The Nightcap Before Christmas
2024-12-12 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Captain Palmer House
Join us at the Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer House for our newest holiday tradition – The Nightcap Before Christmas, a holiday cocktail tasting. Each year features a different theme, and this year we are tasting drinks inspired by classic Christmas songs. We are also sharing a new format – so if you’ve attended before – this year will be something new! Bring your friends and enjoy a great evening out, in support of your favorite history-focused non-profit. Tickets are $25, but they are limited so be sure to get yours before they sell out!
Click here to buy your tickets.
Have questions? Call 860-535-1131 to speak to Chelsea, or email library@historicstonington.org.

Offices and library closed for winter break
2024-12-25 00:00 - 2025-01-01 23:59 | CT

Victorian Valentines
2025-02-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Captain Palmer House
Join us for a heartwarming celebration of love and creativity at our family Valentine card workshop. During this fun, hands-on program, families will design and craft unique Victorian-inspired Valentine cards. We’ll provide all the materials and inspiration you need to create beautiful cards to share with your loved ones.
Bring your creativity and your family for a memorable morning of art and connection. The cost is $15 per family, and space is limited.
Click here to purchase tickets. https://www.historicstonington.org/product/victorian-valentines-family-ticket/

Dear Valentine: The Art of Writing Love Letters
2025-02-09 16:00 - 18:00 | Captain Palmer House
This event has been canceled.

Offices and Library are Closed
2025-02-17 08:00 - 17:00 | CT

Woolworth Library Closed
2025-03-03 09:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-04 09:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-05 09:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-06 09:00 - 17:00 | CT
The Woolworth Library is closed. If you need access, please reach out to Renee Petruzelli at 860-535-8445 ext. 11 or via email at rpetruzelli@historicstonington.org.

The Band of Steady Habits: The Irish in Connecticut
2025-03-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Saint Michael’s Church, 60 Liberty St, Pawcatuck, CT, 06379
Join Historic Stonington at St. Michael’s Parish Hall on Thursday, March 13th beginning at 6pm for a special concert presented by the Band of Steady Habits. The program is a three-century overview of life for the Irish in Connecticut from the 1640s to the present. An amazing story of struggle, perseverance, acceptance, and success, accompanied by both rousing and heart-rending music. The band describes themselves on their website: “The acoustic Band of Steady Habits came together in 2014 to share their love of music, and to use their talents to help create a new kind of public history presentation. Rachel Smith, Teagan Smith, Jeremy Teitelbaum, Walt Woodward, and Duke York use banjo, guitars, violin, recorders, bass, percussion, and beautiful harmonies to perform songs – some old, some original, and some contemporary – to accompany visually rich and evocative historical stories. This is definitely a celebration of Irish culture and heritage that you don’t want to miss!

Tiny Terrariums
2025-03-22 10:00 - 11:30 | CT
Once called Wardian cases, terrariums made it possible to transport live plant specimens around the world in the 19th century.
Create a Tiny Terrarium of your own to take home to brighten a window or table top and celebrate spring.
All supplies will be provided and will include moss, plants, soil, and drainage materials.
Advance registration is required. $10 per participant/terrarium.
Register at www.historicstonington.org

Fields of Gold Flower Show with the Stonington Garden Club
2025-04-11 10:00 - 16:00 | Captain Palmer House
Open to the public from 10 am to 4 pm on Friday, April 11th, Fields of Gold is a club flower show presented by members of the Stonington Garden Club, in celebration of the joyful harbinger of spring, the daffodil. The show’s schedule includes several classes each in floral design, horticulture, and photography. Noted gardener Ian Cooke will give a presentation at 2 PM that is open to all. Your visit won’t be complete until you take a walk through the cove side campus where Stonington Garden Club planted more than 3,000 daffodils in 2024.
This event is free and open to the public, but if you’d like to make a donation, please click here.

