Every Sunday, the New York Times real estate section features 3 homes around the country. All sell for the same price, so readers can compare and contrast.
Tomorrow’s edition includes 3 homes for around $1.995 million. One is in Ocean Grove, New Jersey; another is in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The third is on Old Hill Road. Not only that — it was one of the 4 homes on our “Historic Homes of 06880” house tour last month.
The writeup of the 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath 1707 Colonial on a 0.8-acre lot says:
“While this Fairfield County home has been expanded since it was constructed in the early 18th century, the owners have taken care to preserve and even augment its character: An early 1990s addition, for example, was built using repurposed materials from a circa 1850 home.
“The property is close to the center of town, about a 5-minute drive from popular shopping and dining centers, and 10 minutes from the well-ranked public Staples High School. Driving to Hartford or Midtown Manhattan can take an hour and a half or more than two hours, depending on traffic.
Westport Police made 1 custodial arrest between December 20-27.
A woman was arrested for evading responsibility (hit and run), failure to drive in the proper lane and failure to comply with passing on right rules following a motor vehicle accident at Saugatuck Avenue and I-95.
Police also issued these citations:
Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 4 citations
Failure to obey traffic control signals: 4
Traveling unreasonably fast: 3
Improper use of markers: 2
Passing a standing school bus: 1
Beach of peace: 1
Disorderly conduct: 1
Criminal trespass: 1
Interfering with an officer: 1
Operating a motor vehicle with minimum insurance: 1
Failure to comply with state traffic commission regulations: 1
Peter Guy Tomasulo, a 1971 graduate of Staples High School, died peacefully among family on December 17, after a long battle with cancer. He was 70 years old, and lived in Stratford.
His family says, “Peter had a passion for sports, and a calling for leadership. He coached and played the majority of his life.”
After Staples, Peter continued playing soccer at Lyndon State College, where he captained the team. He met his wife, Kathleen Kenney, there. After their marriage they moved to Norwalk, then settled in Newtown.
Peter was predeceased by his wife. He is survived by his brother Edward, sister Kim Brown, son Brian, daughter Jillian Brookes (Stephen), and grandchildren Kate, Anderson, West and Elle.
A celebration of his life will be held later.
Peter Tomasulo
================================================
Sure, Christmas Day is done.
But the 12 Days of Christmas continue.
And here, believe it or not — straight from the Saugatuck River — are 7 actual swans a-swimming.
Becky Keeler spotted, and captured, today’s very appropriate “Westport … Naturally” image.
And finally … today is the birthday of several noted musicians.
Felix Pappalardi (born 1939, died 1993):
Michael Nesmith (born 1942, died 2021):
Patti Smith (born 1946):
Jeff Lynne (born 1947):
It is also the birthday of Sean Hannity (born 1961):
(Gentle reminder: If you’re looking for a tax deduction before the end of 2023, please consider a donation to “06880.” Just click here. Thank you — and happy new year!)
And after another close game yesterday: Congratulations to the Staples High School boys lacrosse team!
They defeated archrival Darien — as they’ve made a habit of doing recently — yesterday 9-8, in the state “L” (large schools) tournament.
The victory by the #2 Wreckers over the #3 seed Blue Wave vaults Staples into the state championship game. It’s set for tomorrow, 3 p.m. at Sacred Heart University.
That’s a fitting spot for coach Will Koshansky’s team. They’re the defending state champs, after winning their first-ever title last spring.
Their foe on Sunday is Fairfield Prep. The Jesuits are the top seed.
Prospect Gardens – the magnificent Greens Farms property — is open to the public tomorrow (Sunday, June 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; GPS either 13 or 25 Prospect Road).
It was first settled in 1813. Noted landscape designer Cindy Shumate first saw the property in 1997; at the time, an 1874 farmhouse sat on an acre of suburban yard.
It has been expanded over time by John and Melissa Ceriale to 9 magnificent acres. Prospect Gardens now includes a Mediterranean garden, 2 orchards, an amphitheater, terraced vegetable garden, woodland walk and wildflower meadow. Winding paths lead from one area to the next.
