My family is fortunate that we don't need to depend on Black Friday's discounts to afford our shopping, and none of us (unless someone is harboring a secret desire otherwise) is keen on fighting crowds. While some of us prefer to stay home and avoid the traffic and madness, Black Friday can be a good day to do local sightseeing. Since we'd watched the miniseries "
Saints & Strangers" the night before, visiting a place of similar vintage seemed a good idea.
Just after Thanksgiving dinner I often feel like I never want to eat again, but somehow on Friday I can always manage. It's also hard to say no to lobster bisque, a fried scrod sandwich, and soft serve. The sandwich could have used some tartar sauce, so please remind me to ask for it next time, but the lobster bisque was excellent.
The oldest house in Connecticut and the oldest stone house in New England dates to 1639. The Henry Whitfield State Museum includes the house, a visitors' center, and an interactive/craft area. The visitors' center, which includes the gift shop, had samples of colonial-era food, including pemmican (deer jerky) and cornbread. There was also an exhibit on autumn holidays as they relate to the site. Particularly of interest was the explanation of why the house isn't decorated for Christmas: the holiday was thought to be frivolous, and was often celebrated in ways that belied its religious significance.
The house, in which photography is not allowed, is fairly large, with two floors accessible to the public (I believe the guide said there is a cellar, and I don't know why there wouldn't be). The artifacts on display were gathered from various sources and did not all belong to the Whitfield family. Visitors enter through an anteroom, whose displays discuss the house's history and restoration, before stepping down into the great room. This long hall shows the influence of European architecture, subtly reminding us that the early modern period was not so far from the Renaissance and even the Middle Ages. There is a large fireplace on each end, particularly necessary when the room was partitioned into two; at one end there is a settle, a high-backed bench designed to trap heat around the sitter. An interpreter there was dressed in a military outfit. I'd hoped he would provide a wealth of information about the house, its original inhabitants, and their time, preferably with a period accent like those of the interpreters at Plimoth Plantation, but alas, this was not the case. The upper floor has more displays of objects and things like looms and whatnot. While I enjoyed it, I'm not sure the Whitfield House is a site that would stand many repeat visits, and were I taking children I would check to make sure there was an activity available that day.
On the way home we drove by Long Island Sound, and jumped out at a marina parking lot to enjoy the sunset. On one side of the lot was this marshy area, with swathes of localized fog, while on the other side was the blue and pink and orange Sound.
My family is fortunate that we don't need to depend on Black Friday's discounts to afford our shopping, and none of us (unless someone is harboring a secret desire otherwise) is keen on fighting crowds. While some of us prefer to stay home and avoid the traffic and madness, Black Friday can be a good day to do local sightseeing. Since we'd watched the miniseries "Saints & Strangers" the night before, visiting a place of similar vintage seemed a good idea.
On the way home we drove by Long Island Sound, and jumped out at a marina parking lot to enjoy the sunset. On one side of the lot was this marshy area, with swathes of localized fog, while on the other side was the blue and pink and orange Sound. 
