Press Room

Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum Welcomes Spring

Contact:

Cynthia Riccio, Education Director, Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum,
(860) 529-0612, ext. 12 criccio@webb-deane-stevens.org

Charles Lyle, Executive Director, Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum,
(860) 529-0612, ext, 14 clyle@webb-deane-stevens.org

Jenny Smith, Pita Group,
(860) 293-0157 ext. 15; jenny@thepitagroup.com

Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum welcomes spring with native plant sale, children’s exhibit, George Washington bedroom renovation

Museum is open Saturdays and Sundays in April

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (April 5, 2011) – With spring right around the corner, the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum is preparing for warm-weather visitors. Beginning in April, the museum will be open on Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Begin your garden planning with the museum’s annual spring plant sale on Saturday, April 16. Then, dodge April showers inside the museum’s three homes, where you can view the completely restored George Washington bedroom and a refurnished children’s bedroom any weekend you choose.

The National Society of Colonial Dames in Connecticut will host their annual NSCDA-CT Plant Sale on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Webb House courtyard, right off Main Street in historic Old Wethersfield. The plant sale will feature native plants such as small trees, native shrubs, perennials and field flowers. All proceeds from this event will go towards funding native plant materials and planting the new Nature Trail outside of the Webb Deane Stevens Museum behind the barn. Don’t miss out on the chance to buy the perfect plants for your garden. Admission is free of charge.

Tours at the museum in April give visitors a chance to look inside The Isaac Stevens House and imagine the lives of Stevens family and their five children, who lived there in the late 1700s. On the tour you will have the chance to see the new changes that have been made on the second floor of the house. The children’s bedroom has recently been refurnished with new displays that give visitors a glimpse of how children lived and played in the 18th and 19th Centuries. The room has also recently been wallpapered with a pattern dating to the 1820s period.

At the Joseph Webb house, visitors can now view the completely restored bedroom where General George Washington stayed for five nights in May of 1781. Washington and French Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur Comte de Rochambeau met at the Webb house to plan the joint military campaign that led to the victory at Yorktown, Virginia and the end of the American Revolution. The restoration includes newly installed reproduction bed hangings and furniture upholstery and a panel with a historically accurate reproduction of the original flocked wallpaper in its original vibrant colors. Also featured is a recreation of the original faux cedar graining on the paneling, corner posts and other woodwork in the room. .