Matthew Curtiss House Will Be Open Sunday

The Matthew Curtiss House-Museum will again be open as part of the annual fundraiser for the Newtown Youth & Family Services Holiday Festival and Tour on Sunday, December 7. The Curtiss House will be open from noon until 4 pm.

Senior and junior docents will be serving cookies and cider and if the day is crisp, which is likely in early December, visitors will be welcome to warm themselves by a roaring fire. These costumed guides will be available to answer questions and give tours of the house. 

Presenting a living history demonstration that day will be Reggie Delarm of East Knoll Pottery in Torrington. Before the advent of zippers, thin bands of fabric tape were needed for closing shirts, pants and skirts. These bands were woven on a tape loom  Reggie will show how these ingenious yet simple looms created attractive and functional ribbons and tapes.

The Matthew Curtiss House is a fine example of Connecticut saltbox architecture and was originally constructed around 1750. It was purchased by Matthew Curtis, Jr. about 1781, with Newtown Historical Society acquiring it from the last private owner in 1970.

The contents of the house include not only furnishings of the time the house was new, but also items of later date which help tell the history of Newtown. Rooms suggest the way family possessions could have been added to as one generation followed another.