SPRING CLEANUP PLANNED AT ELLIS RULEY HOMESTEAD

Norwich — The Ellis Ruley Project Committee has scheduled a cleanup of the late artist’s former homestead at 28 Hammond Ave. on Saturday, March 24, starting at 9 a.m.

The rustic rural property was owned by Ruley, a self-taught African American artist. The city now owns the property and is working on plans to create a memorial park to honor Ruley, with a water fountain, benches and a walkway.

Committee members Robert Groner and Joe Cooper will oversee the cleanup in preparation of the construction of the memorial park beginning in April. RISE (Recovery Includes Spiritual Encouragement) will kick off the fifth year of its Clean up the Streets program by participating in the cleanup.

Other participating organizations include Reliance Health, St. Vincent de Paul Place, Caring Hands International, several local churches and the Rotary Community Corps of Norwich. Individuals and other organizations are invited to join the cleanup phase of this project.

For more information, contact Frank Manfredi at (860) 887-1695, ext. 116, or Shiela Hayes at sshsealinc@yahoo.com.

The homestead is the site where Ruley lived and painted, and where his body was found frozen in January 1959 under mysterious circumstances. In 1948, the body of his son-in-law, Douglas Harris, was found headfirst in a shallow well on the property. Harris’ death was ruled a drowning at the time but in 2015 forensic examiner Dr. Michael Baden conducted a new autopsy on his remains and declared Harris’ death a homicide.