Latest News
Author Peter Vermilyea teaches history at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
Jules Williams
FALLS VILLAGE — The heroes of the Civil War were not found just on the battlefields, but on the home fronts as well. And many of those helping in the Union cause can be traced to the local area.
In his talk titled “All Honor to the Ladies: Litchfield County Women and the Civil War,” Peter Vermilyea described the role women played during that period.
“It’s a local story, but also a national story,” he told those gathered at the South Canaan Meetinghouse for the second installment of the “First Tuesdays at 7” series put on by the Falls Village-Canaan Historical Society.
Vermilyea is a familiar figure in the Northwest Corner, heading up the social studies department at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, as well as an author and speaker on local history.
Using three old newspapers as major sources, the Housatonic Republican, Litchfield Enquirer and Winsted Herald, he was able to glean a great deal of information on the topic. Since there was a long tradition of women in Litchfield County being activists back to the Revolutionary War, it followed that ladies aid societies would become popular. “They give us a glimpse of how they exercised agency and expressed their own beliefs,” he said.
In the 1830s, many traditional responsibilities were replaced by machinery, so women were looking for something else besides their “moral obligation” to raise children. The war provided a purpose for women to get together. The aid societies took root in Bridgeport, primarily filled with well-to-do women. But they grew to more than 20,000 chapters across the north and saw expanded memberships.
Vermilyea elicited laughter when he said at first, “The primary purpose for women was to ‘remain cheerful.’”
When it was discovered women were very capable in several areas, such as recruitment of soldiers, they were tapped to perform certain duties. But as Vermilyea emphasized throughout the talk, they were welcomed “as long as they remained in the women’s sphere and didn’t try to do the work of men or else they were pushed back.” Handling money was not something with which women were entrusted.
Hartford became the clearinghouse for the societies, from where information was disseminated about what the troops needed. For example, the women of Norfolk made flannel shirts for soldiers in Missouri. A large number of items were collected from Bethlehem, where a huge rally to protest the war was held and a slogan saying, “Let it no longer be said Bethlehem is a secession town,” was displayed. The women of Kent knitted socks designed with tiny images of Jefferson Davis with a noose around his neck.
Vermilyea spoke about calls going out across the nation for lint, but it couldn’t be that from cotton because the fabric contained acid. Only lint from linen was usable for making bandages. He shared the long list of items that the women gathered and sent to the troops.
The talents displayed by the ladies aid societies can be traced to the start of several women’s movements, such as suffrage and temperance, Vemilyea said.
Keep ReadingShow less
Club Getaway is located in New Milford, but arriving tour buses often enter through Kent.
Alec Linden
KENT/NEW MILFORD — A years-long push by South Kent Road residents to ban Club Getaway-bound tour buses from the winding country road is finally seeing headway, and David Schreiber, who owns the all-ages resort, is thrilled.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, and we do have to work together, but it’s moving in the right direction, which is beautiful,” said Schreiber on July 3, a week and a half after the New Milford Town Council agreed to work with the town of Kent towards effective regulation for large commercial vehicles on the roadway.
Schreiber said he’s heard complaints from neighbors for fifteen years regarding buses shortcutting down the narrow lane and has tried “everything” to get the bus companies to reroute via larger roads, but his lack of jurisdiction outside the resort’s boundaries, as well as the fact that the affected road lies in two separate towns (with the state owning the Kent section), has made things difficult.
Club Getaway is a woodsy retreat center that offers youth programs, family stays and adult camps. It sits on South Kent Road just below its intersection with Route 341.
Buses coming from the south often choose South Kent Road for the final stretch of the journey, despite a recent adjustment to Google Maps – requested by Club Getaway – so that it no longer recommends the stretch of the road between Gaylordsville and Spooner Hill Road in Kent as a route.
Schreiber said that he was “touched” that Kent First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer turned up to the June 23 New Milford Town Council meeting to commit to finding a solution that keeps buses off that section of the road, where residents have complained about tight or impossible vehicle passes and scary moments walking the dog.
Schreiber said the recent progress has been largely due to a May 30 Facebook post in the Kent community group by South Kent Road resident Kristin Barese, who initiated communication between Lindenmayer and New Milford Mayor Pete Bass and presented the Town Council with a 145-signature petition calling for action, and one of his employees getting yelled at the Kent Station Pharmacy.
On June 26, Lindenmayer explained steps were already being taken towards that end: “Mayor Bass and I will work with our legislators to ensure we get the right routes marked appropriately while our two Public Works departments will work with CTDOT to mark roads and keep our local residents safe and the buses on track.”
