The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/category/governmenttown/page/125/)
1. In 1802, it was voted that students provide what for their teacher? a. a quarter cord of wood b. a horse c. housing and meals, payment shared by all d. blackboard and school books 2. What was opened in 1809? a. the Connecticut Baptist Literary Institution b. the first bridge over the Connecticut River in Conecticut c. the “Poor House” d. the […]
The final winter market brought many vendors and visitors to the high school’s Agriscience Center on February 9, and as usual the affair was more of a bazaar than a farm market. Only two farms were selling vegetables: Suffield’s Simpaug and Enfield’s Easy Pickin’s. Cupola Hollow Farm was there, but their booth, with a wide variety of delicious preserves, candy, syrup, etc., didn’t include the fresh greenhouse vegetables, apples, eggs, and well-stored root vegetables offered by Simpaug and Easy Pickin’s. The bazaar aspect of the market is the gathering of part-time vendors offering diverse items like knit and woven work, jewelry, clothing accessories, coffee mugs, wrap-chaps, woodcraft, naturally-flavored twigs for rabbits to chew on, and other interesting doo-dads. Julie Simmons also brought a rabbit to do some chewing and entertain the children.
Congratulations to Mary Fiore and John Emrick! Both contestants correctly answered the trivia questions published in the February issue of the Observer. Answers to February Questions
1) e. Depot Street
2) Yes
3) b. 1743
4) c. Crooked Lane
5) c. Bog ore
6) a. Separates
7) b. One was the U.S. Postmaster General, and the other was the U.S. Assistant Postmaster General at the same time. 8) c. Oliver Phelps started a silk manufacturing plant in Suffield, inspired by a packet of mulberry seeds sent to each parish in Connecticut. (Mulberry trees are the food of the silkworm.)
9) Yes
10) a. Impartial Herald
We use a lot of salt, along with sand, for de-icing our roads when the weather gets slippery, and this widespread use of salt has some serious environmental impacts. That’s why Suffield’s Highway Department is looking into a product called Ice Chip. Ice Chip, developed by a Windsor Locks entrepreneur, Joe Rouleau, is a plant-based product which is supposed to leave nothing behind to damage the environment. Salt rusts out our cars, as well as bridges and railroads. It damages plant life along the roads, is bad for pets who eat it or walk on it, and the run-off is especially problematic for wetland areas and aquifers, destroying aquatic life.
One of the projects for Suffield’s 350th anniversary celebration is to republish Robert Alcorn’s The Biography of a Town – Suffield, Conecticut 1670-1970, published in 1970 along with a Volume 2, which would be a compilation of Suffield stories from the last 50 years that brings us from the late 1960s, where Alcorn’s book left off, through the past 50 years to 2020. Our tentative idea is to call it 50 Stories for 50 Years. We are looking for residents (or former residents) who have a story to tell. The stories might be about growing up in Suffield, about the farming community, about your church, your committees, your non-profit group, education, real estate, development in town, etc. and how these stories have evolved over the past 50 years from the 1960s to now.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, January 29, a driver on Mountain Road dozed, ran his SUV off the road, and broke a utility pole just east of the entrance to Park View Glen, across from Suffield Middle School. He was injured and transported to a hospital. The momentary perturbation in electrical power was felt at SMS and McAlister and briefly affected homes nearby on the north side of Mountain Road. Both schools opened normally. But the pole was key to power and communications to a large part of Park View Glen, and several dozen homes in the eastern part of the condo community lost their connections.
Get ready for our semiseptcentennial anniversary in 2020 by helping to create a board game celebrating our 350-year history! The illustration above is from a game created for Scranton, but “Trivia Quest Suffield & West Suffield” will be modeled on our community, featuring prominent buildings, public lands, and community organizations framed by the Connecticut River and the Congamond Lakes. The board consists of yellow, blue, orange, red, green and purple spaces. Each color has a corresponding dollar value. Questions are progressively more challenging based on the monetary value, with yellow being the easiest and purple the most challenging.
Don’t miss Suffield Night with the Hartford Yard Goats on Saturday, July 13! They will be playing the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the game starts at 6:05 p.m., plus FIREWORKS after the game! Please call Suffield Parks & Rec at 860-668-3862 for tickets.
1) a. 2) b. 3) b. 4) b. 5) a. 6) d. 7) d. 8) c. 9) b. 10) a.
State law mandates that a canvass of voters be conducted annually in the first four months of each year to ascertain changes of voter’s residence. Suffield’s canvass is underway. People often move within and out of town without notifying the registrars of their address changes. Therefore, the canvass helps to maintain an accurate voter list. If you receive a Confirmation of Voter’s Residence notice (CVR), please complete and return it within 30 days.