Webb Deane Stevens Museum

FREE EVENT| Revolutionary War Encampment
2025-05-24 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
FREE EVENT | Revolutionary War Encampment
Saturday, May 24, 2025, 10 am – 4 pm
A family favorite returns to the Webb Deane Stevens Museum Saturday, May 24! Travel back in time and experience our Annual Revolutionary War Encampment, presented by the 5th Connecticut Regiment. Join us from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a fun, educational immersion in the Colonial era, including period music, open hearth cooking demonstrations, children’s colonial games, traditional craft-making, speak with a surgeon, musket demonstrations, camp tours with the 5th Connecticut Regiment, and so much more.
The free festivities will begin on the Museum grounds immediately following the Town of Wethersfield Memorial Day Parade.
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Demonstrations throughout the day will include:

Colonial music
Children’s colonial games
Surgeon’s table
Woodworking
Open hearth cooking and food
Flag displays and history programs
Weaving and sewing
Soldier’s tent and display of equipment
Colonial clothing and textiles
Life of a Privateer
Butter churning
Camp tours and information about the 5th Connecticut Regiment and its history

Schedule
10:30 am Musket and drill demonstration
11:00 am Children’s wooden musket drill
11:30 am Reading of “Paul Revere’s Ride”
12:00 pm Midday nooning
1:00 pm Demonstrations of 18th-Century battle tactics, including musket firing and bayonet practice
2:00 pm Canon firing demonstration
2:30 pm Reading of “Paul Revere’s Ride”
4:00 pm Camp Closes

VIRTUAL LECTURE | Victorian-Era Colonial Revival: Late 19th Century Furniture of New York Cabinetmakers Matthew Meier & Ernest Hagen
2025-05-22 19:00 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
VIRTUAL LECTURE
Join us for an exclusive virtual lecture* with Grant S. Quertermous, Curator & Director of Collections at the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation, as he delves into the history and craftsmanship of a remarkable 1892 Meier & Hagen mirror from the Webb Deane Stevens Museum’s collection, and the evolution of Meier & Hagen furniture.
The mirror was produced by Meier & Hagen in 1892 and is on display in our new exhibition: Out of The Attic: A Century of Collecting.
Thursday May 22nd, 7:00 pm
Members: $10
Non-Members: $15
*Zoom link will be provided in advance of the lecture.
Grant Quertermous | Grant Quertermous is the Curator and Director of Collections for the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation (formerly Classical American Homes Preservation Trust), a position he has held since 2020. He previously served as Curator at Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, a National Historic Landmark in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. for five years and prior to that he was the Assistant Curator at James Madison’s Montpelier for nine years during its major restoration and furnishing project. He holds an undergraduate degree in history from Murray State University and a Master’s Degree in Anthropology from the University of South Carolina. His book, A Georgetown Life, the Reminiscences of Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon of Tudor Place was published by Georgetown University Press in 2020.

This lecture is generously supported by the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation.

Member Preview | Out of The Attic: A Century of Collecting
2025-04-30 17:30 - 19:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Please join us for our WDS Member Exhibition Preview
April 30, 5:30-7:30 pm | Wine and light refreshments will be served.
What is a collection? How does it come to be? And what can we learn about the past, passion, and perspective of those who built it over time.
From teapots and portrait miniatures to furniture and a monumental canvas of founder Elizabeth Colt, a dazzling array of treasures from the Museum’s permanent collection are resurfacing for public view, some for the first time in a generation. Together they track the legacy of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames and show how the Society and Museum have evolved over more than a hundred years of collecting, preserving, and interpreting American history and decorative arts.
5:30 pm | Welcome and Opening Remarks with Executive Director Brenton Grom
6:00 pm | Exhibition Tour – Out of the Attic: A Century of Collecting
RSVP: Renee Dumouchel at rdumouchel@wdsmuseum.org

WORKSHOP | Topiary Workshop with Anthony Bellomo of the Orangerie
2025-04-12 13:00 - 14:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Learn the art of topiary with expert Anthony Bellomo of Orangerie. Join us on April 5th at 1:00 PM for a hands-on workshop where you’ll discover time-honored techniques for creating and maintaining elegant topiary forms that have defined formal gardens for centuries. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or new to the world of ornamental pruning, Anthony will guide you through the fundamentals of this classic garden art. A selection of topiary will be available on-site for purchase after the event. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to bring timeless elegance to your garden.
Follow: @anthony.bellomo @orangeriegarden
www.orangeriegarden.com
Purchase Tickets | $15 General Admission | $10 Members | $5 Students

GARDEN TALK | Waking Up Your Garden from Winter with Peter Winne
2025-03-27 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Learn how to thoughtfully and properly wake up your garden from winter and set yourself up for a season of beautiful and healthy blooms. Join WDS Head Gardener Peter Winne for a colorful conversation on how to treat your garden with care to prepare it for the coming Spring. Weather permitting, the talk will end with a short hands-on pruning demonstration outside in the Amy Cogswell Garden.
Peter Winne | Hartford-based horticulturist Peter Winne designs and cares for gardens in public parks and on unique and historic residential properties in Connecticut and New York. He is Head Gardener for the Amy Cogswell Colonial Revival Garden at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum. He founded Peter Winne Gardens in 2021 after four years as Head Gardener at Elizabeth Park, home of the nation’s oldest public rose garden. Pete apprenticed under rosarian Stephen Scanniello, curator of the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at New York Botanical Garden and has received additional mentoring from Michael Shoup of the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas and Gregg Lowery of The Friends of Vintage Roses in Sebastopol, California. He holds a BA in Urban Planning from Vassar College, an MA from the Gallatin School at NYU, and a Landscape Design Certificate from Naugatuck Valley Community College. Prior to going into horticulture full-time, he performed in the US and Europe as a touring bluegrass musician. He currently lives in his hometown of Hartford where he still occasionally performs.
Tickets: $20 | $15 Members
https://www.simpletix.com/e/garden-talk-waking-up-your-garden-from-win-tickets-206531

