Sunday, November 14, 2010

Our daughter the docent

Today was a Thanksgiving open house at the David Humphreys House in Ansonia, Ct. The house is the headquarters of the Derby Historical Society. Ansonia, as well as several other towns, were once all a part of Derby.
Our daughter, who hopes to become an elementary school teacher someday, has been working there as a docent when fifth graders visit the house where Humphreys, a Revolutionary War hero, was born. The house was built at the end of the 17th Century. Humphreys was born in 1752.
Humphreys was a teacher, an aide-de-camp to George Washington, and later served as an ambassador to Spain. He brought black Merino sheep back to Connecticut from Spain and started a woolen mill.
At the open house we enjoyed samples of pumpkin soup, squash pie, turkey, cranberry sauce, applesauce, and brown bread with freshly-churned butter. Everything was delicious. I enjoyed watching Allegra talk to the members of the public about the house and the food that had been prepared in two fireplaces.

I was pleasantly surprised when blogger and history buff extraordinaire Linda walked into the room while we were sampling the food. I knew she had wanted to see the house, but I wasn't sure if she would be able to make the trip today to our part of Connecticut.
Happily she did, and brought her daughter Jamie and, of course, her camera. It was good to see them! I hope they enjoyed themselves. I'm sure Linda got some great shots.

You could say the kitchen is "rather dark" even when it's sunny out. But with its big fireplace it is definitely cozy. Notice the formal portrait of David Humphreys in the front room, seen through the doorway.

The turkey was roasted in this tin oven in the fireplace in Lady Humphreys' parlor, located next to the kitchen. This room in the front of the house definitely lets in more natural light.

Ralph also wrote a post about our afternoon, which you can read here.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful day! What fun that Linda was able to surprise you!

And I'm going out to kiss all of my modern appliances. I wouldn't have wanted to try to cook a big meal in a fireplace! Just saying.

Big hugs :]

Linda said...

I love that second picture of the shot into the parlor from the kitchen - that came out great! The shot of Allegra is perfect, too!

I'm glad that Jamie and I were able to make it down to see the house and sample the pumpkin soup and turkey and other goodies. Very tasty!

I still think our forefathers were pretty darned clever to be able to cook a 12-pound turkey in two hours using tin reflectors - brilliant!

And as always, it was lovely to see you again!

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

wow how cool!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoox

The Summer Kitchen Girls said...

What fun! This is right up our alley - how we love events like this. Sounds like your daughter is a natural :)
Hope you are having a great week Patti!

Lui, Heaven said...

THis is great and your daughter did well! You must be proud! So this is where you took the shot of your sepia scene today!

Anonymous said...

Hope to see same more information in futere.

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