Mark Demmerle will play classical guitar in the newly finished stone/grass amphitheater. It’s the first performance by anyone in the venue. For more information, click here.
June is dog license month. And all dogs over 6 months old must be licensed.
It’s $8 for neutered male or spayed females. $19 for male or female. There is a $1 penalty per month for renewal licenses issued after June 30. A $75 infraction will be issued for any non-licensed dog, and for any dog not wearing a tag.
Click here, then scroll down for online registration. To register by mail, click here. For all dog license information, click here.
Yeah, you’re cute. But you still need a license. (Photo/Dan Woog)
Speaking of Staples: The World Languages Department has awarded 215 “Seals of Biliteracy” to graduating seniors. The Seal “affirms the value of diversity and honors the cultures and languages in our community,” school officials say.
More than half of the seals — 126 — were for Spanish. Other languages represented were French (29), Italian (26), Mandarin (12), German (7), Latin (6), Hindi (2), and Czech, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Japanese, Marathi, Polish and Thai (1 each).
Blue skies are back. The orange haze and acrid smoke are gone.
But Charlie Scott is making sure we don’t forget.
The Staples High School junior — a talented photographer, videographer, runner and WWPT-FM sports announcer — has created a visual montage of the past few days.
And he’s picked an apt metaphor: “Blade Runner 2949.”
Click below for Charlie’s 53-second video. Let’s hope he does not have to make another.
Kathie Motes Bennewitz and Robin Jaffee Frank are Westporters.
But the women — executive director of the Hopper House Museum & Study Center/Westport town arts curator and senior associate curator of American paintings and sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery, respectively — cross the Hudson River next Thursday.
Frank will discuss “Social Distancing: Edward Hopper’s Paintings of Women Dining in Public” at the center in Nyack (June 15, 6 p.m.). She examines the artist’s “sexually and psychologically charged urban dining scenes, interpreted in the context of his life and art, and the larger history of women in American society.”
Former Westporter Frances Hyman died Thursday in Lynchburg, Virginia. She was 90.
The Roosevelt High School (Bronx) graduate met her future husband Leon through a mutual family acquaintance. They both loved classical ballet, and married in 1956.
They lived in Greenwich Village, Stamford and Sacramento, where Frances was a devoted member of Hadassah.
They returned to the East Coast in 1974 and lived in Westport for 45 years, until Leon died in 2019.
Frances led an active life here, volunteering for many causes including Save The Children , Dress For Success and the Stamford Arboretum. She loved Longshore, was an avid bridge player and gardener, and with her husband was a lifelong supporter of the New York City Ballet.
One of her proudest moments was participating in the 1987 “Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews” rally in Washington.
Frances was also predeceased by her sisters Eleanor Feffer and Barbara Skydel. She is survived by her sons William (Sarah) of Manhattan, and Scott (Phoebe) of Lynchburg, and grandchildren Alexandra and Chloe Hyman of Manhattan, Samuel Hyman of Athens, Ohio, and Jonathan Hyman of Denver.
A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday, June 11) at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. Memorial contributions in her name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association. To send online condolences, click here.
Most readers agreed with the one quoted. They filled the Comments section with stories of their own, slamming the Compo Beach concessionaire for mediocre food, long wait times, and a lack of planning and care. (A couple of readers disagreed; they love Hook’d).
Much of that falls on the owners’ shoulders. Word on the street is that employees are frustrated and embarrassed — and sometimes bear the brunt of customers’ complaints.
The cooks and counter help are local teenagers. They have no control over whether enough burgers and hot dogs are ordered, the price, or the systems in place to make ordering simple and pick-up fast. They’re at the mercy of their bosses.
Give the kids a break. It’s not an easy situation to be in.
But — as many readers have noted — the owners deserve whatever they get.
Sunday church services began there this morning, near the cannons. They run every week, through the September 4.
It’s a BYOC event (bring your own chair). Parking is free; tell the gate attendant you’re going to the service.
