Category: Event

Back to the Future II update

Posted on by Logan Wheeler


Back to the Future Again!

Shown here, the outdoor screen on which we showed Back to the Future II on Saturday, August 29. Over 100 people came to watch the time paradoxes that ensue when Biff Tannen gets his hands on the sports almanac from the future. It was a truly magical evening where the smell of popcorn drifted over the crowd and the bats swooped in keeping the mosquitos at bay.  The sun set over the evening, as music and a series of short film clips (including a historical photograph slide show from the archives) welcomed in our main feature.

The Kent Historical Society, the Hills Film Festival, and the Kent Memorial Library co-sponsored the free-admission event, which was held at the Kent Town Hall rear lawn. The financial sponsors were Peter d’Aprile, owner of Kent Apothecary; Dave Fairty and Anne McAndrew, owners of Backcountry Outfitters/Annie Bananie Ice Cream and Billy Morrison, owner of Morrison Gallery.

The Society is indebted to Frank Galterio of the Hills Film Festival for providing his expertise and equipment all at no cost.

This is an anniversary year for the film. The movie, starring Michael J. Fox, was originally set in 1985 and jumped to the future of 2015. The event was a great way to celebrate the final summer evening before the area kids head back to school.  Picnics were set up all around the town hall lawn and Annie Bananie Ice Cream was grilling and scooping!  It was a magical evening of making memories.  

The Kent Historical Society’s exhibition theme this year  “Camps of Kent; Memories of Summer,”  was the inspiration for this event.

“This movie is reminiscent of many summer camp memories I had as a child.  We were thrilled to be able to share this same experience right here in Kent,” said Melissa Cherniske, a KHS Board of Trustee, who had the original idea to show the movie.

 

Curators’ Tour and Talk

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

Curators’ Tour and Talk

The curators of the Kent Historical Society’s 2015 Exhibit, “Camps of Kent: Memories of Summer,” will give a special tour and talk about this popular show on Saturday, September 19, at 11:00 a.m. at the Seven Hearths Museum at 4 Studio Hill Road in Kent.

In a nostalgic, varied exhibit that will close September 27, the Kent Historical Society explored the town’s camping past. During camping’s peak in the 1950s and 1960s, a surprising number of camps were tucked into the hills and hollows of Kent. Exhibit curators Marge Smith (the curator of the Kent Historical Society) and board member Melissa Cherniske gathered the material for the exhibit, and in this tour and talk they will share what they’ve learned as all the campers came back to town.

Co-exhibit curator Melissa Cherniske said, “Working on the ‘Camps of Kent’ show was a gratifying experience for all of us. It was such a pleasure to be able to bring a piece of the past alive for everyone. In our talk, we will reflect about the emotional high-points of creating the show.”

Many of Kent’s camps may be gone, but they often have alumni networks that help former campers and counselors stay connected. Through various social media outlets, the Kent Historical Society has been in touch with the alumni associations for Camp Francis, Geer Mountain Camp, Camp Kent, Kenico, Camp Po-Ne-Mah and Leonard/Leonore. This has proved crucial for the exhibit, because many past campers provided the artifacts and memorabilia that are on display. Many Kent camp alumni associations held reunions and attended camp-themed hikes over the summer, and the Kent Historical Society dovetailed its programming with these warm, heartfelt gatherings.

Curator Marge Smith said, “This exhibit succeeded because of the tremendous response we received from former campers, counselors, and camp owners, who shared their artifacts and memories with us. One of the most rewarding aspects has been hearing former campers express such depth of emotion about their camp experience and their time in Kent, and its lasting importance in their lives.”

The Society is grateful to the Exhibition Sponsors: Kent School, The Marvelwood School, South Kent School, Victor Fink in memory of Camp Leonard-Leonore, Nicholas/Tobin Insurance, Union Savings Bank, Bain Real Estate, Ira Goldspiel and William Pitt/Sotheby’s International Realty, and Barry Labendz & David Birnbaum of Kent Falls Brewing Company.

The Kent Historical Society’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret and present the rich history of Kent as well as to provide educational and research material to enrich the public understanding of Kent’s artistic and cultural heritage. For more information, call 860-927-4587.

