New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
New Haven’s Pardee-Morris House will be hopping this year
Events set for every Sunday, plus 4 concerts
NEW HAVEN — The historic Pardee-Morris House, with its acre of land in Morris Cove, will have a full program of outdoor events this summer for the first time in a couple of years.
The New Haven Museum, which owns the late 18th-century house, has kept up a calendar of events during the last two years, said Executive Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky. “With the pandemic it’s been fortunate to have that location,” she said.
This year, however, “there is something planned for every Sunday that the house is opened,” she said. And there will be four Wednesday
evening “twilight concerts.”
While there will be tours of the house, it’s still not ready to serve as a venue for events, Tockarshewsky said. Since 2009, when it had fallen into such disrepair that then-state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the museum to undertake renovations, “we did a lot of repairs to the attic, to the roof and we also tightened up the basement” where water had collected, said Tockarshewsky, who arrived in 2012.
“We’ve really made a commitment to being good stewards of that property,” she said, though “it’s been difficult in some years.”
Out on the lawn, however, events will include history, nature and archaeology. Opening day is June 5, from noon to 4 p.m., with a flagraising by the 5th Connecticut Regiment and Colleen Olinski, children’s author of “A Wolf Named Elvis.” Other events include:
⏩ A Juneteenth event on the history of two Witness Stones, placed in honor of Pink and Stepna Primus last year, noon to 4 p.m. June 19.
⏩ A documentary film, “A River Speaks,” about the Mill River with a discussion by filmmaker Steve Hamm at 1 p.m. June 26.
⏩ A discussion of archaeological findings on the grounds from the 18th and 19th centuries by Meg Harper at 2 p.m. July 31.
“We’re trying to diversify our programming,” said Khalil Quotap, educational director for the New Haven Museum. He said the Witness Stones have “expanded the story of the house,” beyond the history of the house itself.
“We want to make sure that we’re telling the history of New Haven from many different perspectives” so that “voices are heard
that are typically not heard,” he said. “The Witness Stones were kind of the first step for that.”
Quotap said the Native Americans who lived on the land before Europeans arrived are included in the house tours.
The free concerts, which will be held on alternate Wednesdays at 7 p.m., kick off June 29 with the Cobalt Rhythm Kings, followed by the Mighty Soul Drivers on July 13, the Jovial Crew on July 27 and Sambeleza on Aug. 10. The grounds open at 6 p.m. for picnicking. Rain dates are the following day.
Lectures include a Colonial garden talk by Giulia Gambale, 2 p.m., July 24; Kindness Rocks with Kristina Nigro at 2 p.m. Aug. 21; and “helping pollinators” with Sefra Alexandra of the Ecotype Project at 2 p.m. Aug. 28.
Family events include watercolor painting July 7 and sea glass mosaics Aug. 7, both at 2 p.m.
Finally, there will be fitness classes: tai chi with Shifu Shirley Chock of the Aiping Tai Chi Center, June 12; hula hoop fitness July 17 with Lady Blaze of LBSpinnerZ Artz; and yoga Aug. 14 with Tobie Schuerfeld. All three classes start at 2 p.m.