Adventure Begins at Your Library
Beginning June 12th, children can sign up to participate in the Chaplin Public Library’s Summer Reading program. Each week children who visit the library may select a small prize and enter a drawing for a free ice cream from the Farmer’s Cow. Weather permitting, some events will be held outside under a tent on the lawn. Otherwise, they will be held in the library meeting room. See the schedule of events below. All ages are welcome!
Find Your Way with the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
Wednesday, July 31st, 10:30 – 11:30am
North? South? Which way? Learn to read a map and use a compass for your outdoor adventures. Test your new skills with some orienteering games.
Ice Cream Social
Wednesday, August 7th, 11:00am -12:00pm
Join us for our annual ice cream party outdoors! Play games, visit friends, and relax on the lawn. A nondairy option will also be available. All ages welcome.
Cookbook Club: Heidi Swanson Recipes
Monday, August 12th, 6-7:30pm
This month we will be making vegetarian recipes by Heidi Swanson. Registration is required. If you are interested in joining, please speak with a librarian.
Tea Time Book Chat
Friday, August 16th
3:00pm – 4:00pm
What are you reading? Let’s chat about your favorite books this summer. Please email [email protected] to register for this event.
Introduction to Chinese Astrology
with Joe Pandolfo
Monday, August 19th – 6:30pm
Join local Tai Chi &Quigong Instructor, Reiki Practitioner, Acupuncture Detox Specialist and Board Director for the CT Society of Acupuncturists Joe Pandolfi to learn about the four pillars of Chinese Astrology.
Open Mic Poetry Night
Friday, August 23rd
5:00-6:30pm
Join us for a lovely evening of poetry, including readings by local Poets Laureate Adelaide Northrop and Susan Powers. Come to listen or share your own poetry. All are welcome. No registration required. Light refreshments will be available.
Chaplin Ukulele Band
Wednesdays – 4:30pm
Join the Chaplin Ukulele Band. No experience required. No ukulele? We have one available for checkout! Stop in and join the fun.
Friends Group Meeting
Third Wednesday of the month- 2:00 pm
We have a Friends group! If you are interested in helping the library, please attend a meeting. Please note there will be no meeting in September.
PROGRAM RECORDINGS
Bicentennial Talk:
The History of Chaplin Place Names
Watch the recording of Warren Church’s talk!
Join Chaplin resident and local historian Warren Church to learn about place names in Chaplin. Why is it called Bear Hill Rd? Who was Diana of Diana’s Pool?
Bicentennial Talk:
Ruth Snow Bowen, Chaplin Quilt Maker
Watch the Recording of Catherine Smith’s talk!
Chaplin resident and artist Catherine Whall Smith shared the history of former Chaplin resident and artist Ruth Snow Bowen, who lived on Chaplin Street and sold many of her wonderful quilts throughout Connecticut. Each month the library is displaying small fiber art pieces of homes on Chaplin Street paired with a quilt from Catherine’s collection.
National Poetry Month: An Evening with Connecticut’s New Poet Laureates
Recording includes Adelaide Northrop
Listen to Connecticut’s newest poet laureates, including Chaplin Poet Laureate Adelaide Northrop.
Bicentennial Talk: History of the William Ross Library
Recording of Leslie Ricklin and Ingrid Wood’s talk
Chaplin resident Leslie Ricklin and Columbia Town Historian Ingrid Wood discussed the history of the William Ross Library.
Bicentennial Talk: Benjamin Chaplin’s Will
Recording of Gavin Horning-Kane and Brendan Kane’s talk
The 2nd Chaplin Bicentennial talk was a discussion of Benjamin Chaplin’s will. Chaplin residents Gavin Horning-Kane and UConn History Professor Brendan Kane explored the contents of our town benefactor’s will. Since it was written in 1790, the handwriting can be difficult to read. View the will for yourself, try your hand at transcribing a portion of it, and discover a bit about our town’s history.
Virtual Bicentennial Talk – Trouble in the Land of Steady Habits:
The Constitution of 1818
Recording of Walter Woodward’s Talk is available!
In celebration of Chaplin’s bicentennial, Connecticut State Historian Walter Woodward discussed what was happening in our state when Chaplin was taking steps to become a town. Connecticut in 1818 was in many ways eerily similar to Connecticut today: A troubled state, seeking a new direction. This lecture highlights the perfect storm of crises — environmental, economic, demographic, religious, and political — which converged in the middle of the eighteen-teens (1810s) to force the state to rethink the ways it had been conducting its affairs for the previous two centuries.