Heritage Hike set Oct. 3 in East Kent

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

 Heritage Hike set Oct. 3 in East Kent

The Kent Historical Society and the Kent Land Trust will once again collaborate on a program that will get people out hiking. The two organizations are offering a hike as part of the Heritage Hikes in the Berkshires and Litchfield County this fall.

The hike Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9:30 a.m. will be through the Land Trust’s East Kent Hamlet Nature Preserve and it is on the site of Kent’s earliest industrial endeavors and there are remnants of an iron forge, several mills and a dam that are still visible. Curator Marge Smith will lead the group through forest trails and participants will learn about the significance of the various historical sites on the property and how they impacted the development of Northwest Connecticut over the centuries.

Please RSVP for the hike by filling out the form below:

 

Back to the Future II

Posted on by Logan Wheeler


The Kent Historical Society, the Hills Film Festival, and the Kent Memorial Library are co-sponsoring an outdoor showing of the movie “Back to the Future II,” Saturday, August 29 at 8:30 p.m. on the Kent Town Hall rear lawn. This is free admission thanks to generous sponsors. The financial sponsors are Peter d’Aprile, owner of Kent Apothecary; Dave Fairty and Anne McAndrew, owners of Backcountry Outfitters/Annie Bananie Ice Cream and Billy Morrison, owner of Morrison Gallery.

This is an anniversary year for the show. The movie, starring Michael J. Fox, was originally set in 1985 and jumped to the future of 2015. As this is the final weekend before children in Region 1 head back to school, the organizations are hoping that everyone will celebrate the end of summer with this event.

The Kent Historical Society’s exhibition theme this year is “Camps of Kent; Memories of Summer.”

“This movie is a perfect activity that is reminiscent of a camp event and we hope it will lay down new memories of summer for all of the residents of Kent,” said Melissa Cherniske, a KHS Board of Trustee who had the original idea to show the movie.

Frank Galterio of the Hills Film Festival will be providing equipment (a large screen, projector, and sound) in order to show this outside.

Bring your lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy this sequel to ‘Back to the Future’ made in 1989 rated PG. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, things have barely settled from the excitement and resolve of the original ‘Back to the Future,’ when crazy inventor Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) comes with news that in order to prevent a series of events that could ruin the McFly name for posterity, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is whisked into the future to the year 2015,” adds Lucy C. Pierpont, Director of Marketing and Special Events at the Library.

The organizers are also encouraging the town’s eating establishments to be a part of this event and there is a hope to have some on site selling items, as well as possibly taking orders for dinners. There will be refreshments and snacks for sale.

The organizations offer special thanks to the Kent Board of Selectmen for allowing use of the town hall. In the event of rain, the event will move inside to the Kent Community House. Check www.kenthistoricalsociety.org or the Facebook page for any weather changes. For more information check www.kentmemoriallibrary.org.

 

Two Mornings of Art: an adult art class

Posted on by Christopher Williams

Two Mornings of Art: an adult art class

The Kent Historical Society with artist and educator Cheryl Moore is excited to present a two-part adult art class on two Saturday mornings. The group will meet July 11 and July 18 from 9 a.m. to Noon to create beautiful watercolor art.

Potential adult artists are invited to transform a blank paper into several beautiful watercolors in two fun mornings. Bring your creativity and we’ll supply the rest…including paint, brushes, paper, apron and cups.

Join other creative minds at the Art Barn behind Seven Hearths, 4 Studio Hill Road, Kent.

The fee is $45 for KHS members or $50 per person for non-members. Space is limited. Reservations required and available online below. PayPal payment is at the bottom of the page. For more information contact reservations@kenthistoricalsociety.org or call 860-927-4587.

Registration

Make sure to scroll all the way down in the registration page window.


Adult Art Class



Whittle A Walking Stick

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

Whittle a Walking Stick with Noted Educator and Woodworker Joe Brien

One of life’s great satisfactions for any child (or adult, for that matter), is tramping along a path with a well-balanced walking stick, using it to lean on, or swat weeds, or push aside sticker bushes. The feeling is even more gratifying for walkers who whittled the stick with their own hands.

During the Region 1 schools’ Spring Break on Saturday, April 11, 2015, educator Joe Brien of the Lost Art Workshops will lead a whittling session at the Kent Historical Society’s Art Barn, located on the flagship Seven Hearths Museum property at 4 Studio Hill Road in Kent, Connecticut. Participants will learn how to choose the right sapling and transform it into a rugged hiking staff that can help propel the walker up steep hills and across rushing streams. It is designed for children aged 8 and above, accompanied by an adult family member.