VIRTUAL BOOK TALK | Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect with author Victoria Kastner
2025-03-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Zoom, Virtual Event, Zoom link provided
VIRTUAL LECTURE: Join us from the comfort of your home. This is a VIRTUAL event. Registrants will receive a Zoom link prior to the event.
This event is part of our Book Talk series, where we hear from acclaimed authors who discuss their books in their own words. Get a glimpse into their work and process, and stick around for a lively Q&A.
Victoria Kastner, former Hearst Castle historian and acclaimed author, probes the remarkable life of Julia Morgan – the first woman admitted to Paris’s prestigious École des Beaux-Arts and California’s first licensed female architect. Drawing from her groundbreaking new biography, Kastner reveals the extraordinary woman behind 700 architectural masterpieces, including the legendary Hearst Castle, and paints an intimate portrait of one of America’s most prolific architects.
Join us for an illuminating talk as Kastner shares how she drew upon previously unpublished interviews, letters, and Morgan’s personal diaries to weave a captivating tale about courage, vision, and resilience that reveals in fascinating detail how Morgan’s friendship with William Randolph Hearst, struggles with familial dementia, and devotion to architecture changed the California coast, and the field of architecture itself.
Tickets: $15 General | $10 Book Club and Museum Members | $5 Students
https://www.simpletix.com/e/virtual-book-talk-julia-morgan-an-intimate-tickets-206516
Victoria Kastner served as the official historian for Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California for over 30 years. She has authored several definitive books about the castle, including “Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House” and “Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect.” Her work combines meticulous historical research with architectural and social history analysis, drawing on her unprecedented access to original documents and architectural plans during her tenure. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Kastner is a former commercial baker and a longtime vocalist. Her current research interests have expanded to include the musical compositions and singing career of Fred Astaire.

JOIN BOOK CLUB | This program is part of the WDS Book Club Book Talk series. If you would like to join our Book Club, you can sign up here: https://www.simpletix.com/e/wds-book-club-tickets-201691

WDS BOOK CLUB | Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect
2025-03-11 18:00 - 20:00 | CT
This month we’re reading:
Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect by Victoria Kastner
Tuesday, March 11, 6 pm | In Person and Virtual
Moderated by TR Revella-Hamilton, WDS Director of Preservation & Collections
Meet fellow history enthusiasts in person as we discuss thought-provoking books by acclaimed authors. Our carefully curated monthly selections delve into the rich tapestry of American and European history, featuring compelling works about revolutionary figures, historic preservation, decorative arts, and stories that shaped our cultural landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned historian, preservation enthusiast, or simply curious about the stories behind our built heritage, there’s a place for you in our community of learners.
JOIN BOOK CLUB

How it Works: Book Club meets monthly at the Museum on the second Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise noted. You may join Book Club at any point during the year. Come when you can – there is no penalty for missing a session.
Book Club 2025 “Library Card” Annual Fee*: $25 General | $20 Museum Members | $15 Students
Your Book Club Library Card entitles you to twelve in-person Book Club sessions, as well as discounted admission to the accompanying Book Talks lecture series held on Thursdays at the Museum.

TEA &... | High Tea and The First Ladies - POSTPONED
2025-02-16 10:00 - 11:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Join us for our first high tea of the season, where we’ll learn about hosting customs from our founding females and their Modern-day counterparts. [This event has been postponed. Please check back for a new date.]

WDS BOOK CLUB: | The Bookshop
2025-02-11 18:00 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Monthly | Every Second Tuesday, 6 pm
Moderated by TR Revella-Hamilton, WDS Director of Preservation & Collections
Feb 11 | We’re reading The Bookshop: A History of the American Book Store by Evan Friss
Discover hidden stories of America’s past, cultural heritage, and architectural treasures with our new WDS book club, led by Director of Preservation & Collections TR Revella-Hamilton.
Journey through time as we explore fascinating narratives from trailblazing architects like Julia Morgan to the preservation adventures of historic New England homes. Step through the page and into new worlds to encounter witch trials and colonial intrigue, unsolved Victorian murders that inspired literary classics, and gripping tales of resistance against slavery in George Washington’s own household.
Meet fellow history enthusiasts in person as we discuss thought-provoking books by acclaimed authors. Our carefully curated monthly selections delve into the rich tapestry of American and European history, featuring compelling works about revolutionary figures, historic preservation, decorative arts, and stories that shaped our cultural landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned historian, preservation enthusiast, or simply curious about the stories behind our built heritage, there’s a place for you in our community of learners.
How it Works
Book Club meets monthly at the Museum on the second Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Book Club members will receive the newest book title via email one month prior to the book club date. You may join Book Club at any point during the year. Come when you can – there is no penalty for missing a session.
Book Club 2025 “Library Card” Annual Fee*:
$25 General | $20 Museum Members | $15 Students
Your Book Club Library Card entitles you to twelve in-person Book Club sessions, as well as discounted admission to the accompanying Book Talks lecture series held on Thursdays at the Museum.
*Book Club funds support educational and interpretive programming at the Museum. Book Club Library Card fee is for the year, regardless of when you join and will not be prorated. Thank you for your support.

The Loyalist Legacy: Martha Codman Karolik's Ancestry, Collecting, and Nationalism
2025-01-15 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Discover how one prominent New England woman’s look at her family history was entangled with gender, nationalism, race, memory, and the Colonial Revival. Historian MaryKate Smolenski examines how and why loyalism to the Crown, which divided families and communities during the American Revolution, was edited out of the picture in the 1920s.
Martha Codman Karolik (1858-1948) is best known for her and her husband’s significant donations to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Prior to her marriage, Codman’s early collecting focused on her ancestors; she was deeply interested in her family history and also joined lineage-based societies, including NSCDA. Codman was intrigued by one particular ancestor: Katherine Greene Amory (1731-1777), a Revolutionary-era loyalist from Boston. Codman owned several Amory objects, including portraits by John Singleton Copley. In 1923, Martha published Amory’s journal, but deliberately edited the publication to create a family narrative that omitted loyalism.
Codman left a legacy, through print and material culture, that misrepresents the complexity of the Revolution, but also reflected Martha’s twentieth-century interests. Martha’s story, and the one she told about her family, is entangled in the history of gender, nationalism, race, the Colonial Revival, and memory. Examining Codman’s narrative reveals how our understanding of eighteenth-century history and artifacts were shaped by later eras.
BIO
MaryKate Smolenski is a PhD candidate in American Studies at Boston University. She studies the memory of the American Revolution through print and material culture, and is particularly interested in how descendants of Revolutionary-era loyalists remember their ancestors. Smolenski has previously worked with several museums and historical societies, including the Newport Historical Society, History Cambridge, and the GWU Museum and Textile Museum. Prior to starting her PhD, she completed a two-year fellowship at the Preservation Society of Newport County where she re-interpreted an eighteenth-century historic house museum, Hunter House.

