We hope that you can join us this year for our annual holiday open house on

 Sunday, December 6th from 2-4 PM.

We will have music, and mulled cider, and many holiday treats. We are looking for volunteers to help us decorate the house. If you are interested in volunteering, please come to the Darling house any time from 9am-1pm on Saturday, December 6th.

We are also seeking donations of baked goods and wreath’s to sell and raffle at the open house. 

If you would like to make a donation you can drop it off on Saturday while we are decorating or on Sunday before the event.

Thank you for your generous support!

Open House at the Darling House

Sunday October 18 from 2 to 4 PM

Stop by and get a tour of this beautiful old home. 

We'll have something cooking in our open hearth

and a portion of our quilt collection will be on display.

1907 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge CT

This event is free and open to the public. 

Tag Sale Rescheduled

Because of the wet and windy forecast we have for this weekend we are going to reschedule the Darling House Sylvia's Attic Tag Sale to next weekend, October 10, 2015 from 8 to 2 PM. 

There are a few spaces available if you want to come sell your stuff. You can reserve a space at info@woodbridgehistory.org

Come by and check us out and our great bake sale that will include some delicious lunch items too! 1907 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge CT

Sylvia's Attic Tag Sale

Come find your treasure through the trash at the Darling House Tag Sale. Located on the grounds of the Historic Thomas Darling House, the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society will be selling spaces for $15. Please e-mail info@woodbridgehistory.org to reserve your spot.

 The Historical Society is accepting donations of sell able goods.

 There will also be baked goods for sale. 

Saturday October 3, 2015   8 AM to 2 PM

1907 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge CT

Open House - Cold Hearth Cooking

Please join us on Sunday July 19th from 2 to 4 PM at the Darling House for

 "Cold Hearth Cooking."

 We will be making home made ice cream and butter. 

This event is free and open to the public.

1907 Litchfield Turnpike

Woodbridge CT

Tavern Night Spring 2015

We are happy to announce Tavern Night once again at the Darling House. Join us on Sunday June 7th 5 to 8 PM for drinks, food, music and more! Our event seems to sell out early, so make a reservation as soon as you can at info@woodbridgehistory.org.

Historical Society Annual Meeting - The Life and Work of Donald Grant Mitchell Sunday May 3rd 2-4 PM

The life and work of Westville resident, Donald Grant Mitchell (1822-1908), the original designer of the New Haven Parks System, will be the topic for the Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society's Annual Meeting on May 3rd, 2015. At a time when many cities were asking the Olmsted firm to design their parks, Donald Grant Mitchell was asked to design the parks of New Haven. Beginning with East Rock Park, Mitchell designed parks for many areas of New Haven. His impact as an author, lecturer and designer allowed him to create the aesthetics of the day, from house design, farm layout, landscape design, and cityscape.  Our guest speaker Leslie Martino, a local landscape designer and historian who has conducted extensive research into the origins of the New Haven Park System, will present her research into the life and impact of Mr. Mitchell as well as his Woodbridge connections.  The Woodbridge Historical Society's Annual Meeting will take place on Sunday May 3rd, 2015 at the First Church Parish House, 5 Meeting House Lane in Woodbridge from 2 to 4 PM. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public. 

Hearth Cooking at the Darling House - Sunday April 19th 2 to 4 PM

Hearth Cooking at the Darling House Sunday April 19th 2 to 4 PM

Those of you who came to our open houses last year or attended a tavern night may have noticed that we are trying to incorporate more hearth cooking at the museum these days. Last year, we had our chimneys lined with a new product that makes the chimneys safe to use but also preserves the dimensions of the flue. The size of the flue is directly correlated to the size of the fireplace, and modern flue liners are often way too small for the larger fireplaces that we have in our historic houses (that’s why old fireplaces with small liners are often smoky). Now with our newly lined chimneys we can safely have fires that allow us to demonstrate more hearth cooking techniques.


The Darling house was built with somewhat of an “old fashioned” design to its cooking hearth. The hearth was designed to have lug poles which were initially green pieces of wood that were hung from ledges just above the fireplace from which trammels could be hung to hold the cookware. Trammels are iron devices that hang from the log pole and have a hook at the bottom from which to hang a pot. Trammels are designed to be raised or lowered above the fire depending on whether you wanted to cook using a “high, medium, or low” setting.

The Darling house has two period trammels: a hole trammel and a saw tooth trammel. By 1772 when the house was built however, lug poles were often being replaced by cranes, which are horizontal metal arms that swing on hinges attached to the sidewall of a fireplace. Cranes were safer than lug poles, which could eventually burn and fall into the fire along with whatever meal was cooking at the time. Cranes were also easier to use as they could swing out away from the fire. We do have safe lug poles now, so not to worry, our pots won’t end up in the fire. Perhaps the Darling’s didn't think having a crane was worth the extra cost, since most cooking at the hearth in fact actually occurred in the coals and not directly over the fire.Generating red-hot coals for cooking is an art (as opposed to generating ash which most of us do in our fireplaces). Hard dry woods are of course essential, but the stacking of the wood in the fireplace as well as creating a slow burn are equally important.

We are still perfecting this art at the Darling House hearth. Cooking over coals is usually done in posnets, various forms of cooking vessels all with short legs to sit in the coals. Pans with long legs are often called “spider” pans, a whimsical name that originated in New England in the 17th century. Most of us however, are probably most familiar with Dutch ovens (also called bake ovens). Contrary to how they are often used today for soups and stews, the Darlings might have more often used them for baking.


At our next open house, Sunday April 19th from 2-4 PM, stop by and visit us as we attempt some baking in a bake oven, some frying in a spider pan, and some soup making over the fire. As we explore more hearth cooking at the Darling House, we will continue to share our new findings with you, and in future news letters we will also share some fireplace recipes.