Participating churches include Saugatuck, Greens Farms, Norfield and Wilton Congregational, and United Methodist Church of Westport and Weston. A different minister leads worship each week.
Rev. Heather Sinclair of the United Methodist Church leads this morning’s service. (Photo/Karen Como)
Westport is still buzzing about the fantastic Independence Day fireworks on Thursday.
It couldn’t have happened without the generosity of Melissa & Doug, the locally based, internationally beloved toy company; the hard work of the Westport Police, Fire, EMS, Parks & Recreation and Public Works Departments — and the volunteer efforts of Westport PAL.
The biggest party of the year is a fundraiser for PAL. They could not run their many sports programs for boys and girls, or scholarships for Staples High School students, without that help.
So, whether you bought a ticket or freeloaded, consider a contribution to one of Westport’s most important organizations. Click here to see all they do; then click here to donate.
Kathie Bennewitz — our talented town art curator, who tirelessly finds, documents, preserves and exhibits the Westport Public Arts Collections — has taken on a new challenge: to preserve the legacy of iconic American artist Edward Hopper.
He’s the creator of classic works like the famed diner scene “Nighthawks (1942). She travels nearly every day to Nyack, New York, to steward and shepherd the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center.
The other day, Westport artists Eric Chiang and Mark Yurkiw took up Bennewitz’s offer to visit. Yurkiw reports: “The walkable and vibrant destination, with the Hudson River as a backdrop, makes a fabulous day trip. See the museum, stroll down Hopper Way and around the village of Nyack, with plenty to eat and experience.”
And say hi to Kathie at the museum, before she heads home to us.
(From left): Eric Chiang, Kathie Motes Bennewitz and Mark Yurkiw, outside the Edward Hopper Museum.
“I was at Old Mill Beach with my husband and 3 young boys. We have come at low tide for years, to swim and find hermit crabs. Today, we saw this:
“At first we thought the owners would return to pick up the bags, but there were no dogs or owners around. The tide was coming in, and these bags would have been washed away into the sea. I took them to the trash. It was very disappointing, and obviously disgusting.”
Paul Cohen, formerly of Westport and Fairfield, beloved husband of Barbara R. (Bobbie) Herman, passed away peacefully yesterday in Redding, He was 98 years old.
The New York City native enlisted in the Army Air Corps on his 19th birthday in 1942, the earliest that was permitted at the time. He served in the Galapagos and Central America, commanding a radio operations group to protect the Panama Canal.
After the war he attended Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. then the Sorbonne and La Cinémathèque Française in Paris, where he studied cinematography. He was employed by the March of Time in Paris.
After returning to the US Paul worked at Owen Murphy Productions, a producer of documentaries and commercial films. After several years, he acquired the company. He produced films for clients like IBM, the USIA, Western Electric, the 1960-61 World’s Fair and the States of New York and New Jersey. and won many awards. He traveled with 3 presidents: Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon.
He and his wife Helene moved to Westport in 1974, and became involved in town activities. Paul produced bulletins, posters and newsletters for the Westport Arts Center, Y’s Men, Y’s Women, Westport Woman’s Club and Unitarian Church. He won several awards in the Y’s Men annual photo contest.
Helene died in 1993. Paul married Bobbie in 1997. In addition to Helene, he was predeceased by a daughter Susan, a brother and 2 sisters.
Survivors include his son Peter, stepsons Randall Schein (Ann Reingold), Jonathan Schein (Cynthia Hewett), and step-grandaughters Samantha and Lily Jo Schein.
A memorial service will be held in the fall. Donations in his memory may be made to the Unitarian Church in Westport, or a charity of your choice.
Longtime Westporter Stanley Bryk died Wednesday, at Norwalk Hospital. He was 87.
The Bridgeport native lived in Westport for 55 years, before moving to Southport 2 years ago.
Bryk — a Marine Corps veteran — spent 41 years with Sikorsky Aircraft. He was a member of the Frank C. Godfrey American Legion Post, and the VFW. He was also a lifelong New York Giants fan, and an avid traveler.