VIRTUAL LECTURE: 6:30 pm
Join us from the comfort of your home. This is a VIRTUAL event. Registrants will receive a Zoom link prior to the event.

This program is part of Common Ground in a Fractured Nation: Dialogues on the Past and Future of American Democracy, a new series that uses Historic Wethersfield’s distinctive colonial past to help people see and empathize with one another as we approach America’s 250th anniversary.

LECTURE | Other People's Stuff: How the Spectacle of House Museums Can Bring Us Together and Teach Us Empathy
2024-09-12 18:00 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
You don’t have to believe the country is falling apart to notice Americans struggling to come together. Last year the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory report on our “epidemic of loneliness,” a dark flip side to the loud and impassioned public dialogue that has become a hallmark of 21st-century life. Meanwhile, we give less than ever to charity, belong to fewer organizations, and distance ourselves from the categories and etiquette that once defined individuals’ relationships to a larger community. We want to be seen and heard, and yet we sometimes lack the tools and patience to see and hear one another.
From the neuroscience of spatial experience to the awe inspired by thinking across expanses of time, house museums hold powerful means to opening our minds. If we treat them as laboratories rather than as repositories of information, they can teach us to look closely at the residue of the past and use multiple kinds of intelligence to grasp the complexity of the human relationships intertwined with it. A century ago, old rooms and their furnishings were part of a bold new strategy in museums to lift up society by drawing attention to the objects that surround us. This lecture, adapted from an address last winter at the Colonial Williamsburg Antiques Forum, focuses on the ways in which our national treasures in Historic Wethersfield can help us observe, listen, and relate to one another with the same curiosity and respect we accord to people of the past.

Colonial Encampment
2024-05-25 10:00 - 16:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Join us for a day of free family fun! The Colonial Encampment, presented by the 5th Connecticut Regiment, returns to the Webb Deane Stevens Museum grounds on Saturday, May 25, from 10 am to 4 pm. Enjoy cooking and marching demonstrations, period music, children’s activities, battle skirmishes, and much more!
Event Schedule (Rain or shine!)
1030am – Musket demonstration
11am – Children’s march with wooden muskets
1pm – Battle skirmish with British Marines
130pm – Cannon firing demonstration
2pm-4pm Camp functions and exhibits

Colonial music
Surgeons’ table
Open fire cooking
Flag history program
Various other camp life exhibits

Big Bear Trading Company will also be on-site throughout the day selling jewelry, gear and goods inspired by the 17th – 19th centuries.
PLEASE NOTE: All scheduled activities subject to change.
Regular Museum admission applies for guided house tours and access to exhibitions in the Holcombe Education Center and Kuckro Gallery.

The Landscape of Future History
2024-04-25 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is pleased to present landscape architect David Rubin in conversation with Executive Director Brenton Grom. Mr. Rubin, the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, joins us in advance of receiving the Elvira Broome Doolan Medal from the Garden Club of America at its annual meeting in Hartford. His remarks will explore the firm’s ethos of “empathy-driven design,” followed by a fireside chat with Mr. Grom about their recent collaboration at the George Read II House & Gardens in Old New Castle, Delaware, which resulted in a new design for the landscape that will unite many layers of history while serving as a gathering place for the community that helped shape the plan.
DAVID RUBIN Land Collective practices landscape architecture from a mission of empathy, problem solving on behalf of their clients, and empowering constituencies through accessibility (which they define as an “invitation to participate”). Because of their belief that landscapes are written to be read, they strive to manage change in historic landscapes rather than to preserve them wholesale. They “lift the bell jar” off of historic sites in an effort to ensure that contemporary society can access and value what has come before, allowing these public treasures to be loved and understood by the 21st century.
Please join us for a complimentary reception at 6 p.m. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m.
NSCDA-CT and Museum Members: $20 / General Public: $25. Register HERE.
About the Presenter:
David A. Rubin, PLA, FASLA, FAAR is the founding principal of DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a landscape architecture, urban design, and planning studio committed to practicing with an emphasis on socially purposeful design strategies. David’s visionary contribution to the field in “empathy-driven design” is a hallmark of the studio, earning increasing renown for fusing issues of social justice in cities with excellence in the design of public spaces. Educated at Connecticut College and Harvard University, he has taught and lectured at a number of institutions, including Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Louisiana State University, and Southern California Institute of Architecture. David is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 2024 Elvira Broome Doolan medal which recognizes innovative work in landscape architecture with emphasis on city planning and civic improvement in urban areas. He was appointed by the U.S. State Department to serve on their Industry Advisory Group (IAG) to promote best practices in landscape architecture in Overseas Building Operations (OBO). His projects have received awards and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Society of College and University Planners, and the American Institute of Architects, among others.
David’s current work includes Grand Junction Park in Westfield, IN, a socially-purposeful, environmentally-resilient, and inclusive park focused on human engagement; the National World War I Memorial, new comfort stations throughout the National Mall and the Tidal Basin Master Plan; Franklin Park, and an expanse of riverfront along the Anacostia in Washington, D.C.; multiple projects for the Fort Wayne Riverfront in Indiana; and a new plaza for Temple University in Philadelphia. His studio’s work includes diverse typologies in locations from Los Angeles to Rome, Berlin, Cape Town, New York City, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.