Woolworth Library Closed
2025-04-11 13:00 - 16:00 | The R. W. Woolworth Library & Research Center, 40 Palmer Street, Stonington, CT, 06378, United States
We will be closed this afternoon in order to host Ian Cooke, who will be presenting “The Spring Fever of the Daffodil” at 2pm.

The Spring Fever of the Daffodil
2025-04-11 14:00 - 16:00 | The R. W. Woolworth Library & Research Center, 40 Palmer Street, Stonington, CT, 06378, United States
Join us on Friday, April 11th at 2pm in the RW Woolworth Library & Research Center for a presentation by world renowned English Horticulturalist, Ian Cooke as part of the Fields of Gold flower show, presented by Historic Stonington and the Stonington Garden Club.
Daffodils are the harbinger of spring for many, and their emergence is the sign of nature’s unrelenting optimism. In this presentation, Ian Cooke will explore the genus narcissus from early cultivation by the Romans to modern day cultural practices, and lots of stops along the way to uncover this remarkable plant.
Mr. Cooke’s work has taken from the vast estates of Connecticut’s Gold Coast to the greenhouses of Monrovia nurseries in California. He travels the world as a horticultural lecturer, and his Youtube channel Planted with Ian Cooke, features the world of plants and planting.
This program is free with admission to the Fields of Gold event, and the Captain Palmer House.

Pressed Petals: A Flower Pressing Workshop
2025-04-12 10:00 - 11:00 | Captain Palmer House
Discover the delicate art of preserving nature’s beauty in our Pressed Petals workshop.
Whether you are a nature lover, a crafting enthusiast, or just looking for a fun, relaxing experience at the museum, this workshop offers the perfect opportunity to connect with nature, friends, and families in a creative way.
Materials will be included.

Rollie McKenna Community Photo Contest
2025-04-17 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-18 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-19 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-24 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-25 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-26 13:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-27 13:00 - 16:00 | Lighthouse Museum, 7 Water Street, Stonington, CT, 06378, United States
In an effort to preserve and celebrate the town’s artistic legacy, we are proud to present a community-wide photography contest. Named for portrait-photographer Rosalie “Rollie” McKenna, this annual photography contest is held to inspire new generations of photographers, as well as to continuously document our changing town by the people who live in it. We also hold this contest in memory of Rollie McKenna, who left a photographic legacy to Stonington and the world through her determination, creativity and passion for photography. May we always remember the path she forged for women in the arts.
The theme for 2025 is “Aging Gracefully”. Rollie was best known for her portrait photography, and her images of Stonington residents are some of our most requested materials in the archives of Historic Stonington. Before her death, Rollie McKenna was working on a project about aging artists called “Gleanings”, and this year’s theme is in honor of her unfinished work. Submitted photographs will be on display at the Lighthouse Museum in Stonington Borough from April 17th to the 27th, 2025. The museum will be open Thursday through Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. Admission is free, and winners are chosen by popular vote.

Historic Stonington and Beer'd Brewing Co. Trivia Night
2025-04-30 18:00 - 20:00 | The Velvet Mill, 22 Bayview Ave, Stonington, CT, 06378, United States
Historic Stonington and Beer’d Brewing Co. are partnering for a Trivia night! Tickets are $10.00 per person and $15.00 per person at the door. Trivia starts at 6:00 PM at the Velvet Mill! Don’t miss the chance to challenge yourself and have a great time with friends!