Survivors include his wife, Laura Renzulli Bryk; daughters Linda (Brent) Norton of Goshen, New York, and Susan (Robert) Tierney of Glastonbury, and grandchildren Taylor, Kelly, Erika, Casey, Rebecca and Kevin. He was predeceased by his brother Frank and one sister Mary Murphy.
AMass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, July 9 (11 a.m., St. Luke Church). Internment with military honors will follow in Willowbrook Cemetery. There are no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Hospital for Cancer.
It snowed this past week. Westport schools were on winter break.
But Coleytown Middle School was filled. Busily and happily, volunteers hung art.
After renovation was completed in January, the Westport Public Art Collections committee got ready to reinstall over 70 works that were removed last year.
Town arts curator Kathie Motes Bennewitz noticed a beautifully refurbished, vast empty wall in the main staircase. It screamed for a giant piece to fill it
WAAC member artist Eric Chiang — who lives near CMS — creates large, multi-canvas acrylic paintings depicting themes like love, connection and hope. Many are colorful and fantastical — perfect for middle schoolers and a big, blank wall.
Could Chiang loan the school one of his pieces?
Of course!
Chiang measured the wall, photoshopped a few images onto it, then suggested possibilities for consideration.
CMS Principal Kris Szebo created a survey to engage students and teachers in the decision-making process. A vote was taken.
The winner: Are We Born Connected? The triptych acrylic on canvas measures 4 feet by 15 feet.
Eric Chiang (center) with his triptych. CMS building chair Don O’Day looks on.
Chiang notes, “The sound of the cello is in the same range of that of human beings. I used cellos to represent humans, emphasizing their voices. The big cello in the foreground faces two choices: Sing a solo dirge like those floating cellos on the left, or band together for Ode to Joy and celebrate the existences together like those cellos on the right. We are wounded, we are in despair, but we have each other. We are born connected, and can sing together.”
Are We Born Connected? is on loan to CMS until the end of the school year. The fanciful work will greet the students when they come back from vacation tomorrow.
The artwork is hung. From left: team member Scott Bennewitz, Westport arts curator Kathie Motes Bennewitz, artist Eric Chiang, CMS building chair Don O’Day.
The public may not visit, due to security protocols and COVID. But the piece can be viewed on the WAAC website — along with more than 1,500 other works from Westport’s extensive public collection.
(Click here for more of Eric Chiang’s work. Hat tip: Nancy Diamond.)
As town art curator, Kathie Motes Bennewitz has spent years fleshing out full narratives of our earliest generations of artists — the men and women who established Westport’s reputation as an “artists’ colony.”
The first painters and illustrators arrived around 1904. Ralph and Rebecca Boyer joined them in 1923. Like many others — then and now — they had young children, and found Westport a better place to raise a family than New York City.
You may never have heard of the Boyers. But Bennewitz has.
In fact, her essay “A Seeing Eye for Beauty in the Everyday World: Ralph L. Boyer (1879-1952) and His Daughter Rebecca Boyer Merrilees (1922-2012)” is part of a new book.
A Life in Art: The Boyer & Merrilees Families was just published by the Northern New England Museum of Contemporary Art. It includes over 100 full-color images, covering the art they created from 1907 to 2010. Most was done right here in Westport.
The Boyers lived in Coleytown. It was far from the center — but their neighbors included James and Laura Gardin Fraser, Oscar and Lila Audobon Howard, and Kerr and Phyllis Brevoori Eby. James Daugherty lived nearby, in Weston.
The Boyers’ antique saltbox had been the home of illustrator Clive Weed. Known as the Aaron Burr Adams house, it still stands on Easton Road, near Bayberry Extension.
Boyer built a small studio, on a hilltop. He had sweeping views of the Aspetuck River, where the stream widens into a lake (now part of the Newman Poses Preserve). When he was not painting, Boyer was fishing.
“Landlocked Salmon No.1 (c. 1924-1935),” etching and drypoint. Inscribed: “To my friend James Daugherty with deepest regards Ralph L. Boyer.”