Expansion and Inspiration: Recent Acquisitions to the Winterthur Collection
2024-04-17 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Alexandra Deutsch, John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, will speak about recent acquisitions and the ways in which collecting there has evolved while remaining anchored in Henry Francis du Pont’s legacy. Alexandra oversees the mansion’s 175 museum rooms and adjacent galleries, along with the world’s largest and most celebrated collection of American decorative arts.
Join us at 6 p.m. for a complimentary reception. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m.
NSCDA-CT and Museum Members: $15 / General Public: $20. Register HERE.
About the Presenter:
Alexandra Deutsch, a graduate of Vassar College and the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, is the John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections at the Winterthur Museum. She leads Winterthur’s Collections and Interpretation Division. Prior to arriving at Winterthur in 2019, she was Vice-President of Collections and Interpretation and Chief Curator at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, formerly the Maryland Historical Society.
Her tenure at the Maryland Center for History and Culture was distinguished by nationally recognized exhibitions that included In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland and the War of 1812, Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte and Her Quest for an Imperial Legacy, and Spectrum of Fashion. From 2010 until 2019, she worked to establish the Fashion Archives, now named the Barbara P. Katz Fashion Archives at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Since arriving at Winterthur, she has spearheaded a re-envisioning of the museum’s gallery building and led multiple exhibitions, including Outside In: Nature-inspired Design at Winterthur (2020), Jacqueline Kennedy and Henry Francis du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House (2022), Ann Lowe, American Couturier (2023) and is currently curating a major reinstallation of the permanent collections on view in Winterthur’s galleries.
Her publications include Ann Lowe, American Couturier (2023), Spectrum of Fashion (2019), Structure and Perspective: David Brewster Explores Maryland’s Social Landscape (2017) and Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (2016). She has written and lectured about diverse topics in American material culture throughout her career with a particular emphasis on women’s and fashion history.

Webb Barn Sale
2024-04-13 09:00 - 2024-04-14 13:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Rain or Shine!
Sale Dates:
Saturday, April 13, 9 am-3 pm (The Sabores Mexicanos Food Truck will be on site for lunch purchases, 12-3 pm)
Sunday, April 14, 9 am-1 pm (Indulge by Palazzo‘s Indulge truck will be on site for gourmet mini donut and coffee purchases, 8:45-11 am)
Admission:
$5 for adults; youth under age 18 free. Admission is payable at the door.
This biennial sale has historically been the biggest fundraiser in support of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Connecticut (NSCDA-CT). We are hoping for a great turnout and successful sale again this year!
Come shop for tableware, silver, art, kitchenware, toys, collectibles, linens, garden items, holiday decor, jewelry, rugs, small furniture, and more!
Payments:
Accepted payments: cash, checks, and credit cards.
Parking:
Free parking is available behind the Webb Barn to the rear of the Museum campus, on the street, in the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center lot at 200 Main, Street, or in the Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department lot located at 171 Main Street.

Garden Volunteer Informational Session and Reception
2024-04-07 14:00 - 16:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Would you like to learn from an expert horticulturist? Are you curious about historic gardens? Do you enjoy giving back to the community in a meaningful way? Then we want to chat with you! The Webb Deane Stevens Museum warmly invites you to attend a free garden volunteer informational session and reception on Sunday, April 7, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
You will meet our head gardener, Peter Winne, and learn more about the history of the Amy Cogswell Colonial Revival Garden on the campus of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum in the heart of Old Wethersfield. We’ll talk about all the available opportunities to support the garden, which sits on our beautiful 8-acre campus. You will also meet some of our current garden volunteers, and help us celebrate Ann Foley, our retiring garden volunteer coordinator.
You’ll receive a variety of perks as a garden volunteer, including free admission to the museum for yourself and a guest, as well as free admission to most of our community programs.
We hope you will join our team of dedicated garden volunteers! Please RSVP HERE by April 3.

NYC Trip to The Winter Show and More
2024-01-24 11:00 - 2024-01-26 13:00 | CT
TICKET SALES ARE CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT.
This January 24-26, join Executive Director Brenton Grom for a multi-generational experience during Americana Week, New York’s annual celebration of decorative arts and design! Our VIP itinerary includes a lecture by Sarah Coffin (former Senior Curator at Cooper Hewitt), visits with dealers at the 70th Winter Show, and a tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The general itinerary will be followed by a special segment for the upcoming generation, who will join Brenton at the Winter Show’s chic Young Collectors’ Night party, followed by drinks at Chapel Bar, and the Taylor Swift: Storyteller exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design the next morning.
The Winter Show, held at the stunning Park Avenue Armory, is America’s premiere art, antiques, and design fair, and features many of the world’s top experts in the fine and decorative arts. Learn more HERE.
GENERAL ITINERARY (JANUARY 24-25) /
Information continues below for the Young Friends portion of the trip.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024

11:00 AM / Lunch at Inside Park at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church (included in registration fee).
12:45 PM / Lecture by Sarah Coffin (St. Bartholomew’s Chapel), retired Senior Curator and Head of the Product Design and Decorative Arts Department at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: “Dining and Diplomacy: Tablescapes and Cuisine as Political Messengers in Empire France.”
2:00 PM / Tour of historic St. Bartholomew’s Church with church staff
3:00 PM / The Winter Show (Park Avenue Armory), including special commentary from exhibiting dealers.
Dinner and evening activities on your own.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

10 AM / The Metropolitan Museum of Art with Brenton Grom and Elizabeth Fox, Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow at the Yale University Art Gallery. This exclusive tour through the American Winng and recently-renovated British Galleries will focus on the history of period rooms and antiques-collecting, the future of museums, and what all of this means for our own Webb Deane Stevens Museum. Participants from the Young Friends’ itinerary will join us n this stop.

TICKETS
NSCDA-CT & Museum Members: $300 per person. Non-Members: $350 per person.
Includes admission to The Winter Show, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and lunch on January 24. Prices do not cover transportation, lodging, or meals not included in the itinerary. Click the registration link for information on lodging options.
Please note that tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled by the Webb Deane Stevens Museum. It is understood that participation in this event/tour releases The Webb Deane Stevens Museum, NSCDA, NSCDA-CT, WDS staff and volunteers from any responsibility whatsoever for injury or death, or loss or damage of personal property sustained in connection with an event/tour.
YOUNG FRIENDS ITINERARY (JANUARY 25-26)
Thursday, January 25, 2024

10 AM / The Metropolitan Museum of Art with a multi-generational group led by Brenton Grom and Elizabeth Fox, Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow at the Yale University Art Gallery. This exclusive tour begins in the American Wing and continues through the Afrofuturist Period Room and the British Galleries, which reopened in 2020 following an innovative redesign by Roman and Williams, a firm acclaimed for its work in hotels, restaurants, and retail spaces. We’ll talk about the history of period rooms and antiques collecting, and what all of this means for contemporary design and the future of museums.
Lunch and afternoon activities on your own.
6:30 PM / Young Collectors’ Night at The Winter Show (Park Avenue Armory), where young design enthusiasts, collectors, and philanthropists step out for a night of mingling, perusing, and extraordinary fashion. We’ll chat with some dealers along the way in about objects in their booths and meet young leaders in decorative arts and design.
Drinks at the beautiful Chapel Bar, a Gothic-revival Sunday School chapel designed in 1867 by James Renwick, Jr., and redesigned as a bar in 2018 by Roman and Williams, the firm responsible for the British Galleries at the Met!

