SHARON — Sharon’s Christ Church Episcopal (CCE) building was completed in 1819, almost 200 years ago.More than two years ago some tree work was being done on the property. A worker was high in the air in a lift bucket. While doing his work he noticed there was rot in the almost-200-year-old steeple.Cathy Casey, who is the clerk of the church, recalled that, “Based on what the tree worker saw, we decided it would be wise to take a closer look at the steeple and get some professionals involved.”Two years were spent inspecting the steeple, seeking professional advice, developing a restoration plan and planning fundraising to pay for the repairs. The inspections revealed significant rot on the steeple’s pillars and other significant related deterioration.Joseph Hajek, the senior warden of the church, said it wasn’t easy to decide if it should be replaced or restored.“At the beginning we changed our minds so many times as to how to approach this project,” Hajek said. “Some people wanted the steeple restored. Some wanted it torn down and a new steeple built. In the end we made the right decision: to restore it.” Casey also noted that, “Greg Farmer from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation was called in to consult on the project. After his evaluation, he said the steeple is so historic and unique, it should be restored.”Once the extent of the damage to the steeple and the roof that surrounds it was ascertained, the church got an estimate of approximately $200,000 to remove the steeple; send it to Heritage Restoration in Providence R.I., which is a company specializing in restoration of historic buildings; bring it back to Sharon; and reinstall it. The church bell was also shipped to Heritage Restoration for refurbishment. The steeple had been removed from the belfry in November 2010. On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, David Aracil and Justin Boesch of Heritage came down from Rhode Island to clean out debris from the steeple and lower roof of the church and load them on a flatbed truck. Sharon resident Nick Moore, a member of the church, called on his brother, David, to help with the work. “David is an architect who lives in southern Connecticut,” he said. “And David called Leland Torrence, a general contractor specializing in restorations whom he had worked with before.”Torrence was hired as the general contractor for the project; and he called Rob Cagnetta, owner of Heritage Restoration, with whom he had worked on other restoration projects. Moore noted that, “Now that we know the extent of damage to the steeple, we’re very lucky that we discovered the problem and took action to correct it before bad weather tore it down.”Casey and Hajek said the congregation is hopeful the restored steeple will be back in Sharon in June. In the spring a crew from Heritage Restoration will be in Sharon for about a month completing necessary repairs and modifications to the “doghouse” the steeple sits on. To pay for the restoration, the church began a capital campaign to raise $200,000.“To date, we’ve raised about three quarters of the money,” Casey said. “We are very happy the money not only came from church members but also from the general community.”Moore said, “The fundraising committee has done an excellent job. One bit of luck was an anonymous matching fund challenge grant from a foundation, which greatly helped.”Hajek said a general campaign mailing will go out soon to raise the remaining required money.Cased noted the church is in Sharon’s historic district and many residents who are not church members appreciate the historic value and beauty of the building and want to see it properly restored.Anyone wishing to make a contribution can send it to Christ Church Episcopal, Steeple Fund, PO Box 1778, Sharon, CT 06069.
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Turning Back the Pages - October 15, 2026
Norma Bosworth
125 years ago — October 1901
The New York Condensed Milk Co. are building an ice house and constructing a pond for their factory at Canaan.
An unsuccessful attempt was made to burglarize the Norfolk bank early Wednesday morning. The safe proved too much for the knights of the jimmy, and was a case where the burglars failed burgle.
Last Saturday night there came a break in the Sharon Co.’s line of pipe on New Street, and Sunday morning the residents of that street awoke to find quite a formidable brook coursing down the gutter. The break was found to be serious and necessitated employing a force of men all day Sunday to make the needed repairs, and the water takers were without a supply in their faucets until the work was finished.
Farmers want $2.00 a barrel for apples and one dollar a bushel for potatoes. Grain and hay are high. Every kind of meat is expensive. Coal $7.00 per ton here and no license in Falls Village. If things continue thus the average poor cuss will begin to enjoy what he eats and drinks, that is, when he does so. He will wonder if, after all, Jefferson wasn’t joking when he said “We never repent having eaten too little.”
