Date: Fri 16-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Hayes-Meffert-tour-Stewart

Full Text:

Fifth Annual Historical Society Fundraiser: Record Crowds Visited Newtown's

Homes & Gardens

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

A record number of people turned out last weekend to take part in a

once-a-year event hosted by Newtown Historical Society. Seven landmark

properties, each privately owned, were opened to the public for six hours on

Saturday, July 10. The total number of tickets sold reached 185 as people took

advantage of the good weather -- and in some cases the possibility of a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- to see some of these properties.

"We were just thrilled," historical society president Elin Hayes said this

week. "It was tremendous. We were not only thrilled by the people -- the

people who participated by opening their properties -- but also the response

from the community, all the way down through Fairfield Country, was

overwhelming. We were very, very pleased.

"I was just in awe, as were most of the people I spoke with on the tour," Mrs

Hayes continued. "Everybody seemed to be having a good time. We escaped

95-degree heat, we escaped rain... everything went better than we could have

hoped."

The 5th Annual House & Garden Tour not only attracted the attention of Newtown

residents of all ages, but also of Martha Stewart, the queen of all things

tasteful, elegant, and made from scratch. According to tour creator and

coordinator Sallie Meffert, Ms Stewart hopes to feature most of the featured

properties in a future issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine or on her

television program of the same name. An assistant to Ms Stewart was expected

to visit Newtown during the middle of this week for a private tour of the

properties.

"My hat is off to Sallie Meffert, as it is every year," said Mrs Hayes. "This

really was her brainchild five years ago. She grew it from a seed and has

really made a tremendous staple fund-raiser." Proceeds from ticket sales each

year directly benefit Newtown Historical Society, and the tour has grown in

popularity to become the organization's major annual fundraiser.

"She started this when she was still president of the society," Mrs Hayes

continued. "She got the idea from watching other communities do similar tours,

and she was just inspired.

"We, of course, have quite a few hidden treasures here in Newtown, so she took

that idea and just made it bear fruit," she said.

Two of the properties this year were on Bennetts Bridge Road in Sandy Hook.

The first was the Eighteenth Century style home of Stanley and Eileen

Rajczewski, which Mrs Meffert dubbed "The Best of Both Worlds."

"The house is a newer construction [20th Century]," Mrs Meffert said during

the week before the tours. "But they used a lot of old `things' when they were

building that house -- centuries-old beams, the construction style, even the

fireplace. And it is surrounded by a spectacular cottage garden."

Just down the road, visitors were welcomed into the "fun garden" of Roberta

Bezok. Mrs Bezok began a small flower garden nearly 12 years ago with the idea

to simply complement her vegetable garden. Today her garden is a work of joy

and art, complete with a secret location where Mrs Bezok can relax away from

the heat or just enjoy solitude within the boundaries of her beautiful

creation.

Mrs Bezok's garden is on part of a former cow pasture, which may help explain

its continued success. Incorporated into the garden are common "everyday

garden variety" plantings alongside more unusual species such as imported

Irish foxglove.

"This is a garden that anyone can have," Mrs Meffert said before the tour last

weekend. "You really should see it now, see what Robbie has done with it. It's

just darling."

Visitors to the Bezok property were also encouraged to visit what Mrs Meffert

had dubbed "fine examples of early Colonial alarm clocks" -- the group of rare

and exotic poultry Mrs Bezok's husband Tony tends in his own section of the

couple's property.

A short ride down Route 302 and around the corner on High Rock Road, the home

of Richard Cichocki was also included on the tour last weekend. Mr Cichocki's

home is important to Newtown's history because it was part of the "Sherman

homestead." The Shermans were among the original families that pitched for

land shortly after the town's founding.

Between 1743 and 1977, the building was occupied by ten generations of the

Sherman family. The stone foundation of the property's original blacksmith

shop is still visible in the woods on the property, which now consists of 3«

acres. Also found on the property is a gorgeous well, which has not been

historically dated but is believed by Mr Cichocki to be possibly original. It

was hand dug, is stone lined, and still contains water.

A New York City native, Mr Cichocki purchased the homestead in 1993 and has

continued to care for its extensive gardens himself. He is only the second

non-Sherman owner of the home.

The garden has been adapted, he says, over the last 15 years with a

Mediterranean influence. Along with southern magnolia trees, roses and

evergreens, there are stands of hardy bamboo species, numerous fig, citrus and

oleander bushes, and potted camellias, gardenias and orchids.

Within the last year Mr Cichocki has added a glass conservatory to the rear of

the house without radically changing the look of the building itself. In

addition to being an attractive addition to the home, the conservatory will

serve as a greenhouse for sensitive tropical plants during the winter months

beginning this year.