Friday, January 26, 2024

10:00 AM / Taylor Swift: Storyteller, an exhibition of the artist’s costumes, props, and ephemera at the Museum of Arts and Design. Our tour will be led by MAD staff, with additional insider commentary from Miranda Head, Events and Rentals Manager at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum, who was a member of the team making magic on Taylor’s global concert tour until she joined our team last fall!
Optional informal lunch and visit to Roman and Williams Guild, the flagship store of the design firm responsible for the Met British Galleries and Chapel Bar.

TICKETS
$300 per person. Includes admission to Young Collectors’ Night (a $250 value), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Arts and Design, as well as a complimentary 1-year Webb Deane Stevens Museum membership. Price does not include transportation, lodging, meals, or drinks. Click registration link for information on lodging options.

Holiday Candlelight Tours
2023-12-09 18:00 - 2023-12-16 21:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST. THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT.
Experience three centuries of Christmas in our historic houses, beautifully lit by candlelight, on Saturday, December 9, and Saturday, December 16. Delight in a charming array of holiday decor spanning the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, including Christmas trees, greenery, handmade treasures, antique toys, and enchanting period ornaments, and discover how the roots of modern family traditions have grown over hundreds of years.
This nostalgic journey into holidays past will begin at The Silas Deane House, where New Year’s Day was the primary celebration in the 18th century. At the Joseph Webb House, learn how holiday decor and Christmas festivities began to develop into the 19th century. A cozy, traditional New England family Christmas in the 1840s will be on display in the Isaac Stevens House.
The Museum Gift Shop will also be open both evenings. Shop a wide array of fabulous holiday treasures, including books, ornaments, candles, children’s toys, handcrafted treasures, and hostess gifts.
Tours will be held at 6, 7, and 8 p.m. Groups are limited to 12. Tours include walking and stair climbing. NSCDA-CT and Museum Members: $25 / General Public: $30. Don’t delay, as tickets are sure to sell out! Pre-registration is required. Tickets for this event are non-refundable.

Members Holiday Open House
2023-12-03 13:00 - 15:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST. THIS EVENT IS AT CAPACITY.
Join us on Sunday, December 3, for a special FREE members holiday open house from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Be among the first to see our houses decorated for the holiday season, mingle with other museum members, and meet our new Executive Director Brenton Grom. Enjoy beverages and light snacks, shopping for great gift items, and a special presentation at 1:30 p.m. from Brenton unveiling the Museum’s vision for the future. Registration is required. Not a museum member? Become part of our family today!
1:00 p.m. Enjoy holiday shopping, mingling, wine, and savory finger foods
1:30 p.m. Special presentation from Executive Director Brenton Grom on the future vision for the Webb Deane Stevens Museum
2:00 p.m. Silent Toast led by the President of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut
2:30 p.m. Walk through the decorated Joseph Webb and Isaac Stevens houses

Our holiday open house is in collaboration with the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut.

Thanksgiving Dinner
2023-11-12 14:00 - 17:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
The Webb Deane Stevens Museum warmly invites you to join us for the return of our annual Colonial Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday, November 12, 2023, at 2 p.m.
Enjoy a sumptuous 18th century holiday feast with all the trimmings, served family style, in the historic Webb Barn. The meal, developed for the Museum by a food historian based upon old New England recipes, will be prepared and served by J. Restaurant of Hartford.
Thanksgiving Dinner tickets are $115 per person for NSCDA-CT and Museum members, $125 per person for the General Public. Purchase tickets here.
The Host Committee also invites you to special pre-meal champagne reception in the Silas Deane House at 1 p.m. at the Patron level. Guests will be able to mingle with Brenton Grom, the Museum’s new Executive Director, and Tita Hyland, President of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Connecticut, and enjoy period music performed by harpist Linda Traue, a member of the 5th Connecticut Regiment Revolutionary War reenactors.
Patron Level tickets are $250 per person (includes champagne reception and dinner). Purchase tickets here.
Reservations are required. Tickets must be purchased by Saturday, November 11, 2023. A portion of the dinner proceeds will benefit the Webb Deane Stevens Museum.
BILL OF FARE:
First Course
Potage of cabbage, leek, and onions / Artisanal bread / Blocks of butter
Main Course, Family Style
Roast turkey with sauce / Chine of pork roast / Succotash / Butternut squash stew / Mashed potatoes / Creamed onions / Cucumber salad/ Cranberry sauce
Beverages
Cider (Hard and alcohol free) / Red and white wine
Dessert, Served at Side Tables
Corn pudding / Apple and pumpkin pie / Coffee and Tea
LEAD SPONSORS
Essex Financial
ARI Accounting & Human Resources
BUSINESS SPONSORS
Assured Partners
The Atlantic Inn
The Blackbird House
Combined Technologies Corporation
D & D Market
Dutch Point Credit Union
Ironwood Landscaping LLC
We Care Computers LLC

HOST COMMITTEE
Charles T. Lyle, Honorary Chair
David W. Dangremond
Alice (Tita) & Douglas Hyland
Lee G. Kuckro
Don & Pam Peterson