Boyer’s favorite drawing and etching subjects included haying on the Coley farms, trees along the Saugatuck River and fly fishing on the Aspetuck. His etchings of trout, salmon and bass capture their grace of movement.
He also painted portraits of key community members and artists. During the Depression he received important WPA mural commissions. His most famous — the “History of Fire” series — hangs in the Westport fire station today.
Along the Saugatuck (mid to late 1920s), etching and drypoint (Ralph Boyer)
His daughter Becky graduated from Staples High School in 1939. Her yearbook called her “one of the town’s most expert badminton players, as well as one oits leading younger artists.”
After Pratt Institute, she became an accomplished commercial illustrator. She was most renowned for her botanic work.
In 1960 she became the first female artist with a Reader’s Digest cover (a painting of ferns). She drew 8 more covers, all botanical.
Becky and her husband Douglas Merrilees moved to Northfield, Vermont in 1961. There he developed what is now called the “Made in Vermont” movement. She continued to draw nature there.
Artwork by Rebecca (Becky) Boyer Merrilees.
Bennewitz’s essay was inspired by a generous donation to the Westport Public Art Collections by Becky Boyer Merrilees in 2012, just months before she died. It included etchings and sketches by her father, watercolors by her mother, and beautiful paintings by Becky, along with art by Kerr Eby.
The Boyers’ time here — particularly the early years — must have been quite something. In 1931, the Boston Evening Transcript described Westport like this:
An extensive permanent colony of painters, etchers, sculptors, typographers and printers of 20 years (who) have established themselves in the fabric of the town…
A very attractive social structure has sort of accumulated, so that Saturday evenings the year ‘round are very jolly indeed.…
They are friends, they are people. They fish and skate and ride and sail sloops and swim and have children. They gossip — dear me! How they gossip, and they are as easily friendly as any group you could imagine.
(Click here to buy A Life in Art: The Boyers & Merrilees.)
The Round Pond Road resident was revered nationally for addressing social ills like child labor and racial injustice. She worked tirelessly for immigrants’ rights, world peace and women’s full franchise.
But there is much more to Lillian Wald’s story. Kathie Motes Bennewitz and Bob Weingarten fill in the blanks.
Lillian Wald was born in 1867 in Cincinnati. She graduated from high school at 15, and spent the next 6 years traveling around the globe. After moving to New York City she studied nursing, then entered the Women’s Medical College become a doctor.
In medical school she volunteered her services to the immigrants and poor on the Lower East Side. She became so engrossed in that care that she left medical school. In 1893 she organized the Henry Street Settlement and Visiting Nurse Service of New York. She found her calling.
Henry Street Settlement.
Wald was a dynamic organizer. She started with 10 nurses. By 1916, 250 nurses served 1,300 patients a day.
She worked out of 265 Henry Street, a 5-story walk-up, cold water building on the Lower East Side. Wald helped to educate those she served on health care and personal hygiene, and expanded to assist in housing, employment and education. In 1903 she persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to create a Federal Children’s Bureau.
Lillian Wald
In later years, Wald was recognized for her efforts in nursing and as an author.
In 1970 she was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans through the dedicated effort of Aaron Rabinowitz — Ann Sheffer’s grandfather — who knew Wald from childhood, and in the 1930s had moved to Westport to be near her.
She had come to Westport in 1917, as a summer resident. When she retired, she moved full-time to the 1868 house on the pond across from Longshore. She enjoyed watching neighborhood youngsters skate there in winter.
The library exhibit focuses on her suffrage work. In 1914 Wald wrote::
Democracy brings people nearer together…. When women share equally with men the responsibility for righteousness in government and when their counsels on matters of public welfare are given the dignity the ballot bestows, there will follow a new sense of comradeship, a new sense of fellowship between men and women: woman win not be the unacknowledged power behind the throne—she will share the throne!
The suffrage movement in Connecticut.
In the 1910s Wald hosted suffrage events at the Settlement, and delivered addresses. On November 4, 1915, she fed supportive “watchers and pickets” at Lower East Side assembly districts as men voted on New York state’s suffrage amendment.
