whiskery seed pods developing beneath the blooms.  Attractive to pollinators, cleome makes a vertical statement whether planted in mass or interspersed throughout the garden. The softness of its hues and delicacy of its flower form call for similar companions, globes of blue balloon flowers, stalks of purple liatrus, wands of lavender obedient plant, and clouds of pink phlox.

Two exotic annuals to enliven the summer garden are the calla and canna lilies. Calla lilies have large, lance-like leaves and funnel shaped flowers, ranging from pure white to almost black, to include such interesting colors as a swirl of sunset hues, a dark maroon with an ivory rim, a pale pink with a green underside. Callas lend an air of elegance to gardens and to bouquets. Canna lilies are primarily grown for their ornamental foliage. Banana-like leaves in green, chartreuse, yellow, black, bronze, solid or striped, and one with variegations of yellow, orange and scarlet, cannas always serve as strong focal points in the garden.  Their flowers, clustered on the tall stems and resembling iris blossoms, are equally impressive, furthering the plant’s tropical flair with bright reds, oranges and yellows.

Perhaps the most dramatic additions to the garden in summer and in fall are dahlias. With lush colors from the dark and sultry plum purple and burgundy and nearly black, the tropical blends of yellows and scarlets flushing and striping the petals, pastel pinks and peaches, fiery reds and oranges, and icy whites and greens, from diminutive varieties of one to two feet, to those which reach six, and with blossoms which are ruffles, incurved, starbursts, spikes, composite petals, teaspoons, or those that resemble peonies, dahlias are always striking, always serve as conversation pieces. They are perennial, however they require the removal of their tubers after the first frost to be stored in a cool, dry place for the winter.  They are also expensive, and worth every cent, and the effort.  If you haven’t yet fallen in love with dahlias, visit the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne, Massachusetts  in the fall when it’s lined with a most exquisite collection of them.

A word on chrysanthemums: while “garden mums”, those we purchase from nurseries in the spring, are perennials, “florist mums”, those available at the grocery stores in the fall, are annuals. We usually treat all of them as annuals, adorning our doorsteps beside the pumpkins, gourds, and cornstalks, and discarding them along with the Jack-O-Lanterns after Halloween.  If, however, you want to cultivate perennial chrysanthemums, plant them in the ground in spring, and they won’t disappoint, extending their bloom time all the way to Thanksgiving.

Whether it’s drama, tender herbs, pollinating meadow plants, scent, spring cheeriness, or a splash of fall color, annuals planted in the garden along with perennials won’t disappoint, supplying constancy in the ever-changing face of the garden.

Dayna McDermott

Dear Auntie Mac,

Our neighbors have a pool and never invite us over to swim. We have a friendly relationship. We invited them to our barbecue when they moved in last year and to our Christmas party. Would it be too bold to invite ourselves? Hey – it’s a hundred degrees – can we bring our kids over to cool off???

Signed,
Being Neighborly

My Dear Neighbor:

Auntie Mac must confess she has never understood the allure of a backyard pool, no matter the outside temperature. A tasteful lily pond, perhaps, or a shoreside cottage near Le Touquet …She concedes, however, that for many, a small, enclosed plastic bin replete with eye-watering chemicals is the equivalent of paradise on earth. Why should she cast aspersions?

For those fortunate enough (and here Auntie Mac is trying her level best to be “agreeable”) to own this type of summer entertainment, life is not, it must be said, all cocktails and inflatable alligators. The one word that keeps pool-owning homeowners pacing the floor on sleepless 90-degree nights is “liability.” So many regulations govern the appropriate maintenance of a pool, from fencing to signage to additional insurance, it’s a wonder more people don’t just fill the whole thing with dirt and take up horseshoes. Additionally, the chance of someone from outside the family getting hurt, either while being carefully supervised or sneaking over the fence at midnight for some sans-clothing shenanigans, may make even the friendliest of neighbors think twice about inviting guests to join them.

And you did not mention the ages of your children, but it’s a rare occasion that anyone under the age of 10 can resist peeing in a pool. Your neighbors know this, and they are the ones who toil endlessly to clean it.

That said, there is no harm, especially since you maintain that you are on good terms, that you suggest a small neighborhood party in which they provide the pool and you supply all the food, lifeguards, towels, and pool preparation and cleanup. Tell them that you understand if that’s impossible due to safety concerns but that you think it would be fun for everyone, and if necessary you would be willing to sign a waiver of liability if that is their primary concern.

But by all means, dear, do not let a negative response ruin your relationship; in fact, regardless of the answer, make sure to assure them in myriad ways, from continued invitations to future events to assistance with chores, that their friendship is not predicated on an azure blue hole in or above the ground into which they have undoubtedly poured half their life savings.

And lastly, try to take advantage of the many natural local ponds and beaches that we are so lucky to be able to enjoy in eastern Connecticut. You may find that the siren song of chlorinated filter motors grows fainter with time.