Country House Conference
2023-11-04 09:00 - 17:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
The 2023 Country House Conference comes to Webb Deane Stevens the first weekend of November, with a daylong symposium and two days of touring house museums and private homes in Greater Hartford and along the Connecticut shoreline. The Webb, Deane, and Stevens Houses may not look much like country houses at a glance, situated at the center of Old Wethersfield, but the day’s speakers will explore a wider understanding of the “country” as a place of escape and imagination. During the 20th century, thanks to automobile travel and influencers like Wallace Nutting, historic towns and their houses became as much an escape as rural byways. The program includes a lecture by WDS Executive Director Brenton Grom.
This conference is an annual production of the American Country House Foundation and has been underwritten in 2023 by the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.
November 3-5, 2023, with a symposium at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum on November 4. Registration cost: $65 per person. Ticket price includes lectures, lunch, a reception, and house tours. Purchase tickets here.
Full Schedule:
Day 1: House tours – Hill-Stead, Chick Austin, Russell House, Wetmore House
Day 2: Conference Day, Webb Deane Stevens
09:00 AM – Doors Open – Attendees register, coffee, and breakfast desserts (muffins, pastry etc.)
09:25 AM – Welcome
09:30 AM – Lecture 1 – Wetmore House and Early Connecticut Houses
10:15 AM – Lecture 2 – Asher Benjamin and Ithiel Town
10:45 AM – Lecture 3 – Lockwood-Mathews Mansion
11:30 PM – Lecture 4 – Hill-Stead
12:15 PM – Lunch Break
01:00 PM – Lecture 5 – Wallace Nutting and the Colonial Revival Movement
01:50 PM – Lecture 6 – Glass House
02:30 PM – Tour of. Webb House, Deane House, Stevens House,Buttolph-Williams House
05:00 PM – Evening reception
Day 3: Pardee-Morris, Florence Griswold, Hempstead Houses

The Alchemy of Justice: John Winthrop, Jr., and New England’s Other Witch: Presented by Walt Woodward
2023-10-26 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.
Before Salem, Connecticut colony was New England’s most aggressive prosecutor of witches. That was before John Winthrop Jr., renowned alchemist, and himself an occult practitioner, became involved in the colony’s witchcraft cases. His careful – but forceful – intervention in the case of Wethersfield’s Katherine Harrison transformed Connecticut from New England’s most aggressive killer of witches to a colony that ended witchcraft executions a generation before Salem.
Reception: 6 pm / Program: 6:30 – 8:00 pm.
About Walt Woodward
Walt Woodward is the Connecticut State Historian Emeritus and an Associate Professor of Early American History at the University of Connecticut. He teaches American Environmental History, Public History, and an honors American Studies course focused on the Connecticut River, as well as courses in Connecticut history. He is the author of Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy and the Creation of New England Culture, numerous articles on New England history, and is a regular columnist for Connecticut Explored magazine. A former hit country music songwriter and performer, Woodward’s knowledge, sense of humor, and richly illustrated PowerPoint presentations have made him one of New England’s most sought-after public lecturers.

Witches & Tombstones Tour
2023-10-21 10:30 - 2023-10-28 14:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!
An up close and creepy examination of all things funereal, our popular Witches & Tombstones Tour returns on Saturday, October 21, and Saturday, October 28.
The Witches & Tombstones Tour begins at The Isaac Stevens House with the wake of young Henry Stevens, who died at the age of three. Guests will learn about 19th-century mourning practices, how illnesses were treated, and how the living dealt with fears of being buried alive. Next, guests will visit the Wethersfield Ancient Burying Ground. See the graves and hear stories of those who met their end during Connecticut’s first mass murder and learn how gravestones warned the living of their own impending peril. The final stop on the Tour is The Buttolph-Williams House (c 1711), the setting for the award-winning children’s novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Hear stories about the notorious Wethersfield Witch Trials, which preceded the Salem Witch Trials by 30 years. The Buttolph-Williams House is a Connecticut Landmarks property.
Tour times: 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, and 2:30pm.
*Please note: The Witches & Tombstones Tour includes climbing stairs and walking on uneven ground. This tour is not recommended for youth under age 12.

Panic in Connecticut: Accused Witches Have Their Say: A performance by Virginia Wolf of Herstory Theater
2023-10-19 18:30 - 19:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Travel back to the 17th century and hear what five women accused of witchcraft have to say. In this riveting one-woman play, actress Virginia Wolf brings them to life, fully costumed, fully incensed, fully frightened. Painstakingly researched, Panic in Connecticut: Accused Witches Have Their Say sheds light on a Puritan society that condemned so-called witches to their death 30 years before the hysterics of Salem, Massachusetts.
Between 1642 and 1693, at least 40 people in the colony of Connecticut were tried as witches, and at least 10 of them were hanged. Most of them were women.
Who were these women? How did they come to be accused of witchcraft? What was life like for them? Did they truly practice witchcraft? Who were their accusers, and why. How and why did the accusing of witches finally end…or has it? Many records are lost or non-existent, but we can learn enough to begin to understand what life was like back then, and why witchcraft was such an all-encompassing subject.
Reception: 6:00 pm. Performance in Webb Barn: 6:30 – 7:30 pm, Followed by a brief talkback. Tickets available HERE.
About Virginia Wolf
Virginia is founder of Herstory Theater, generally dedicated to bringing to life the unsung heroines of history, as well as producing a host of additional projects that both celebrate women and history, and a simple love of theater and performing (learn more at www.herstorytheater.com).
She has written and currently offers two original plays for performances, Panic in Connecticut: Accused Witches Have Their Say, about the Connecticut witchcraft panics of the 17th century, and Katy Leary and Mark Twain, bringing to life a dedicated maid to the Clemens family. In addition, she can be found onstage anywhere in Connecticut that will cast her! Most recently, she took on the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment with the Diamond Theater Company, and Winnie in for Playland Productions. Other favorite roles are Barbara in August Osage County, Anna in Night Sky, and Joan in The Guys. She works as a voiceover artist and audio book narrator, and hosts “SpotLight, Radio Reveling in the Arts and Entertainment” on WLIS/WMRD.