“Shouting at one of my employees in public, especially, when they are not on the clock, is disgraceful,” Schreiber said in his own post in the Kent group, dated June 10. He also noted the employee, like anyone else working at the resort, had nothing to do with what routes the bus companies decided to take.
Reflecting on July 23, he described the incident as a boiling point due to “built up frustration,” but that the behavior was still unacceptable. “I want this to work, and I’ll do anything to make it happen, right?” he said, “but really, there’s a time and a place, you know — call me.”
Despite the ugliness, Schreiber said that he’s glad the issue “is all out in the open now,” and that progress is being made.
When all this is over, he hopes both the bus drivers and passengers alike will be glad to avoid the country-lane pace of South Kent Road. “It’s gonna be great for the community, it’s gonna be great for Club Getaway, and it’s gonna be great for Club Getaway clients,” he said. “It says on a GPS it’s four minutes shorter going down South Kent Road, until a bus actually gets on South Kent Road, and it’s ten minutes longer.”
Keep ReadingShow less
Sharon real estate transactions
Jul 09, 2025
Restored antique house on 0.98 acres built in 1730 at 3 Dunbar Road sold for $1,175,000,
Christine Bates
SHARON — The Sharon town clerk recorded six property transfers in May and June.
Transactions
12 White Hollow Road — 3 bedroom/1.5 bath home on 40.12 acres sold by Peter R. Palmer to William Betts for $1,200,000 recorded on May 8.
5 Surdan Mountain Road — 3.77 acres sold by Ann Adele Prindle to Michelle Deblois-Purdy for $41,240 recorded on May 21.
3 Dunbar Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home sold by Dana Jennings Rohn and Frederick W. Rohn to Michael Riebling and Stephen Czeck for $1,175,000 recorded on June 9.
West Cornwall Road — 1.06 acres of vacant land with outbuildings sold by Kim Preston Dube to Pamela Helen Jarvis for $100,000 recorded on June 20.
165 East Street — 4 bedroom/3.5 bath brick house on 9.3 acres sold by Robert A. and Ellen M. Calinoff to Todd Sharinn and Kerry Santantonio for $925,000 recorded on June 24.
106 Jackson Road — 2 bedroom/1.5 bath home on 1.9 acres sold by Linda D. Wenkert to Diane B. Mattes for $595,000 recorded on June 24.
* Town of Sharon real estate transfers recorded as transferred/sold between May 1 and June 30, 2025, provided by the Sharon Town Clerk. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market listings from Smart MLS. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Keep ReadingShow less
Lifeguard Melody Matsudaira keeps a watchful eye on Cream Hill Lake swimmers.
Riley Klein
CORNWALL — After an incident regarding raised levels of E. coli, Cream Hill Lake in Cornwall has been deemed safe to swim.
In June, water testing revealed slightly elevated levels of E. coli bacteria in the waters of the Cream Hill Lake Association and Hammond Beach.
Swimmers in the lake were advised to refrain from submerging their heads in the water, ingesting water and to shower promptly after swimming.
The Board of Selectmen reviewed the situation at a regular meeting July 1. First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said the heavy rains that fell in the spring were likely the cause of the E. coli spike.
Ridgway said the bacteria is found “on the forest floor, it moves around.” Rain likely caused excessive run off, he said, “It’s definitely important to monitor.”
Selectman Rocco Botto said the tests that caused the scare showed relatively elevated levels, but did not enter the danger zone.
“A concentration less or equal to 235 per 100 milliliters is considered satisfactory and those first tests were at like 75 and 31,” said Botto. “It puts us well within the threshold of safe swimming.”
Since this initial tests, Torrington Area Health District has stated the levels have decreased.
“We do have a little sign out as far as what the recommendations are about keeping your head out of the water,” said Ridgway. “Don’t be drinking a lot of the water... It is a pond.”
Position changes
At the July 1 meeting, the selectmen accepted a series of position changes.
Selectman Jennifer Markow will be stepping down as director of Parks and Recreation. She served in the role for about 10 years and will resign after the completion of summer events in town.
She will continue to serve on the commission as an alternate.
“I had a great time working with the Parks and Rec,” said Markow. “I had an awesome commission over the years.”
The search for a new director is underway.
Spencer Mussulman began his role as the new Zoning Enforcement Officer. His officer hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 7:30 to 10 a.m. and by appointment on Friday.
Rebecca Juchert-Derungs was appointed by the selectmen to become the new tax collector. She also works as tax collector in Falls Village and Goshen and will assume the job in Cornwall at the end of outgoing Tax Collector Jean Bouteiller’s current term in November.
Keep ReadingShow less
loading
