Dear Friends and Fellow Members:

Please join us on April 14 at 6:30, for our annual membership meeting. Light refreshments will be served.

On a very sad note, one of our members, David Brooks passed away on March 13, after a short illness.  David was the spouse of Deb Cote, our Historical Society President.  A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, June 11, 2016, at 11 am at the Episcopal Conference Center, Pascoag.  David had begun to be very active with the society following his retirement last year.  This past Christmas for our open house, David, and Mary Ann Lowe helped make magic moments for over 100 children, as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  You will wonder that I share with you this story, given the sad news about David, but above all he enjoyed a good laugh.   I’m sure I will tell this poorly, but Mary Ann shared with me a conversation with one little girl.  Apparently she observed Mary Ann for some time, eyes just slits, while sitting on Santa’s lap.  “Are you Mrs. Claus?” she asked.  “Yes,” replied Mary Ann.  “If you are, then what did I leave you last year?”  Luckily, the little girl’s mother mouthed “cookies” allowing Mary Ann to keep the illusion safe. 

Another little girl left her note for Santa, asking for a watch:  It goes around your wrist, and has a clock on it.I guess kids today don’t wear watches so much anymore. 

Things have been rather quiet at the museum, the cold rather discouraging too much “hanging around,” and explaining why until about mid-March the Christmas trees (live!) and other decorations were still up.  Many thanks to Jim Ignasher who magically made the majority of the decorations go away!

As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are hoping to use the property for more rentals this year, however we require the assistance of a few volunteers so that someone can be on site during the day of the event.  Let me know if you are interested in helping. 

We will be soon be planning the school programs for this year, so please let me know if you would like to help with the children.  Of all the things that we do at the museum, I think these programs are the most rewarding.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy spring, and I hope to see you at the Membership Meeting on April 14, 2016, at 6:30.  I’ll put a pot of de-caffeinated coffee on!

Maggie Botelho
Program Director

Dear Friends and Fellow Members:

Seasons Greetings!

Please join us on December 6, from 1 – 4, as once again Santa & Mrs. Claus will be bringing joy to happy, and some, terrified children.  If this newsletter should reach you in time to allow for some baking, we can always use cookies, and extra hands.

The following Saturday, December 12, is our membership potluck Christmas party.  We will have our usual Yankee Swap (if you would like to participate bring a wrapped gift, of approximately $10 value).  Completely breaking with tradition, I would like to move up the party to 4:00 in the afternoon, to allow for daylight travel to, and not so late, home.  Please leave a message at the museum (401) 231-7363, and let us know what you would like to bring for a dish.

I must admit I dearly love watching tree work done, seeing huge pieces of wood being removed from a tree until it is reduced to a stump.  I missed all that on November 25, as three trees were taken down before I got to the museum!  We had two standing dead trees near the road, and a box elder near the outdoor restroom that was growing through all the power wires leading to the house. Thanks to Above and Beyond Tree Service for their professionalism, and for leaving us some branches for fire wood.  For those of you who enjoy bugs, we have an amazing infestation of box elder beetles every year in the restroom, as they are attracted to the female box elder.  It would be a nice side effect of the tree removal if we should no longer have the beetles!

Other improvements to the house include – wait for it – the ceiling in the kitchen.  We can now open and close the door to the second floor without scraping the ceiling.  We worried about what we should find, but it was basically a buildup of plaster, and the original 1830 accordion lath was as strong and beautiful as the day it was nailed in place.  After 15 or so years of ceiling scraping, it may take some time to get used to it!  Additional work was done on the drainage system – downspout transitions, and I think we will have less water in the cellar.  The clapboards on the end wall of the kitchen ell were replaced with new western red cedar, so it looks very fine.  Wayne Moreau of All Trades Construction did this work, and we are very grateful to him for his care, and exceptional work.

I would like to greet a new member to the Historical Society, Ms. Cheryl Wenzel, who joined us for the Colonial Dinner, visiting Rhode Island from Texas.  Thank you to member Anne Allen, who donated some vintage recipe books.  We received $70 in donations for the books at the dinner, and still have quite a few left for another event.  Thanks also to Teresa Ignasher for her work as our Membership Chairperson, with apologies to Teresa and the membership, as I have been the bottleneck in her ability to get membership cards out in a timely fashion!

Regarding past events, our Colonial Dinner was well received, with thanks to all of the volunteers who helped in so many ways.  We will not have a Colonial dinner next year, but will perhaps host one or two “Savory Soup” nights, using cooking pots over the hearth.  These events will require less setup and staffing.

We are hoping to make up the loss of Colonial Dinner revenue with a few more rentals, however we require the assistance of a few volunteers so that someone can be on site during the day of the event.  We are restricting the total number of guests, and will have the events end by 8:00 pm, so it is not as taxing for the person on site.