All tools, materials and workstations provided. No pixels are involved–it’s far more real than a video game. Building a meaningful object with a family member is a warm reminder of a day spent together. This will be tremendous fun while learning important, practical, useful skills.

Perhaps the singer Leon Redbone captured it best in his droll song, “My Walking Stick”:
“Without my walking stick, I’d go insane…
I can’t look my best, I feel undressed, without my cane.
Must have my walking stick ’cause it may rain
When it pours can’t be outdoors without my cane….”

The program is free, and pre-registration is necessary — be sure to sign up early. Online registration is at www.hysb.org/fyi-sign-up.html.

The program is underwritten and co-sponsored by Housatonic Youth Services Bureau. The Art Barn at Seven Hearths is the site of several art and enrichment programs during the summer.

The Kent Historical Society’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret and present the rich history of Kent as well as to provide educational and research material to enrich the public understanding of Kent’s artistic and cultural heritage. For more information, contact: Brian Thomas, Executive Director, 860-927-4587, info@kenthistoricalsociety.org

A Thoughtful Young Intern: An Essay by Chris Moore

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

 

A Thoughtful Young Intern: An Essay by Chris Moore

In our January 2015 newsletter, we wrote about our summer interns at Tallman House. One of them, Chris Moore, was in the process of applying to college. He asked us for a recommendation, and in return sent to us the essay he wrote to accompany several of his applications. We were so touched by it that we asked him if we could share an excerpt from it with all of you. We hope you are as impressed as we are.

Marge Smith, the curator of the Kent Historical Society, who has asked me to sort through boxes of old documents, photos and notebooks that have been awaiting attention for many years, is talking on the phone. I begin to catalogue the photos and documents of an artist who is not well known. His name is George Laurence Nelson. He is a man who fought the tide of modernism in art, an artist preserving his ritualized style amidst the insurrection of color fields and splatter art. As I organize these delicate artifacts I realize something real and inevitable: most people will be reduced to photos or documents expressing scenes or thoughts that may not seem understandable a hundred years later. Like Nelson and the people he knew, our lives can be destined to be forgotten, thus it is the duty of the living to preserve the past. In a perverse way, I find this comforting.

I have not been the first one in my bloodline to have this urge to preserve the past. My great-grand-uncle, Theodore Sizer, was a Monuments Man. Yes, one of those people trying to save art during WWII you might know from that George Clooney movie. Like my great-grand-uncle, I seem to feel the pull towards preserving the past. To me, such preservation seems natural, because thoughts are fleeting and if unrecorded, they can disappear forever.

I even think of George Laurence Nelson and his paintings. Many depict the Litchfield Hills, a location that I have known all my life, which still looks more or less the same as when he was alive, but I wonder: will that always be so?  Do cultures and even locations deserve to lose their identity?

My preoccupation is in preserving the past … This matter of preservation can be a window into past lives. During the summer, I discovered the account of the trial of an ancestor of mine, William Wynne Ryland. He was a court engraver to King George III who was hanged for committing forgery. Finding that document was thrilling and was one of the highlights of my summer. My other summer highlight was the place where I started this essay: the Kent Historical Society. In that small house, I discovered something integral to myself; it is that urgency to preserve a freeze frame in time, or thoughts that might have otherwise disappeared.

Hidden History of Litchfield County

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

 A Sunday Series “Extra”
Peter Vermilyea speaks on
“Hidden History of Litchfield County“

The Kent Historical Society and Kent Memorial Library presented local author and prominent educator Peter Vermilyea as he discussed and signed his new book “Hidden History of Litchfield County” on Sunday, February 8, 2015.

In his book and presentations, Vermilyea uncovers abundant clues all around us, and shares them with audiences and readers throughout the region. His curiosity takes him all over the local landscape, and he constantly turns up instances of history that still linger, if you open your eyes to see them.

Stonewalls and graveyards summon numerous stories from Vermilyea. He points out weed-choked railroad tracks that crisscross the county, in Kent and beyond, and brings our attention to a ruined cinderblock bunker in Warren that was once a crucial radar station during the Cold War. He reminds us of a catastrophic fire that devastated Winsted in 1908, forcing residents to flee the Odd Fellows boardinghouse in fear of their lives. In Bantam, art deco chairs made by the Warren McArthur Corporation were so appealing and comfortable that the War Department ordered bomber seats from the company during World War II. Vermilyea explores these and other juicy tales from the history of Litchfield County, Connecticut.