These polling sites, The New York Times reported, were lively with “constant cheers and cries of ‘Votes for the Women!’ from small boys in the street. Here and there an Italian voice chimed in ‘Vota for Women.’”
When she left New York for Westport, a stream of distinguished guests visited. Eleanor Roosevelt came several times, enjoying tea and staying at the home of Ruth Steinkraus on Compo Road South.
Lillian Wald’s House on the Pond.
In 1937, the First Lady visited for Wald’s 70th birthday. She wrote:
The neighbors in Westport got together and made a book for her, one of the most interesting books it has ever been my pleasure to see. Westport is the home of many artistic people, but this included the names of all her friends, even if their talent was only that of being able to love another fine human being.
They all signed their names, those who could draw, drew pictures, those who could write, wrote verses and prose, and I think that book will be for her a joy in many hours when she perhaps would not have the energy to take up any occupation, or even to look at anything new.
I was interested in the cover of this book, nicely worked in cross-stitch, but designed so that many of her daily interests were right there for you to pick out. Two little Scotties down in the corner; the ducks which waddle down to the pond and eat chunks of bread up near the house; the birds of peace.
Lillian Wald’s birthday book cover. It is owned by Ann Sheffer.
Wald is by far the most famous — but just one of many fascinating Westporters whose stories are told in the Westport Library exhibit. Click here to access the full gallery.
The other day, town arts curator Kathie Motes Bennewitz moved a Westport Public Art Collection painting from the Parks & Recreation office to Town Hall.
“Up by Daybreak Nursery” — done by noted Westport artist Howard Munce in 1989 — showed the weird Weston Road/Easton Road/Main Street intersection, near Merritt Parkway Exit 42.
On the back, Kathie noticed a few interesting things:
The note on the left — written by Howard in December of 1999 — said:
In 1989 I came upon this scene and quickly went home for my camera.
The locale is at the convergence of Rt. 136 and Rt. 57 — just opposite the Daybreak Nursery.
When former 1st Selectman Bill Seiden saw it he said “Worst traffic situation in town.” Many agree.
Since this painting was done, the nursery has built and planted a mound on the small island that separate the two roads. Also, the Merritt Parkway entrance has been redesigned, causing greater complication at the corner.
Happy motoring. Howard Munce.
Equally fascinating were these “Street Beat” interviews from the December 2, 1999 Minuteman newspaper. The question was: “Which is the most dangerous intersection in Westport?”
On the left, Jim Izzo — owner of Crossroads Ace Hardware — described nearby Main Street and Canal Road. “There is an accident every 2 weeks or so, some kind of fender-bender or something,” he said.
Sid Goldstein nominated Wilton Road and Kings Highway North, because of its narrow turning lane onto Wilton (since improved), and “drivers stop too close to the yellow line on Route 33 heading south” (still an issue).
Nancy Roberts of Wilton said it was the very intersection that Munce had painted: “The merge is laid out so that it confuses people, and not everyone stops properly.”
Todd Woodard — a Tacos or What? employee — thought it was Post Road East, where Roseville and Hillspoint Roads were not aligned properly. Plus, he said, the “big dip” on Roseville makes it hard for visibility. Also the two restaurants’ driveways are poorly placed within the intersection.”
Finally, Chris Cullen — who worked in marketing — pointed to North Compo and the Post Road. “They should make a right turn lane” on North Compo, he said, “because traffic gets backed up very easily.”
Those comments were made 20 years ago. Many are still relevant today.
For nearly 50 years, a spectacular mural hung just inside the main entrance to Saugatuck Elementary School, on Bridge Street.
Created by Westport artist Robert Lambdin as a WPA project, “Pageant of Juvenile Literature” greeted every visitor to the school. (It was also stared at by generations of mischief-makers, as they waited for meetings with the principal.)