Unfortunately, our Antique Show was cancelled due to an impending storm system that was in the weather forecast.  A decision had to be made a few days in advance, as various vendors were planning to sell baked, and other food items, and as the day approached many of the vendors cancelled.  Best efforts were made to notify people of the cancellation by way of every method available to us, but I know we disappointed some people, which we regret.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy holiday season, and for those of you nearby, hope to see you for the membership Christmas party on December 12, at 4:00 pm.

Sincerely,

Maggie Botelho

Program Director

Dear Friends and Fellow Members:

Perhaps some of you have traveled to Ireland, I never have – but if Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle, and the green there is famous, then I think we have its rival in the fields around the Smith-Appleby House.  In the days preceding the May Breakfast, the green was almost luminous.  Maybe that is a bi-product of a long, cold, snowy winter! 

On the property we have seen bluebirds, a hawk, blue herons, robins and eastern orioles, an abundance of feathered color!  The cherry tree was gorgeous; violets in the grass, and the many hundreds of bulbs have made the whole property sparkle.  Pete and June Giammarco planted daffodils along the nature walk beyond the wooden bridge and that was an absolute delight this year, enough to make me forget the winter.  This newsletter includes a poem by fellow member James Maloney, entitled “Spring at Last.”

Highlighting the appearance of the property is our new cedar shake roof, funded by the Champlin Foundation, work performed by Above Board Contracting.  You can see it gleaming from highway 295.  Also contributing to the appearance of the property, the newly scraped and painted caretakers house, with several windows glazed, work performed by member Frank Pfeiffer, who cannot always remain anonymous!  The kitchen fence is complete, with a canon ball gate closure – framing and protecting the garden.  Don Burns and a crew managed to fix the wooden stairs by the barn so they are now safe, and no longer list to one side and I understand one of the wooden bridges has been shored up as well. 

Our web site has been updated to include many more photographs, and if you enjoy Jim Ignasher’s stories as much as I do, you will now find them on our web site as well.  So many hands involved in promoting and enriching our presence, and maintaining and improving the property, and so, many thanks to all.

Our 41^st Annual May Breakfast was sold out, and well received, again thanks to the faithful members who give of their time and talent to make it a memorable event for our guests. 

On May 23, we hosted a field trip for the Anna McCabe School, with Deb Cote, June Giammarco and Kathy Nolett managing the 44 third grade children.  The day included some very strenuous field games, and the children declared it the best field trip – EVER.  If you have some free time, let Deb know, as we can use some extra hands with the school programs.

We have mentioned in the past, our interest in building a historically accurate outdoor beehive oven on the property.  This is part of our continuing mission to preserve and present important Smithfield artifacts and history.  Our beehive oven will copy  a typical New England clay and stone oven made with wood, rocks with clay, sand and straw. The design will be period correct, constructed as a traditional summer oven would have been built 300 years ago.  If you would like to support the creation of this oven by a donation, send a check (specify “oven”), payable to the Historical Society of Smithfield, to the address in our letterhead.  Your donation is tax deductible.

On June 29, we have a Rhody Ramble open house with a Fourth of July craft in the barn, stop by to say hello. 

Completely zooming ahead to some of the late season programs, on October 19 we are hosting the second antique show on the property.  The Historical Society will have a table at this event, so if you have the typical bane & blessing items:  Glassware, ornaments, bits & bobs, gadgets, functional lamps etc. etc. bring them along, or drop them off before October 19, and we will sell the donated items to raise funds.  I have three boxes already!  Less clutter at your house means less dusting!

On November 15, our Colonial Dinner, is themed “A Colonial Dinner in New England.”  This year we will only be hosting the Colonial Dinner one evening, to reduce the general stress and work load of doing two 4-course meals for 50 people back to back.

On December 7, our Christmas Open House will, as ever require a bunch of cookies, so if you can bake a few dozen (or so!) for us, we would be grateful!  Lastly, December 13 is our members Christmas party, I promise to be clearer if we need to postpone the dinner, I know last year some one (George) ended up with a lot of salad to eat!

Regarding membership dues, watch for that telltale red dot on your envelope, to see if you are current!

Warmest wishes,

Maggie Botelho
Program Director

Spring at Last – By James Maloney

I have heard a robin sing
On this lovely early morn
Announcing once again
That another spring is born.

 Seeking his old nesting place
A bird house on my tree
Two doves came fluttering down
To complete my feathered family.

 I bought a muffin at Dunkin Doughnuts
Ate the crown and saved the rest
Threw it in my yard
A squirrel got there before the rest.

 My heart rejoices at the sounds
That my feathered friends doth bring
Spring has come at last
For I heard a robin sing.