Your Auntie Mac

The Democratic and Republican Parties caucused on July 15 to endorse candidates for municipal office in the November Election. The slates are as follows:

Democrats
Selectmen: John Tillinghast and Bob Grindle
Town Clerk: Kaye Johnson
Town Treasurer: Ellen Rodriguez
Board of Finance: Frances Gustavesen and Kate Donnelly
Board of Education to Fill Two Year Vacancies: Stephanie Bora and Elizabeth Lindorff
Board of Education for Four Year Terms: Herlande Castillo-Reyes, Luther Gerlach, Ed Adelman and Irene Brown
Board of Assessment Appeals, term beginning 2025: Kate Donnelly
Planning & Zoning Commission, term beginning 2026: Kevin Grindle
Zoning Board of Appeals, term beginning 2025: Marc Cardwell; term beginning 2026: Lisa Siegmund
Constables: Christian Macias –Perez and Jeffrey Smith

Republicans
First Selectman: Allan Cahill
Selectman: John Russell
Town Clerk: Kaye Johnson
Board of Finance: Kathy Donahue
Board of Education to Fill Two Year Vacancies: Kathi Newcombe and India Arriola
Board of Education for Four Year Terms: Juan Arriola, Laura Barrow, Dave Halbach and Tim Studor
Board of Assessment Appeals, term beginning 2025: John Berard
Planning & Zoning Commission, term beginning 2025: Gary DeCesare
Zoning Board of Appeals, term beginning 2025 : Zachary Burdick-Chapel; term beginning 2026: Jo Freeman
Constables: Ralph Brand and Wanda Willard

Music at the Fletch presents Atwater-Donnelly, a Rhode Island folk duo, in a free concert, August 13 at 6PM. Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly have toured throughout the United States and internationally, singing and playing an assortment of instruments, including guitar, banjo, Appalachian dulcimer, tin whistle, and limberjack.

The married couple met as volunteers at the Stone Soup Coffeehouse in Rhode Island in early 1987 and started playing together a few months later. They specialize in traditional American and Celtic folk music, but write and play their own songs as well. The award-winning duo have researched traditional folk music and dance in Appalachia, the Ozarks, and New England among US venues and performed in Ireland, England, and Prince Edward Island, sharing stages and festival billing with folk legends like Jean Ritchie, Pete Seeger and Doc Watson. They have recorded extensively with their music appearing on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Fiona Ritchie’s “Thistle and Shamrock,” and the nationally syndicated “Midnight Special” out of Chicago. Atwater-Donnelly also conduct workshops in traditional music and dance and participate in theatrical performances. A notable regional appearance was The Last Mary, a community project for their home town of Foster which included twenty-two of their original compositions.

Atwater- Donnelly will play on the porch of the library, and concert attendees should bring chairs or blankets as well as their own refreshments. In case of rain, the concert will move inside to the library’s function room. All Music at the Fletch events are free, but contributions to the music fund are gratefully accepted.

Janice Trecker

On July 25 the Seniors Club hosted David Paine, the owner of the new Quiet Corner Winery. He described for us his journey into winemaking and the process from grapes on the vine to the glass of wine on the table. We were able to sample three of his seven wines and enjoy light refreshments. His shop is open on Sundays, so don’t hesitate to visit, sample, and chat!

Our next adventure is a visit from Mary-Beth Kaeser, the owner of Horizon Wings, a rehabilitation center in Ashford specializing in birds of prey. She will be bringing an eagle and describing her program. Please join us on August 8th at 10:30 AM in the downstairs community room at the Town Hall. There is no charge, but donations will be accepted to help defray the cost of this program and all are welcome. Please email to register so we have an idea how many people are coming.

Our monthly luncheons happily continue, with the next one on August 15th. Kara will prepare lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, vegetable medley, rolls, and a homemade dessert. For those who prefer our vegetarian offering, we’ll have pasta primavera with cole slaw and rolls. We have a good-sized group each month and always welcome newcomers.

Sadly, the Sit and Stretch program is no longer available due to the death of the instructor. Our other weekly activities, game day on Wednesday afternoons from 1- 4 and Mexican Trains on Fridays from 9AM – NOON, both at the Town Hall, continue.

For more information on our activities or to make suggestions, do not hesitate to contact us at hamptonseniors01@gmail.com

Fran Gustavesen

Get ready for a fun night under the stars with the Recreation Commission’s Family Movie Night! Join us on Friday, August 22, for a special screening of Paramount Pictures’ movie “IF” (PG) in the Pavilion. In case of bad weather, we’ll move the movie night indoors to the Community Center. Get cozy any time after 7:15PM and the movie starts promptly at 7:45PM. Bring bug spray and blankets. Enjoy refreshments and a great movie for free! Let’s make some memories before school starts!

Andrea Kaye

August 3 – August 9 Overhead & Underfoot

From over the pond to under the log, the forest is teeming with life. Discover the ecosystem from every angle and how it supports a thriving wildlife habitat.

August 9 Under the Canopy 10AM

Join Beth Merow, CFPA Education Director, for an exploration of the world beneath the trees for kids and their families.

August 10 – 16 Caring for the Climate

Be a Goodwin Forest Hero this week by discovering how the forest and climate are connected. Learn how you can play a role in preserving our natural spaces.

August 15 Forest Management 2PM

Join Daniel Evans, DEEP State Lands Forester, to learn more about active forest management in the James. L Goodwin State Forest, and plans to maintain a healthy, resilient forest into the future.

August 17 – August 23 Forest-Tree

Fulfill your forest fascinations with fantastic fact-tivities! Learn about past and current forest management, practice tree ID, and enjoy forest related crafts.

August 24 – August 30 Winged Things

Our winged friends are on the move! Come observe dragonflies during their peak season, birds beginning migration, and other winged wonders this week.

August 27 Old Forest Structure 2PM

Join Daniel Evans, DEEP State Lands Forester, to explore a stand in the James L. Goodwin State Forest and learn how its management can help accomplish carbon and climate related goals.

August 31 – September 6 Earth Elements

Explore the earth, air, water, and fire and how they interact to shape a forest ecosystem.

September 6 Black Bears for Kids 2PM

Join Paul Colburn, certified Master Wildlife Conservationist, for an exploration of black bears in Connecticut- -history, habitat, behaviors, and current research efforts.

To register or for further details, visit: https://ctparks.com/events