Lambdin is well known for other murals, including a pair called “Saugatuck in the 19th Century” (one originally in a Saugatuck bank, now at Town Hall; the other at Westport Bank & Trust, preserved by the current tenant Patagonia), and “Spirit of Adventure,” which hangs over the entrance to the Town Hall auditorium.
But, says town arts curator Kathie Motes Bennewitz, “Pageant” was Lambdin’s masterpiece. Its complexity, and the wide variety of characters he painted, “touch everyone who sees it,” she says. “People just get pulled into it.”
The left side of the 7-foot high, 20-foot high mural depicts an array of classic fictional characters: Minerva, Huck Finn, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Don Quixote, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe.
A closeup of the Robert Lambdin mural… (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)
Lambdin included himself too — as Long John Silver.
One of his models was Janet Aley, who now — near 90 — still lives in Westport. Another model was Howard Brubaker — great-grandfather of Westporter Brian Crane — who went on to become editor of Colliers.
The right side of the mural portrays great historical figures, like Leif Erikson, Joan of Arc, Pocahontas, George Washington, Clara Barton, Davey Crockett and Abraham Lincoln.
… and the right side.
The middle section shows the history of writing, from ancient Egypt to a quill pen, then a typewriter.
When Saugatuck Elementary School closed in 1984 — due to declining enrollment — the Bridge Street building was unmaintained. Weather and vandals took their tolls.
In 1992, the town decided to convert the old Saugatuck El to senior housing. The murals were slated for demolition.
But a group of art-lovers — including Mollie Donovan, Eve Potts and Judy Gault Sterling — set out to save the work. Within a month they raised $40,000. That was enough to remove the mural, conserve it, and reinstall it at its new home: The Westport Library.
For nearly 25 years, the Robert Lambdin mural hung above the Westport Library’s Great Hall. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)
Opened just 6 years earlier, the library was an inspired choice. Hanging above the Great Hall, the mural — with its representations of literature and history — was visible to all.
Plus, back in the day Lambdin had actually been a Westport Library trustee.
More than a quarter century later though, the library is in the midst of its own renovation. A suitable spot could not be found, during or after the project.
Bennewitz and members of the Westport Public Art Collection searched for a large wall, with plenty of foot traffic. They — with architect Scott Springer — found it, at Staples High School.
Which is how, the other day, the enormous mural was removed from the library, transported, and reassembled near the auditorium lobby. Hung proudly — and even closer to the public than at the library — “Pageant of Juvenile Adventure” will be seen by thousands of students every day, and folks of all ages at plays, concerts and other events.
Moving the mural was no easy task. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)
Bennewitz praised many groups, for making the move possible. Town Hall, the Westport Library and Westport school system worked together, coordinating manpower and equipment. Support also came from the Westport Arts Advisory Committee and Friends of WestPAC.
The mural was installed during school vacation. Students have not yet seen it. But everyone who passed by during the installation was impressed.
That includes Staples custodian Jeff Allen. A former Saugatuck El student, he remembers the mural well. He’s proud to see it back up in the school where he now works.
Staples custodian Jeff Allen admires the artwork.
He and many others will be in attendance this Friday (March 2, 2:45 p.m.). A rededication ceremony will include brief speeches, appropriate music (“House at Pooh Corner”) — and students, teachers and others dressed in costumes. (First Selectman Jim Marpe will portray Abraham Lincoln.)
Anyone who remembers the Lambdin mural from its original location at Saugatuck Elementary School is particularly welcome.
Of course, everyone who loves art, literature and history is encouraged to be there too.
BONUS FUN FACT: Robert Lambdin was not the only Westport WPA artist. During the 1930s, 17 local artists produced 34 artworks, and 120 photos.
Robert Lambdin’s “Pageant of Juvenile Adventure,” in its new home.
This year’s program — in which the entire town is encouraged to read the same book, then participate in discussions, lectures, videos and more — focused on “Regeneration.” Pat Barker’s historical fiction features a British officer who refuses to continue serving during the “senseless slaughter” of World War I.
The novel inspired Kathie Motes Bennewitz to do some digging.
The town arts curator knew that when “The Great War” began, Westport was already a thriving arts colony.
