NEWS & EVENTS
October 26, 2024
Harvest Home at Bushnell Farm
The historic 17th century Bushnell Farm will be open to the public for Harvest Home on Saturday, October 26, 2024. Located on Route 1 at 1445 Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook, CT, the 22-acre site has six buildings and free on-site parking.
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Harvest Home is an annual celebration that brings to life the seasonal activities of small farmers who lived and worked in the Valley-Shore area for two hundred years. Interpreters will be weaving in the Loom House, cooking in the 1678 Bushnell House, pressing apples for cider, woodworking in the Barn, welcoming visitors to the Country Store, and sharing regional archaeology.
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Bushnell Farm has been working with members from the Institute of American Indian Studies (IAIS) to repair the recreated wigwam at the Farm. Two Tulip Poplar trees were felled by Drew Finkeldey of Under the Bark to provide material for the repairs.
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Visitors to the Farm will see the bare Tulip logs where the usable bark from both trees was removed and learn about the process and the resulting flattened material. This process was undertaken in June, when the interior sap is running and is called "slipping the bark". Although the work was difficult, particularly with stone tools, the resulting covering for the wigwam frame was sturdy and shed rain and snow.
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The site, privately owned by Herb Clark of Essex, hosts school groups and summer campers for special programing by staff from the Connecticut River Museum. Bushnell Farm will be open free on October 26th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free on-sire parking. (Info (860)767-0674, Brenda Milkofsky, Farm Curator)
July 2023
Restoration of Bushnell Farm Subject of Event
One of Connecticut's oldest houses will be open, free, to the public on Saturday, July 1, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The 1678 Joshua Bushnell House at Bushnell Farm at 1445 Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook was in the same family for 200 years and was restored during the 1930's.
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"Restoration and Historic Preservation" will be the theme of the day long activities on the 22-acre site with six buildings and a recreated Woodland Period wigwam or wetu. Demonstrators will include aspects of early building practices, hearth cooking along with spinning and weaving in the unique Loom House. There will be interpreters in the 17th century House and in the 18th century Barn that today includes a Forge and Carriage House. The event and the on-site parking are free.
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Contact Farm Curator, Brenda Milkofsky, for more information (860) 767-0674
Restored during the colonial revival that accompanied Connecticut's Tercentenary in 1935, the Bushnell Farmhouse stands today as one of the five oldest houses in the State. Open free on July 1, 2023.
Hearth cooking will be one of several activities at the free event at the historic Bushnell Farm on Saturday, July 1, 2023.