Turning Back the Pages - November 22

100 years ago — November 1912

LIME ROCK — Frank Chase has resigned his position as chauffeur, which he has held for the past three years with Mr. C.W. Barnum. George Belcher now fills the vacancy.

SALISBURY — There is no school in Room 2, as Miss Lena Clark is ill.

LIME ROCK — John Barnum had a narrow escape from death while walking out of a window in his sleep and falling. He sustained a wrenched knee and several other bruises and cuts.

50 years ago — November 1962

A Canaan deer was struck on Nov. 13 while it was running across Route 7. The car, which was driven by Ronald Richards, age 30, of Sand Lake, N.Y., was moderately damaged on the front left side.

CANAAN — Leland Dovell of Railroad Street quietly observed his 82nd birthday at his home on Monday. Mr. Dovell retired from the New Haven Railroad in 1943 after 43 years of service. He is a 55-year member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, W.H. Stevens Lodge of Pittsfield, Mass.

25 years ago — November 1987

Several sightings of black bears in the Northwest Corner over the last few weeks have confronted residents with a thorny question: How many bears are bearable? The question was highlighted last week when a hungry black bear destroyed Norfolk resident Mary Hall’s beehives. “Over a two-day period, he completely destroyed the hives I’ve kept for years.”

AMENIA, N.Y. — Beatrix “Trixi” Strauss, 77, widow of the late William J. Strauss, of Home Farm in Amenia, died Nov. 14 at her home. Throughout Northeast New York state and the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, Mrs. Strauss was known for her birding expertise (having attained a “life list” of 600 species just last year) and for her bridge finesse. She was also known for her dedication to conservation and environmental issues, her love of music, and her general zest for life, which, despite recent health setbacks, continued to the end.

Taken from decades-old Lakeville Journals, these items contain original spellings and phrases.

 

Latest News

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy

Juneteenth and Mumbet’s legacy
Sheffield resident, singer Wanda Houston will play Mumbet in "1781" on June 19 at 7 p.m. at The Center on Main, Falls Village.
Jeffery Serratt

In August of 1781, after spending thirty years as an enslaved woman in the household of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mumbet, was the first enslaved person to sue for her freedom in court. At the time of her trial there were 5,000 enslaved people in the state. MumBet’s legal victory set a precedent for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1790, the first in the nation. She took the name Elizabeth Freeman.

Local playwrights Lonnie Carter and Linda Rossi will tell her story in a staged reading of “1781” to celebrate Juneteenth, ay 7 p.m. at The Center on Main in Falls Village, Connecticut.Singer Wanda Houston will play MumBet, joined by actors Chantell McCulloch, Tarik Shah, Kim Canning, Sherie Berk, Howard Platt, Gloria Parker and Ruby Cameron Miller. Musical composer Donald Sosin added, “MumBet is an American hero whose story deserves to be known much more widely.”

Keep ReadingShow less
history

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

A sweet collaboration with students in Torrington

The new mural painted by students at Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut.

Photo by Kristy Barto, owner of The Nutmeg Fudge Company

Thanks to a unique collaboration between The Nutmeg Fudge Company, local artist Gerald Incandela, and Saint John Paul The Great Academy in Torrington, Connecticut a mural — designed and painted entirely by students — now graces the interior of the fudge company.

The Nutmeg Fudge Company owner Kristy Barto was looking to brighten her party space with a mural that celebrated both old and new Torrington. She worked with school board member Susan Cook and Incandela to reach out to the Academy’s art teacher, Rachael Martinelli.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit