This year, the Suffield Historical Society has extended the King House Museum & Barn tour dates through October 11—giving you even more time to experience this local treasure. October’s crisp air and vibrant foliage make it the perfect season to step outside and explore. During your visit, you’ll uncover stories from Suffield’s past and the legacy of the King House itself. Plus, don’t miss the Artists of Suffield exhibit, still on display and showcasing the creative spirit of our community. The King House Museum & Barn is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm.
BySelected from the pages of the Windsor Locks Journal and lightly annotated by Wendy Taylor of Kent Memorial Library. |
October 2 Spaulding gardens is increasing the capacity of their output by erecting a new greenhouse about 300 feet long. This, added to the present plant, will make one of the largest plants of this kind in this section October 9 The house owned and occupied by Joe Smith was burned to the ground Wednesday night, with its contents. The fire started about 10.45[p.m.] and in a short time was blazing fiercely. Fortunately, Mrs. Smith had not gone to bed as she was waiting for Mr. Smith, who is employed in a paper mill at Windsor Locks and returns home on the 11 o’clock bus. Mrs. Smith smelled smoke and aroused the children sleeping upstairs and they had just time to get outside with what clothing they were wearing.
I deal with angry people on a regular basis. It starts out cordial enough, but it can get ugly fast. It’s not about anything I wrote; or politics; or any of the hot button issues that send people over the edge. It’s about teeth — specifically paying for the care of them. I’m in charge of billing at a dental office.
The 5th Annual Shute-N-Safe Golf tournament to benefit The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, hosted by the Shute family of Suffield, was held on September 11, 2025 at Crestview Country Club in Agawam, Massachusetts. The weather couldn’t have been better. The course had a full complement of 144 golfers. As usual the tourney started with a group photo, a prayer for the fallen on 9/11 and a moment of silence for the recently assassinated Charlie Kirk. Last year, the tourney raised over $26.5K.
One of the things I have most enjoyed about living in Suffield is the people who live here. My neighbors are always quick to lend a helping hand, whether it’s letting someone borrow a tool, helping haul brush to the dump or calling one another to get kids and pets indoors when a bear is spotted in the neighborhood. Beyond that, there’s a shared sense of courtesy. When someone is planning work near a property line, we check in with one another, consult, and make sure everyone is comfortable before moving forward. It reminds me of that old expression, “good fences make good neighbors.” But what happens when those fences—or more accurately, those boundaries—are not clear at all?
Helen Goncher August 11 Age 99 Gil Reid August 13 Age 83 Mary Grabowski August 23 Age 82 Mary Margaret Tracy August 31 Age 92 Paul Zisk September 5 Age 90 Alice Dahms September 6 Age 94 Mary Lou Rodgers September 9 Age 81
Copper Hill United Methodist Church of East Granby is pleased to announce that Juliana Hall has been named as our Director of Music as of June 2025. Juli Hall began studying the piano with her mother when she was six years old and has played in churches from the Midwest to the east coast for more than 50 years, including the past 30 years in the Farmington Valley. During that time, she has been a regular at churches in Avon, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, and Waterbury and most recently served as pianist and music director of the East Granby Congregational Church. Juli is also a well-known composer of classical art songs, having received a master’s degree in composition from the Yale School of Music and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her music has been performed by more than 800 singers and pianists in three dozen countries on six continents, including concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress, and abroad at St.
As the program year evolves, new opportunities for spiritual growth and mission work continue to present themselves.Opportunities for strengthening and sharing our faith and Biblical knowledge occur through worship as well as through small group opportunities:• Sunday Mornings – Reflection, Study, and Prayer – 9:00 a.m. – Library. This time prior to the worship service is an opportunity to settle your mind and soul for the week.• Sunday, October 5 – World Communion Sunday – 10:00 a.m. – Sanctuary –This day is celebrated by Christians worldwide to demonstrate unity across denominations and cultures, symbolized through the sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.• Beginning Tuesday, October 7 – Weekly Bible Study – Library – 11:30 a.m. This begins a weekly series of study that will continue through the program year. Study will not be held on the second Tuesday of the month.• Sunday, October 12 – “Coffee House Worship Service” – Fellowship Hall – 10:00 a.m. This is an opportunity to worship in a less formal, but still spiritual environment. Come early for a time of coffee and fellowship.• Sunday, October 19 – “Spud Luncheon” – Fellowship Hall – after morning worship service – hosted by our Light of Hope Mission team. This is a fundraiser for our Dominican Republic Mission trip in January 2026.
We have a very special project underway at Sacred Heart Parish this month. One of our members is doing an Eagle Scout project for us. We have been blessed in the past by several scouts choosing to offer their services to the parish. This month, Eagle Scout candidate, Max Hansen of troop 66, will undertake the construction of an outdoor Stations of the Cross. He will be using the stations from the former St.
We have a Christmas tree at West Suffield Congregational Church that gets decorated every month. When I came into church for Rally Sunday, I was greeted by the most beautiful tree yet. Running down the center of it was the words “Welcome Back”, with the initials WSCC at the top. Welcome back was written in beautiful script on cards in Korean, French, Norwegian and many other languages. The tree was decorated with hydrangeas and ribbons.
For every time there is a season – October at First Church welcomes autumn! First Church continues offering worship at 10 a.m. every Sunday in the Sanctuary, entering into a season of thankfulness and giving.First Church welcomes all new attendees, and those who have attended many years, to join us for worship for 1 minute, 1 Sunday, 1 month, 1 year…whatever calls to you!The First Church 2026 giving campaign has begun! The ministry and mission of First Church rely on the generous giving of members of the church and the Suffield community. Through the years, First Church has continued to be a beacon of inspiration and hope to others, supporting mission activities locally and worldwide. Learn more about First Church’s impact all month long as speakers, newsletter articles and more share stories and history of the ministry and faith call of First Church and its community.
Last spring, Trees for Suffield partnered with Kris Pryce, Principal of McAlister Intermediate School for an Arbor Day event. The school was involved, about the importance of trees in an outdoor program and dozens of students helped shovel dirt and water on the two newly planted sugar maple trees.The students were also tasked with naming the trees. The trees have been officially named “Mick” and “Alister”. Just in time for the start of the school year, the strong and healthy looking trees have been tagged with their new names. Photo by: Danna Gauntner Mick and Alister have been waiting all summer for their student friends to return.
$6,000 crowdfunding goal to receive matching grant from Sustainable CT’s Community Match FundThe Trees for Suffield Initiative is Planting for Tomorrow by replenishing Suffield’s historic tree canopy through a 10-year planting plan. Continuity relies on the replacement of the old trees with new young trees. With a consistent effort to Plant for Tomorrow our tree-lined town center will remain the shaded and beautiful scenic roadway we know today. We are raising funds to plant more trees next year.Resident Chris Childs remarked “I am so excited to be supporting
Photo by Danna Gaunter As the Chinese proverb goes: “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best is now”.
In mid-May, Suffield High School Junior Katie O’Hara and her friend Leigha Johnston cleaned up trash on a one-mile stretch of the Connecticut River bank. Her parents helped. Photo by Lauren O’Hara Katie O’Hara (left) and friend Leigha Johnston. The four collected 95 pounds of plastic, styrofoam, food packaging, cigarette butts and more near Hilltop Farm. It was part of the Save the Sound initiative, a 50-year-old nonprofit based in New Haven, which works to protect the land, air, and water of Connecticut and Long Island Sound.
There is now a pamphlet that has information corresponding to the sixteen numbered and labeled signs along Windsor Locks Canal Trail. It explains why the canal was built, its multiple uses and the purpose of canal structures. Pamphlets can be picked up in two locations, on the back wall of the shed closest to the trailhead in Suffield and at the Windsor Locks entrance. Photo submitted by the author Sign at the canal Headworks
There are 15 points of interest and a “EN’ sign indicating an eagle’s nest observation point. Number 1 is found just inside the Suffield entrance.
If you’re filling your countertop food scrap bin too quickly and making frequent trips to the town dumpster, Sustainable Suffield’s six-gallon pail with a locking lid could be the solution, according to Co-chair Anna-Kristin Daub-Murphy. It measures 13 ½” diameter at the top, 12 ¼” diameter at the bottom and 13 5/8” tall with the lid locked on. She suggested that you put it in your breezeway, garage or cellar and dump your countertop contents into it to reduce your dumpster visits. She said you can dispose of food scraps loosely, in biodegradable bags, or even in paper grocery bags. Free, three-gallon biodegradable bags for countertop bins are available from the library and from Colin Moll’s assistant, Kris Lambert, on the second floor of the Town Hall.
Homemade Cookies Day – October 1 “OCD- Obsessive Cookie Disorder” – Cookie Monster “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” – Barbara Johnson “I love watching keep-fit videos while munching chocolate chip cookies.” – Dolly Parton International Day of Non-Violence – October 2 “Non-violence is the summit of bravery.” – Mahatma Gandhi “In spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace” – Martin Luther King, Jr. “Nonviolence doesn’t always work – but violence never does.” – Madge Micheels-Cyrus World Teacher Day – October 5 “It’s the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom.” – Michael Morpurgo “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” – B.B. King “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” – Josef Albers “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” – Colleen Wilcox Eleanor Roosevelt born – October 11, 1884 “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss event; small minds discuss people.” – E. Roosevelt “I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity.” – ER “In all our contacts it is probably the sense of being really needed and wanted which gives us the greatest satisfaction and creates the most lasting bond.” – ER Farmer’s Day – October 12 “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower “My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher. But every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.” – Brenda Schoepp “Bailing twine turns every farmer into MacGyver.”
The first meeting of the Polish Heritage Society was held on Tuesday, October 24, 2007. The group was co-founded by Harry Kozikowski and Mary Anne (Kelly) Zak, with a lot of help from Lorraine (Kulas) Rapacki. The inaugural members of the group defined their mission to collect, preserve, and perpetuate the history and culture of Polish immigrants who began arriving in the Suffield area in the late 1890s. The Suffield Historical Society adopted the PHS as a subcommittee in the spring of 2007.In the early years, the PHS, predominantly comprising first-generation Polish Americans, made significant strides in documenting their family histories and interviewing others to gather more information about the immigrants who came to Suffield. These invaluable histories are now housed in the archive room of Kent Memorial Library.