A resident of Litchfield, Mr. Vermilyea teaches history at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, Connecticut, and at Western Connecticut State University. A graduate of Gettysburg College, he is the director of the student scholarship program at his alma mater’s Civil War Institute. He is a member of the Litchfield Historical Society Board of Directors. He is the author or editor of three books and more than a dozen articles and maintains the Hidden in Plain Sight blog. In fact, the book grew from Vermilyea’s fascinating blog, which can be found at www.hiddeninplainsightblog.com. “Hidden History of Litchfield County” boasts five-star reviews on Amazon, with such comments as, “extremely well-written and impressively researched,” and “it is amazing how many remnants of the nation’s past the author has uncovered…”

Vermilyea’s lecture was geared to Kent and its citizens. A long-time friend of both the Kent Historical Society and Kent Memorial Library, Vermilyea made ample use of the society’s archives in researching this book. Readers will find a handsome acknowledgement to the Kent Historical Society’s Curator, Marge Smith, on page 8.  His book, “Hidden History of Litchfield County” is available for purchase at Kent’s House of Books. 

 

Learning History From Quilts

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

Learning History From Quilts

 

A special donation of a historical quilt linked to Kent spurred the Kent Historical Society to offer an event dedicated to quilt history.  Sue Reich of Washington, an author and lecturer on quilt history, demonstrated the use of quilts as a historical research tool as part of the Kent Historical Society’s Sunday Series on Jan. 19, 2014 at the Kent Town Hall.

 Reich has been a quiltmaker since childhood. She lectures widely on many aspects of quilt history, and is a certified American Quilt Society quilt appraiser. She co-authored “Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut” and authored “Quilting News of Yesteryear: One Thousand Pieces and Counting,” as well as “Quilting News of Yesteryear: Crazy as a Bed-Quilt”, “World War II Quilts”, “Quiltings, Frolicks and Bees” and “World War I Quilts.”

 The main quilt discussed is a recent donation to KHS. It is a signature quilt that dates back 120 years has been returned to town. Embroidered with the date 1894, it belonged to the Rev. Benjamin Mead Wright at the time of his retirement as pastor of the First Congregational Church of Kent in 1896.

 The quilt was handed down in his family, where it remained until 2012, when KHS Board members Dick and Charlotte Lindsey met his grandson, Stanley Wright, in Norwalk. Wright felt strongly that the quilt should be returned to Kent. It was on display during that fall at the church and then transferred to the Historical Society. At the time of this recent donation it was assumed that the quilt had been made as a retirement gift for Rev. Wright by his congregation, but close examination by Ms. Reich has now led us to believe that may not be the case. The more we study the quilt, the more questions we have. We’re digging into family histories, old newspaper stories, church records and more.

 The society hopes that this presentation will spark renewed interest in the stories that quilts can tell. KHS held a Quilt Discovery Day in April 2014, to which people brought their own treasured quilts for Ms. Reich to evaluate.

 

Quilt Discovery Day

Posted on by Logan Wheeler

KHS hosted quilt expert Sue Reich of Washington for an entire day of quilt evaluations Sunday, April 6, 2014.  “Quilt Discovery Day” allowed registrants an opportunity to find out how much a family heirloom quilt might be worth and what time period it dates back to.

Verbal assessment were giving to each quilt owner would could then write down the information. A digital photograph of each appraised quilt was taken and provided to the owner.

A special presentation during the lunch break focused on “Tips for Care and Use” to learn about the preservation, storage, care and suggested ways to display or hang a quilt.

Reich is an author and lecturer on quilt history and has been a quiltmaker since childhood. She lectures widely on many aspects of quilt history, and is a certified American Quilt Society quilt appraiser. She co-authored “Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut” and authored “Quilting News of Yesteryear: One Thousand Pieces and Counting,” as well as “Quilting News of Yesteryear: Crazy as a Bed-Quilt.”

The Kent Historical Society hosted Reich in January for a talk “Learning History From Quilts,” and she shared information about quilts in the KHS collection, including two that had been recently donated.