Potions, Divination, and Protection Practices Through the Ages
2023-10-12 18:30 - 20:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Did you know that Eye of Newt refers to the humble mustard seed? Have you ever worn jewelry you believed would protect you or displayed a cinnamon broom in your home? Maybe placed a horseshoe above your front door. Or that a popular form of countermagic in Colonial New England entailed heating a victim’s urine in a bottle, sometimes with nails and pins to counteract a negative spell?
Learn how ‘potions,” divination, and cleansing/protection practices have evolved through the ages and how they are still being used today. Discover how plants such as those found in the Webb Deane Stevens Colonial Revival Garden could be made into healing elixirs, how the role of folk magic, divination through celestial and earthly events, dream interpretation, and indigenous influences shaped Colonial New England, and the importance of balancing, cleansing and protecting your energy and light essence.
This program is presented by Mystic Reiki Healing, Moonlit Path Healing, and The Replanted Witch in collaboration with The Blackbird House.
Reception: 6 pm / Program: 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Tickets available HERE.
Potions: Rachel Star Koladis, The Replanted Witch
As early as the 15th century, the word “potion” was understood to be a magical consumable liquid. They might be concoctions used to heal, bewitch, or poison people, made by a witch or other magical practitioner. Popular examples included preparations for attracting love or inducing a deep sleep. Witches and potions have become intertwined within the popular imagination, but why did the two become associated? There are hints in historical images of women wearing pointy hats, over a bubbling cauldron dating back to Medieval times, and in Greek mythology we find the story of Circe teaching herself how to use powerful herbs prepared as drinks or stews. Women have enjoyed a long association with potion making through the ages, as healers, alewives, and witches. Learn more about this fascinating history, as well as some of the plants found in the Webb Deane Stevens gardens that could have been used now and then for traditional healing and potions.
The Role of Folk Magic and Divination in Colonial New England: Erin Touponse, Mystic Reiki Healing
In Colonial New England, nothing was certain; at any given time, death could strike, the earth could tremble, and crops could fail. Early settlers depended on ancient folk magic, astrology, divination, and dreams/visions to assist in bringing order and sense to a time when personal and collective security was not prevalent. Learn how the role of folk magic, divination through celestial and earthly events, dream interpretation, and indigenous influences shaped Colonial New England.
Cleansing & Protection Practices: Victoria Selden Moonlit Path Healing
No matter the walk of life you come from, magick can be found in even the smallest mundane aspects of life. Throughout the ages, we have found a variety of ways to relish the magick in our lives, but not without polarity. Light and dark, positive and negative, yin and yang. Learn the importance of balancing, cleansing and protecting your energy and light essence.
THE PRESENTERS
About Rachel Star Koladis
Witchcraft and magic have been dominant forces from an early age and Rachel’s free time was spent practicing spells with her best friends. A natural offshoot of this interest is her passion for history, which was fostered as a homeschooler and attending every available program at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum – including colonial summer camp. During her college years, Rachel haunted the campus shrouded in her handmade woolen cape and took the only class she could find in witchcraft at The University of Hartford. At Trinity College, she worked to research and prepare a working bibliography on witchcraft-related holdings at the Watkinson Library on campus. After getting her certification as a vegan chef at The Natural Gourmet and studying herbalism with Rosemary Gladstar, her path became clearer. She started offering Witchcraft 101 workshops and hosting a book group called Witchy Reads at The Blackbird House in Wethersfield. In the future, she plans to offer a moveable supper club in celebration of The Wheel of the Year. In her free time, you can find Rachel foraging, researching plants and remedies, visiting historic sites, whipping up kitchen magic, and practicing her needlework.
About Erin Touponse
Erin Touponse owns The Blackbird House in Old Wethersfield. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher, Pranic healer, Certified End of Life Specialist, Tarot Scholar, Student of Shamanic Studies, author, and poet. Her book, Soul’s Journey – A Practical Guide to Reading the Tarot, was published in early 2023. Erin teaches Usui Reiki, Tarot, and Intuitive Development classes, and offers guided meditation and sound healing group classes with her husband, Marcel Touponse.
About Victoria Selden
Victoria Selden is a Reiki Master, Oracle Reader, and Intuitive Guide with Moonlit Path Healing. She leads workshops on Spiritual Cleansing & Protection and Moon Magick at The Blackbird House. Victoria is a long-standing student of esoteric and magickal works and loves learning and teaching to help others on their healing path.

The Witch in Old Connecticut: Righting a Troublesome Legacy
2023-10-05 18:30 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THIS EVENT. IT IS NOW SOLD OUT.
The Witch in Old Connecticut: Righting a Troublesome Legacy will touch upon Dr. Richard S. Ross III’s book Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley 1647-1663. Dr. Ross will also discuss his additional research and the contemporary events affecting the historical legacy of the witch panic in the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.
Reception: 6 p.m./ Program: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
About Dr. Richard S. Ross III
Dr. Richard S. Ross is Professor Emeritus and former College Librarian at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut. He holds an MA from Northeastern University, an MLS from Simmons College, and a PhD from Boston College. He has taught at Boston College, Northeastern University, the University of New Hampshire, and Trinity College. He has held administrative Librarian positions at Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, the University of New Hampshire, and Georgetown University.
Dr. Ross has given talks throughout Connecticut for various organizations, particularly libraries and historical association on Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley 1647-1663, his second published book. His first book was the well-reviewed Contagion in Prussia, 1831 the Cholera Epidemic and the Threat of the Polish Uprising. Dr. Ross recently wrote a brochure based on original research for the Ancient Burying Ground Association in Hartford entitled, Connecticut Colony Seventeenth-Century Witch Panic: A Guide to Connected Persons Interred in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground 2022. Additionally, he has a third book in press: Body Snatching in Nineteenth Century New England and the Nation’s Capital, a Social History.