100 years ago — October 1926
LIME ROCK — Mr. Belter has installed a radio in his home.
The Lakeville Water Co. is making some notable improvements to their reservoir. New retaining walls are being constructed, and new screens being placed over all outlets. In fact everything is being done to put the reservoirs in first class sanitary condition.
Edward Webb Sr., while loading a saddle horse from the Bartle Farm onto the freight train at Millerton recently, was thrown from the car door, falling upon his head. He was unconscious for about an hour and has since been feeling the effects of the shock and shake-up, but fortunately no bones were broken.
50 years ago — October 1976
Tongue lodged firmly in cheek and hard hat firmly on her head, Salisbury’s spritely town clerk Lila Nash stepped gingerly over debris from a collapsed ceiling at the Town Hall. The acoustical tile and plaster fell from a large portion of the ceiling sometime Sunday evening.
The Housatonic River study bill passed its last hurdle Tuesday, when President Ford signed the measure authorizing a federal survey to determine the feasibility of including the river in the national Wild and Scenic Rivers.
William Schneebeli, owner of Valley Kennels in Falls Village, harvested a mammoth pumpkin from his garden this year. The pumpkin, which measures 23 high and 19 inches wide, is estimated to weigh about 85 pounds. Schneebeli produces much of his own food, filling two freezers with garden produce, drinking goat milk and raising some livestock.
The North Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps is seeking a home for its ambulance. The corps currently houses its vehicle in the former firehouse, now owned by the Canaan National Bank. Corps spokesman Mickey Madow said this week “we don’t want to give the impression that the bank is throwing us out — they have been very, very nice to us. But we are looking for a garage to keep the ambulance.”
25 years ago — October 2001
In a world of choices, what is more confusing than choosing long distance or wireless phone service? It would seem, at least, that the choice of carriers would be a forthright list. That is hardly the case. The question that prompted an investigation was simple enough: Does our little corner of Connecticut finally have wireless phone service? The answer is “Yes,” sort of. Residents should not run out and buy a cellular telephone assuming that any model will work anywhere. And they shouldn’t start comparing rates until they are sure the carrier can provide the services needed.
CANAAN — A traffic signal that has been plagued recently by operational problems is slated by the Department of Transportation for an upgrade. It is routine equipment replacement that has put the light at the intersection of routes 7, 44 and North Elm Street on the list of 10 the DOT will upgrade as part of a grouped design project.
These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.
Kent’s 80-unit housing proposal enters site plan review
Alec Linden
KENT — The Planning and Zoning Commission began reviewing a site plan application for a long-anticipated 80-unit downtown housing development on Thursday night, Oct. 8, marking another step forward for the proposal.
While the application is new, the project is familiar to P&Z and many residents after the commission held a two-session public hearing in March and April on establishing a Planned Development District for the proposed development.
That process, which drew generally favorable responses from the public and commissioners, ultimately resulted in the establishment of a Planned Development District, referred to as a PDD, allowing the project to proceed within the framework of an 80-unit mixed-income neighborhood with at least 20% of units designated as affordable.
While the PDD restricts use of the 12.5-acre parcel of meadowland between Town Hall and Maple Street Extension to the proposed project, it does not constitute final site plan approval, which is why the project is back before P&Z.
The plans are also under consideration by the Inland Wetlands Commission, which is considering holding a public hearing as part of its review. The project was approved by the town’s Architectural Review Board (ARB) on Oct. 5 following several changes to building facades and ornamentation recommended by the board during a series of meetings with the developer this past summer.
For Thursday’s meeting, Jim Millstein, managing partner of Kent Housing Development Associates, brought a full team of architects and engineers to present the latest plans.
