With the departure of the cold, damp winter and the arrival of the long spring days, we here at MPS begin thinking about our summer season at Hale House. The theme for the 2017 summer program is the stone walls of Matunuck and the stories they tell.
You can find the program schedule at the end of this newsletter with as much detail as to times and dates as we have been able to finalize. Our season opening will be held at Hale House on Friday, June 23rd at 5pm in the evening and will be open to the public. Mathias Oppersdorff’s glorious black and white photos of the walls in the area with some of the people who built them will be on display in our gallery for the entire summer. This collection is on loan from the South County History Center and we are grateful for their generosity in loaning the pictures to us.
We are certain you want to know what is “new” this season at the house. Several rooms on the second floor will be open to the public. One room will be reserved for showing the short movie made about the house. It is a delightful, informative introduction to the Hale residents and how the house came to be preserved and restored . If you would like to see this movie before it is available in house, please check the website, HaleHouseRI.org. and take a look.
A second room upstairs will be used as a gallery for last season’s photo exhibit, Summer Fun at Willow Dell, 1902. We know this exhibit will attract a large audience as it only hung for a month last summer and so many visitors missed it.
Not only are we expanding access to the second floor of the house, but we are inviting you to enjoy the grounds as well. The first thing you will notice as you arrive is a number of orange flags on the hill marking mounds of what will soon be meadow perennials. Thanks to the South County Garden Club, we have been able to plant a meadow much as existed over 100 years ago. Keep your eye on it as it grows and begins to flower. It should be striking if all goes well!
From a new bench you will be able to sit and enjoy watching a game of croquet on the lawn, scheduled for Fridays this summer. Our good friends Eugenie and Ron Maine will be helping pick out a croquet set and setting up the course. It should be fun and will be open to all to try their luck or show off their skills.
In early April on one of the few beautiful afternoons, the docents were invited to a spring tea to whet their appetites for the upcoming season. A good time was had by all as we reminisced about last year and talked about the coming season. MPS is looking for a few new volunteers at the house, so if you are interested please let us know at : halehouseri@gmail.com
Remember Hale House is open from 1 to 4 PM every Friday and Saturday from June 24th through Labor Day. Please come by often, if only to while away an afternoon on one of the perpetually breezy piazzas. We are always happy to welcome visitors during our open hours