Behind the Scenes of Museum Interpretation: An Open Session with Debbie Harper
2023-09-28 17:30 - 20:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Behind the Scenes of Museum Interpretation: An Open Session with Debbie Harper
Here’s your chance to be a fly on the museum wall! We’re inviting our audience to sit in on a staff development workshop entitled “Excellence in Interpretation,” presented by Deborah V.R. Harper as the first step in our commitment to renewing the Webb Deane Stevens Museum visitor experience. During her extensive career at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Ms. Harper was part of a team that developed and presented this content at museums across the East Coast. Her session at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum includes exercises on analyzing objects from multiple points of view, discussion of museum audience research gathered regionally and internationally, and a primer on the techniques of decorative arts “connoisseurship,” a term with a broader definition than one might expect. Members of the public audience will observe passively during the workshop but are invited to join in an open Q&A dialogue at the end of the evening. Light refreshments will be provided during an intermission.
About Debbie Harper
Debbie Harper dedicated the majority of her career to the Winterthur Museum, beginning as a guide. As Senior Curator of Education, she supervised the guide staff, created the guided tours for the house, garden, and estate, and assisted in planning exhibitions. She co-curated the recent exhibition “Lady of the House: Ruth Wales du Pont.” For more than 25 years she designed and coordinated the museum’s annual holiday spectacle, “Yuletide at Winterthur.” In 2022 she joined the Delaware Historical Society as Curator of Education at the George Read II House & Gardens in New Castle, where she oversees the interpretive staff, leads school programs, and plans public offerings, and currently serves as Interim Director. She is a frequent speaker on a wide range of topics including the Colonial Revival, floral design, servitude in the 19th century, foodways and entertaining in early America, the antiques market in the first half of the 20th century, and especially the history of Christmas in America.

The Curious Case of Silas Deane
2023-09-21 18:00 - 20:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
You’ve heard the story of the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution time and again, but what do you know about Wethersfield’s Silas Deane? For more than two centuries, Deane’s reputation has been clouded by allegations of malfeasance and profiteering at the expense of the Continental Congress. Many called him a traitor. But what if everything you think you know about Silas Deane is wrong? This fascinating discussion, led by Dr. Susan Holly, Senior Historian with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian, will dispel the mystery. Dr. Holly’s presentation will be followed by an open discussion moderated by State Historian Emeritus and Webb Deane Stevens Museum Scholar-in-Residence Dr. Walter W. Woodward.
Reception: 5:30 pm / Program: 6-8 pm. Get tickets here. The program will be held in the Webb Barn, located at the rear of the Museum campus.
The Curious Case of Silas Deane is underwritten by the U.S. Department of State and The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut.
About Dr. Susan Holly
Dr. Susan Holly is a senior historian with the United States Department of State’s Office of the Historian and has been researching the origins of early American diplomacy for a new documentary compilation scheduled for release in 2026. She previously served as executive producer for a DVD and curriculum series on various topics in diplomacy for high school audiences, wrote a short history of U.S.-China relations and other materials for the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing, compiled volumes on Global Issues and a retrospective history on the Eisenhower era coup in Guatemala for the Foreign Relations of the United States. Before joining the office, she served in the Bureau of Public Affairs as an editor, speechwriter, and Department spokesperson for several international delegations.
Dr. Holly earned degrees in history and journalism from Marquette University, followed by a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. Other publications include a book on the Iran-Iraq War for Lloyd’s of London Press, as well as numerous newspaper articles. Her resume also includes participation in an elephant race, where she learned elephants could run fast.

Nature Journaling in the Fall Garden with Amanda Kimball
2023-09-16 10:00 - 12:00 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT. Thanks for your interest.
When was the last time you let wonder slip into your day?
Join us for a few hours to slow down and deeply see what is present in the Amy Cogswell Colonial Revival Garden this fall, then translate those impressions to paper during this relaxing workshop.
We’ll start with a brief discussion about seeing/drawing and the calming benefits of not just being in nature, but deeply taking it in. Then we will move into the garden, letting our curiosity lead the way, noting what we are seeing with simple line drawing and watercolor. Techniques for sketching and painting will be covered with an emphasis on creative interpretation. The workshop will take place both in the garden (weather permitting) and inside the Waterman Room of the Holcombe Education Center.
Participants will learn the techniques of seeing/drawing, a free form, meditative mode of nature journaling. Demonstrations will include techniques for capturing texture, light, and shadow. Attendees will leave the workshop with a journal, art materials, and plenty of inspiration! All levels are welcome. Recommended for adults and teens ages 15 and older. Space is limited.
Workshop Registration: Members $35 / General Public: $40. Purchase here.
About Amanda
A collector of stones, feathers and all means of natural ephemera, Amanda is an artist and illustrator endlessly inspired by the natural world. She’s currently working on a yearlong project documenting the blooming cycles of the wildflowers, plants, and trees along the Brandywine Creek along with the history of land use in the area. Most recently, her writing and illustrations were featured in Delaware Today Magazine.

Concert in the Webb Barn with Shaded Soul
2023-08-25 18:00 - 20:30 | WDS Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield, CT, 06109
Shaded Soul is based in Connecticut and travels across New England to perform at weddings, corporate functions, outdoor concerts, and other events. R&B, Motown, Funk Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Swing, Rock, Pop, Disco, and Top 40 are only a few of the decades represented in their repertoire. The band is comprised of a group of talented musicians who have performed alongside the following artists; Gladys Knight, The 4 Tops, The Temptations, Sister Sledge, The Platters, The Stylistics, The Four Seasons, The Chiffons, Three Dog Night, The Marshal Tucker Band, Shirley Murdock, Jerry Butler, Cuba Gooding Sr., Jagged Edge, Slave, Shi, Millie Jackson, H-Town, SOS Band, Sarah Brightman, Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers, Kenny Loggins, Andy Williams, Mario, Tony Bennett, Janis Joplin, The Beach Boys, Vic Damone, Steppenwolf, Brian Setzer, and Howie Mandel. Best of Hartford 2023 Winner: First Place / Best Wedding Band.
Bring your friends and family, lawn chairs, picnic dinner and drinks, and get ready for a fun night of live music. The concert will be held rain or shine! If it rains, the concert will move inside to the Webb Barn.
Support for this concert comes from the Wethersfield Community Funds/Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
$10 per person / children under 12 FREE. Admission payable in advance or at the door. Your admission will support the Museum’s community programming. Click HERE to purchase.
Special guest vendor: Main Street Creamery & Cafe will be scooping up delicious ice cream treats from 6:30 to 7:30pm.
Don’t feel like packing a picnic dinner? Order a boxed meal from Luna Pizza Wethersfield. Choose from a sandwich or wrap, chips and a 20oz drink, or a salad and 20oz drink for $10. Call ahead (860-785-8948), and let them know you’re attending the Shaded Soul concert at the Webb Barn!
Parking is available behind the Webb Barn on the Museum campus at 211 Main Street in Wethersfield. On-street parking is also available.