What, she wondered, was the connection between local artists and World War I? Kathie writes:
Over 220 Westport men fought in the US armed forces. Many were “doughboys,” a nickname given to soldiers in the American Expeditionary Forces.
We know from wartime draft records the names of many artists who lived here in 1917, as every man ages 18-45 was required to register. Among the residents were Karl Anderson, Edmund M. Ashe, E. F. Boyd, Robert Leftwitch Dogde, Arthur Dove, Ernest Fuhr, Ossip Linde, Lawrence Mazzanovich, Henry Raleigh, Clive Weed and George Hand Wright.
While Ashe, Mazzanovich and Dodge registered as national guardsmen with the Connecticut Militia, many others were too old to do so. So they used their talents to serve the home front in other ways.
Editorial cartoonist Clive Weed, a summer resident since 1910, made spirited illustrations on wartime events, like this one: “He Might Be YOUR Boy,” for the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
George Hand Wright drew similar illustrations.
Other Westporters — including Ashe, Boyd, Fuhr, Raleigh and Wright — created graphic posters to recruit servicemen and nurses, or urge citizens to purchase Liberty Bonds to finance the war. One example is Ashe’s “Lend the Way They Fight” (below), which shows an American infantryman hurling a hand grenade at German soldiers in a trench on the western front of France.
Hundreds of posters like this were made, raising $21.5 billion for the war effort. Here’s one from Raleigh:
In August 1918 — only months before the war ended — Anderson joined creative and patriotic forces with his Westport neighbors Mazzanovich and Linde to paint a billboard advertising war stamps, in downtown Bridgeport. The trio were filmed in action by the government for a newsreel, which was shown in movie houses nationwide.
When the war ended, younger artists flocked to Westport.
Kerr Eby, James Daugherty, and Ralph Boyer and his future wife Rebecca A. Hunt had each served as camoufleurs. They painted camouflage — a novel and demanding job.
Eby — assigned to the Camouflage Division of the US. Army 40th Engineers, Artillery Brigade in France — had it the hardest. Working on the front, he produced camouflage for artillery and troops. He also made drawings of the horrific images he witnessed on the battlefield.
Boyer and his art school friend Daugherty were both assigned to Baltimore for another important job: to execute “dazzle” painting designed to protect Navy vessels from enemy site and fire.
This new art involved painting abstract murals on ships that would soon be loaded with troops and ammunition. Swinging from a bosun’s seat, the artist laid the design on the side. A gang of painters followed rapidly behind, cutting in the geometric pattern with precision.
USS Leviathan in “dazzle” camouflage, 1918.
“The result was supposed to confuse and befuddle the German submarine gunner,” Daughtery said. “It could hardly do less.”
Of course, Westport’s most enduring legacy of World War I is the Doughboy statue at Veterans Green, across from Town Hall. Bennewitz explains:
Sculptor J. Clinton Shepherd was another wartime camoufleur. He served in the Illinois National Reserve and Air Corps. When he moved to Westport in 1925, the town had voted to erect a monument to honor its soldiers and nurses, who had returned from the front, and memorialize the 7 who had died.
In 1928 Shepherd received the commission. He sensitively rendered a life-sized soldier “with a pensive expression to memorialize the personal side of that ‘war to end all wars.'”
Dedication of the Doughboy statue in 1930. It was located on the grass median dividing the Post Road, between what is now Torno Lumber and the former Bertucci’s restaurant. This view looks east. The statue was moved in the 1980s to its current location opposite Town Hall (below).
Click here to help support “06880” via credit card or PayPal. Any amount is welcome, appreciated — and tax-deductible! Reader contributions keep this blog going. (Alternate methods: Please send a check to “06880”: PO Box 744, Westport, CT 06881. Or use Venmo: @blog06880. Or Zelle: dwoog@optonline.net. Thanks!)
GET THE “06880” APP
The “06880” app (search for it on the Apple or Android store) is the easiest way to get “06880.” Choose notifications: whenever a new post is published, or once or twice a day. Click here for details.