Jeremy Lake, architect and community designer with Union Studio, said the proposal has changed little since the PDD approval in April, aside from modifications to the stormwater management system and aesthetic alterations to the larger buildings in response to feedback from the ARB to “add a few more pieces of flair on top of what we had previously.”
The layout calls for three 12-unit apartment buildings containing one- and two-bedroom units and 11 townhouse buildings containing two- and three-bedroom units, arranged around a central roadway connecting Kent Green Boulevard south of Town Hall with Maple Street Extension.
The roadway would run parallel to an existing drainage channel that bisects the property and is the focus of the IWC’s pending review. As in previous meetings, the development team said Thursday that the channel would remain in place and be landscaped with native plantings along its edges.
The entire property is meant to retain a natural feel, explained landscape architect Barbara Constable of A2 Land Consulting, with a tree and shrub planting plan that would produce “significantly enhanced ecological value on the site.”
The native trees listed include red and sugar maple, river birch, sycamore, eastern red cedar, white oak and pin oak. Shrubs include chokeberry, swamp azalea, spicebush, buttonbush and viburnum.
Of the property’s 12.5 acres, five acres at the southern end would be left as open space featuring a meadow crossed by regularly mowed pathways.
As the site is relatively flat and low-lying, some have questioned the drainage implications of placing a large-scale development on the property.
Engineer Dainius Virbickas of Artel Engineering Group reported that soil tests showed the meadow’s soils to be generally well drained. He said the “beefed up” stormwater management plan, featuring catch basins, swales and subsurface infiltration systems, would improve drainage conditions at the site.
After the developers finished presenting, P&Z Chair Karen Casey announced that Bonnie Bevans, a neighbor to the southern end of the property who has been an outspoken opponent of the development, had formally entered the application process as an intervenor.
Kent’s Land Use Administrator Tai Kern explained that an outside party may petition to intervene on environmental or historic grounds only, and “there must be evidence that harm of a specific nature and magnitude is likely to occur.”
As her consulting expert, Bevans introduced Joe Quaranta, who identified himself as director of the Connecticut Clean Water Coalition, a water-protection advocacy group. He suggested that the project could place an undue load on the town’s sewer system, which he described as outdated and “a glorified residential septic on a much larger scale.”
Kent’s wastewater treatment system, which is slated for an upgrade, allows treated effluent to infiltrate the soil rather than discharging it directly into the river. Quaranta raised concerns that the discharge could contaminate groundwater used by Aquarion Water Company to supply drinking water in Kent.
“Once you contaminate the groundwater, it’s virtually impossible to remediate,” he said.
Millstein and several commissioners questioned whether the concerns should be addressed by the Sewer Commission rather than P&Z.
Millstein noted that the Sewer Commission had already indicated the increased load from the development would remain well within the system’s daily capacity.
“Aquarion indicated they could serve these 80 units,” Millstein said. “The Sewer Commission has said they could serve these 80 units.”
Quaranta ultimately said that a “will serve” letter from both Aquarion and the Sewer Commission should satisfy the issue from a zoning standpoint, and noted that the sewer system issues themselves are more of a “town of Kent issue.”
P&Z tabled the discussion until its next regular meeting on Nov. 12. Unless an extension is granted, a decision is due by the commission’s Dec. 10 meeting.
Sharon to host free Repair Café Oct. 24
Ruth Epstein
SHARON — Residents can bring broken household items to Hotchkiss Library for free repairs at Sharon’s first Reuse and Repair Café Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There will be volunteers available to help with sewing, jewelry repair, bike repair, iron works, small furniture and appliance repair, as well as knife sharpening. No appointment is needed.
The Reuse and Repair Café phenomenon began in Amsterdam in 2009 by Martine Postma, who grew concerned about Western throw-away culture and the rapid accumulation of household waste. It was originally intended to be a community event bringing people together to fix household goods. It was a great success and today there are over 3,500 Reuse and Repair Cafes worldwide.
