Activities
Suffield on the Green
Stop by our booth! Meet us and see the line-up of programs for the upcoming year.
Date: Saturday, September 9, 2017 10:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Date: Sunday, September 10, 2017 11:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Car Show
Free Admission. Vintage and sports cars welcome, no fee.
Date: Sunday September 10, 2017 11:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Suffield Connections Historical Fiction as a Portal to the Past
Diana Ross McCain
Academy Hall, 1499 Mountain Road
Historian, researcher, columnist, and author Diana Ross McCain will highlight the Suffield connections woven into her historical novel Thy Children's Children. The book is based on the first five generations of the Lyman family of Lyman Orchards, which include General Phineas Lyman, a Durham native and Suffield political leader, and Sylvester Graham, a diet and exercise guru from West Suffield.
Date: Sunday, September 17, 2017 2:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Terry Mandirola & Jan Peake
New Haven to Northhampton Canal Greenway
Bob Madison
Suffield Senior Center
Originally planned to connect Long Island Sound with the St. Lawrence Seaway, the canal all began with hand shovels at Congamond in 1825. Historian, author and lecturer Bob Madison tells the story of the evolution of the canal from a waterway to a rail bed to 87 miles of trail. Learn the importance of the canal in the development of the Connecticut Valley corridor and western Masschusetts. Understand the complexities of mastering the terrain with the construction of locks to manage water levels. Then when it's complete from New Haven to Northampton, the steam engine makes it all obsolete!
Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2017 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Eleanor Chase & Helen Kope
Halloween Candy Distribution
King House
Come in costume and join the fun on the King House porch!
Date: Tuesday, October 31, 2017 Dusk - 7:30 p.m.
John Pynchon and the Stoney Brook Plantation
Ed Chase
Suffield Senior Center
After many years of research, our Historical Society President Ed Chase has put together this program which discusses the patriarch of our own community. John Pynchon was the man with the vision, the organization and the fortitude to create the community we now call Suffield. He and his early followers endured hardships and total destruction during King Philip's War, but he perservered! Enjoy an evening as Ed brings Pynchon's plans, adventures, setbacks and final success to life.
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2017 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Laurie Tavino & Jamie Drenzek
Remembering World War I
Suffield Senior Center
In partnership with the Kent Memorial Library and Connecticut State Library, our Society invites you to share your photographs, documents and other memorabilia from WWI in a state-wide project. Please bring your treasured items to this session, where they will be scanned and photographed as you watch. Your originals will be returned to you unharmed. The digital files will be archived and made available online. Join us with your artifacts, and help us tell the story of those who fought and the daily life on the home front.
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2017 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Holidayfest
King House
Our annual public event anticipating the holiday season will include the traditional fire in the great kitchen fireplace, goodies and punch, Christmas decorations and tree, plus this year's exhibit: "Vintage Parlor Games"
Let's give the the young people an idea of what games we played for social interaction before Gameboy, selfies, and computers.
We trust generous lenders will help make this an enjoyable and happily memorable show.
Date: Saturday, December 2, 2017 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Date: Sunday, December 3, 2017 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Holidayfest
Dennis Picard & Crew
Noble & Cooley Mill Pond, Granville, Mass.
Co-sponsored with the Suffield Land Conservancy and the Noble & Cooley Museum. Learn how to handle the antique tools to cut ice. Dress warm and wear grips on your boots if you want to cut ice. The Noble & Cooley Museum will be open. Dependent on weather conditions.
Storm date for the harvest is February 4.
Date: Saturday, February 3, 2018 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Workshop: Researching Old Suffield Homes
Suffield Senior Center
Interested in finding out more about an old Suffield home? Join us. We will explain the resources available, review work that has been done dating old homes, and look into the methodology for finding additional information about homes and the people who lived in them.
Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Show & Tell Night
Suffield Senior Center
Anyone can sign up for a five-to-ten minute presentation on any aspect of local history. Contact Ed Chase by March 20th to sign up.
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Nancy Smith & Kerry White
Suffield's WWI Home Front
Bill Sullivan's Suffield Academy American Studies Students
Suffield Senior Center
How can we imagine daily life in Suffield during WWI? The state-wide commemorative process for the 100th anniversary of WWI provides Bill's American Studies class an opportunity to investigate Suffield's wartime home front and network with other Connecticut historians to discover the best historical methods to uncover more original history. Come and learn from this multi-media presentation about life in Suffield one hundred years ago and appreciate how this global event propelled our community into the modern era.
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Jacquie Wadsworth & Carolyn Samplatsky
1818 Connecticut State Convention
Dr. Walt Woodward, State Historian
Suffield Senior Center
Angry, war weary, and talking about seceding from the Union! No these aren't headlines from today's newspapers, it is the early 1800s in Connecticut. Come listen to our State Historian tell the tale of the treasonous times, the political spin, and the Convention of 1818 that changed Connecticut's Standing Order.
Date: May 2018 date to be announced 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Anne Borg & Judy Quinn
Suffield's Past in Photographs
Anne Borg & Lester Smith
Suffield Senior Center
Continuing this year's theme of the 100th anniversary of our participation in WWI, a selection from this time period will be included. The photographs will be selected by Curator Lester Smith and Trustee Anne Borg from the Society's Hawley Rising collection plus what we may be able to add from the upcoming November and April programs described earlier. See what Suffield was in days past with a contemporary historical perspective.
Date: Wednesday, June 13, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments: Florence, Nancy & Cathy Noble
Ice Cream Social
King House Lawn
Bring friends and family to an old-fashioned Ice Cream Social. Pack a picnic, bring lawn chairs and enjoy an evening of neighborly visiting. Ice cream and entertainment provided by SHS.
Rain date: Thursday, July 12
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.