A sunken stone-lined path from the road to the front entryway of the house is

lined by 100-year old trees. The path leads to a door that once opened to the

home's underground basement. The property's current garage was the Shermans'

original barn with hayloft.

Inside the house, a map near the front entry door is believed to be an

original Colonial map of the intersection of High Rock and Grays Plain roads,

which the property borders, and the surrounding areas. A Franklin stove in the

present master bedroom has been traced back to the time the house was built

and is thought to be what an original Franklin stove was at the time (a cast

iron fireplace).

There are huge plank floorboards and low ceilings, all typical of Colonial

architecture.

"The house is lived in, but it still retains so many of its features," Sallie

Meffert said recently. "There are lots of tiny little rooms, for instance. And

outside it's just wonderful. There are lots of little beehives in the garden

and they're totally appropriate. The really go with the house."

Across town at 34 Taunton Lane, Barbara and Bill Burns opened their home to

the public once again. The Burnses had opened their home for a tour in the

past, participating in the Family Life Center Holiday Festival House Tour a

few years ago.

The Burns home also happens to be another Sherman homestead, this one of David

Sherman, who built his home in Newtown over 200 years ago. The earliest

records uncovered to date show the house was built as early as 1768, although

Mrs Meffert says it is possible, "but not yet provable," that the house may

have been built even earlier than that. The home has been featured in Early

American Life magazine.

According to town records, Mr Sherman also built "a highway from [his] house

northly to the highway that leads east and west by the now dwelling house of

Joel Camp." The east-west highway referred to is today's Route 6.

The original dwelling is believed to have burned down, an event not uncommon

during early Colonial times, and the home was rebuilt in 1805. The original

structure is now the center section of the Burns' home.

The original house was added to during the second quarter of the 19th Century,

which appears today as the gable-ended Neoclassical addition to the right of

the main building. The addition to the left of the main building was added

later.

In the center of town at 6 Main Street, the Thankeful House was also opened to

visitors last weekend. Now the home of Kim and Palmer Chiapetta, who moved

into the building last fall, the property is part of the original town lot

(Home Lot #11) allocated to Abraham Kimberly. The lot initially extended down

as far as Glover Street and as deep as Queen Street.

The gardens at Thankeful House (which received its name during the time it was

occupied by Bishop Frederick Foote Johnson, at the turn of the century) follow

an English garden plan begun by previous owners. When the Chiapettas took up

residence late last year the garden was in its "sleeping" state for the

winter, so the new owners have been able to enjoy watching the garden awaken

as much as passersby.

Also on the tour this year were the gardens at 57 Elm Street, the home of R.

Scudder and Helen Smith.

One Property's

Questionable History

Visitors to The Barrymore, a new bed-and-breakfast owned and run by Glenn

Palmer in Sandy Hook, were allowed to visit the structure which was Newtown's

first grist mill. Although the proprietors of the new business claim the

building was constructed in 1711, the true date of the building -- and its

original location -- is subject to discussion.

Newtown's first grist mill, according to historic documents and Town Historian

Dan Cruson, was not built before 1715. In fact, the first grist mill was about

500 yards south of where The Barrymore is currently located. According to Ezra

Johnson's 1917 publication Newtown: 1705-1918 , the building was in fact

situated where the old Sandy Hook Post Office building is located today, on

the opposite side of Church Hill Road from where The Barrymore now rests on

Glen Road.

After years of discussion and repeated voting by the Newtown's founders, the

original mill rights were finally granted to Samuel Sanford in September 1715.

While the mill was built late in the second decade of the 18th Century, Mr

Sanford had the mill moved to its current location on Glen Road during the

early to mid 19th Century, says Mr Cruson. The Sanford family continued to run

the mill for generations, giving the building its current reference as "the

former Sanford mill."

A few years after the original mill was moved across the street and further

down the brook, a second mill was constructed on the banks of the Pootatuck,

again at the site of the former post office building. The second mill was long

known as the Niantic Mill and was a woolen mill.

Regardless of the cloudy history of the building, much of its original

machinery still rests in the old grist mill. Exposed beams, wooden pegs and

wide-board floors help re-create the 18th Century charm that is unique to New

England's Colonial architecture.

Future Plans

Although members of Newtown Historical Society were enjoying a much-needed

rest after their weekend of hosting the tour and the previous weeks of

planning, chairman Sallie Meffert said the tours will certainly continue in

future years.

"The historical society's plan is to do sections of the town at a time," Mrs

Meffert said. "We'd like to have people not running all over town, if that's

possible."

The society, which uses proceeds from each homes and gardens tour for the

continued maintenance and operations of Matthew Curtiss House, its

headquarters, has homes selected and plans already in the works for the next

three years.

One of next year's biggest draws is expected to be the gardens of the noted

gardener and popular author and lecturer Sydney Eddison.