As a result of this worldwide success, the Reuse and Repair Café Foundation was founded with core goals including preserving practical skills, promoting a circular economy and fostering a sense of community while encouraging sustainability and saving the environment.
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Falls Village to celebrate ‘Autumn at the Town Farm’
Patrick L. Sullivan
FALLS VILLAGE — Families and community members are invited to celebrate the season at “Autumn at the Town Farm” on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Town Farm, located at 108 Route 63 in Falls Village.
The event is sponsored by the Falls Village Recreation Commission.
This family-friendly event will offer an afternoon of fall fun for all ages, featuring demonstrations, live music, hayrides, food, and activities for the whole family.
Attendees are invited to enjoy the Town Farm while celebrating the fall season and connecting with friends, neighbors, and the surrounding community.
Admission is free.
Cardiac arrest survivor marks 10 years with free CPR class
Ruth Epstein
North Canaan resident Ashlee Baldwin, who survived sudden cardiac arrest in 2016, is offering a free CPR/AED training class on Oct. 25 in Falls Village.
FALLS VILLAGE — Ashlee Baldwin’s life was saved by the quick action of those trained in emergency medical situations. Now she wants to be sure others may be as fortunate, so she and her family are offering a free class in lifesaving measures.
It was 2016 and Baldwin, a student at Quinnipiac University, had just finished playing in the pep band at a hockey game when she collapsed.
“My memory ends there,” said the North Canaan resident who was 18 at the time.
The teen had gone into sudden cardiac arrest suffering from ventricular tachycardia. Fortunately, there were paramedics stationed at the hockey arena who immediately began CPR.
As part of the immediate intervention they shocked her with an AED (automated external defibrillator) twice. She was then transported to Yale New Haven Hospital where she spent two days in an induced coma.
After being awakened, she underwent surgery to install a subcutaneous internal cardiac defibrillator, which continues to live in her heart today. She had the surgery on Halloween and was back at school a week later.
The defibrillator is different from a pacemaker, Baldwin explained, in that it monitors the heartbeat.
The cause of the incident has never been determined. She was an athlete at Housatonic Valley Regional High School and had not been doing anything strenuous beforehand.
To mark the 10-year milestone, the Baldwins are holding a free CPR/AED training class on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Falls Village Emergency Services Center, 188 Route 7 South. It is open to all residents of the Northwest Corner, as well as the surrounding area.
To register, contact Baldwin at ashleebaldwinqu@gmail.com.
‘Plot twist’: Jam Food Shop to open Sharon location
Patrick Stachniak
Jam Food Shop plans to open a new Sharon location at 29 W. Main St.
SHARON — After closing its counter at Sharon Farm Market on Oct. 3, Jam Food Shop announced it will open a new location in Sharon as well as a shop in Salisbury.
Owner Colin Kennedy described the announcement as a “plot twist.” He had previously said the popular local deli would leave Sharon and move to Salisbury, but now plans to operate a shop in each town.
“We understand the importance of convenience, so why not give that to Sharon if we can?” Kennedy said.
The Sharon Jam Food Shop will be located at 29 W Main St. in the former building of When Pigs Fly, a BBQ restaurant that closed down mid-July. Though it will be smaller than its Salisbury counterpart, the store will still offer Sharon residents the same food, just with more limited seating.
Kennedy is actively renovating the former Neo Bar and Restaurant at 19 Main St. in Salisbury to become Jam’s primary location, including a whole new seating area.
At the Salisbury Fall Festival, Kennedy hosted a raffle for attendees to guess the opening date of the new storefront, which he previously estimated to be sometime in October. As of now, Kennedy has no official start date for either location, but said both will be open ASAP.
“Our family always dreamed of expanding and opening a second location. While we are beyond excited to open our doors in Salisbury, it was difficult to see and hear the disappointment from the locals that have supported us for so long,” Kennedy said. “ This is a new, exciting chapter for us that will allow us to be creative beyond the confines of the Sharon Farm Market and we can’t wait to serve you all!”
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