Traditional American Food and Its 19th Century New England Influencers
2025-05-08 18:00 - 19:30 | The La Grua Center, 32 Water Street, Stonington, CT, 06378, United States
In the first half of the nineteenth century, New England made a concerted effort to assert cultural leadership in the new American nation. Cookery wasn’t neglected in this campaign. New Englanders sought to encourage refinement of American manners and taste, and New England cookbooks played a big part in that effort. Connecticut had already led the way a few years earlier with Amelia Simmons’s publication in Hartford of American Cookery (1796), the first American cookbook. A number of American recipes and food terms made their print debut in American Cookery: pumpkin pie, squash pudding, cranberry sauce, molasses, Indian pudding, Johny cake, shortening, cookie, and the precursor of baking soda, called pearlash. Many of the dishes that first appeared in American Cookery are still enjoyed today.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, in response to industrialization and the arrival of the immigrant work force that industrialists recruited, regional leaders flipped the cultural coin and began to sentimentalize rustic rather than refined foods, thinking they were more emblematic of the colonial past. Although these “Colonial Revival” dishes were altered from the originals, often with the addition of lots of molasses, sugar, butter and cream, many of them also remain American favorites.
In their illustrated talk at the La Grua Center on May 8, 2025 at 6pm, Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald will offer a guided tour of the once-celebrated dishes and culinary ideas that have influenced American cuisine. Their talk will be followed by a sample item from the Colonial Revival.

Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald are the authors of America’s Founding Food (2004), Northern Hospitality (2011), and United Tastes (2017), which have become standard works in the field of food studies. They have contributed to the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, and the noted British food history journal Petits Propos Culinaires. They have frequently spoken on New England and American foodways at historical societies, museums, libraries, and conferences, here and abroad. They live in Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Printmaking Workshop
2025-05-24 10:00 - 11:00 | Captain Palmer House
Monotype magic is happening at the Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer House, Saturday, May 24 at 10AM.
Come make one-of-a-kind prints where oops turns into art—no experience needed, just curiosity and a sense of fun.

We bring the ink, paper, and rollers.
You bring yourself (and maybe an apron).
You’ll leave with frame-worthy prints and ink-stained bragging rights.
Warning: Side effects may include sudden bursts of inspiration and a newfound love for rollers.

Limited spots—because even creativity needs a headcount.

Offices and Library Closed
2025-05-26 08:00 - 17:00 | CT

Cook the Book at the Palmer House
2025-05-28 18:00 - 19:30 | Captain Palmer House
This month, the group will enjoy simple and delicious meals from celebrity chef Antoni Porowski’s Let’s Do Dinner. The gathering will be hosted by Historic Stonington at the Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer House in Stonington—40 Palmer Street, Stonington.

Cannon Ball Online Auction is Live!
2025-06-13 08:00 - 17:00 | CT
We got some real hotsy-totsy items in this year’s online auction in support of the 2025 Cannon Ball. From giggle water to a night in Manhattan with a private chauffeur – there’s surely something that will strike you as the cat’s pajamas! No glad rags required – just an internet connection and the will to win. Support Historic Stonington and win something nice for yourself in the process.
Our auction is new live – click the link below to join in on the fun!
cannonball2025.givesmart.com

Please note – the auction will remain live until Monday, June 30th.

Patterned Past: A decorative tile painting workshop
2025-06-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Captain Palmer House
Step into the past and create your own masterpiece! At Patterned Past, you will explore the beauty of historic ceramic designs – then make your own hand-painted tile to take home. You can use it as a coaster, trivet, keepsake, or a mini work of art!

The Cannon Ball!
2025-06-28 17:00 - 22:00 | Captain Palmer House
This year, we are excited to celebrate the 26th anniversary of our Cannon Ball Gala! Our theme, “Let’s Misbehave,” celebrates the roaring 20s, a time in history famous for its architecture, music, fashion, economic prosperity, and optimism. The 1920s saw the emergence of new artistic and cultural movements, leading to innovations in art, film, and music. In addition to advancements in medicine, science, and social work, the 1920s nurtured remarkable talent in the arts, literature, and sports.

For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. Between 1920 and 1929, the nation’s total wealth more than doubled, and the gross national product (GNP) expanded by 40 percent. This economic growth propelled many Americans into an affluent “consumer culture,” where people across the country were exposed to the same advertisements, purchased the same products, listened to the same music, and danced to the same styles. However, many Americans felt uneasy about this lively urban lifestyle, and the era of Prohibition led to more conflict than celebration. Nonetheless, for some, the Jazz Age of the 1920s was a time of excitement and joy.

In the words of the legendary Cole Porter, Let’s Misbehave!
Click Here for Tickets
