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Many hawks dwell and hunt at Topsmead
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REMEMBERING TOPSMEAD
Conversations with Bob Orintas
MISS EDITH AND CHURCH STREET IN WATERBURY
Part TWO
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Later in 1933, Miss Lucy and Miss Mary invited Miss Edith to live with them at 33 Church St. which was across the street from 42. Miss Lucy’s and Miss Mary’s brother, John Milton Burrall, and his family lived next door to them at 41 Church St. In late 1933 or early in 1934, Miss Edith decided to make the change to live with Lucy and Mary. In order to make that happen, 33 Church St. would have to be renovated to accommodate the change. Miss Edith hired Fred Webster to design the new interior. Meanwhile, Mr. Webster was working on the design of a summer house for the Orintas family which would be added to the three car garage at the farm complex as well as the dovecote, in conjunction with Miss Shipman to be added to the main house at Topsmead. 1934 was going to be a very busy year. 42 Church St. was put up for sale, but it was several years until it was sold to Dr. Charles Audet for his medical practice.
33 Church St. would have to undergo a major renovation. Contents would have to be removed as the new layout would require the changing of the interior on both floors. During the renovations, Miss Lucy and Miss Mary would have to relocate to 42 Church St. for the duration of the construction. Furniture had to be moved and stored as well as personal possessions. I don’t know how the housekeeping staff was handled, but there had to be some changes there as all the staff would no longer be needed. |
I know that Miss Edith had reduced some of the staff at 42 after her mother died. Meanwhile there was always the usual move to Topsmead for the summer months. Thankfully, 33 would be ready in the Fall, so that there would be a smoother transition from Topsmead to there.
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A postcard from mapsofantiquity.com
A vintage postcard of Church Street in Waterbury, Connecticut
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by Margaret Hunt
The pond in winter, December 31, 1969
A memorable snowfall at Topsmead!
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'Tis the Season FOR RESOLUTIONS JANUARY 2025
As the new year approaches, I have been seeing a lot of articles about how to make New Year's resolutions and how to set goals for 2025. A book club friend sent me an article from The Atlantic titled "The Adults Who Treat Reading Like Homework." The article summarized testimony from readers who spoke about their experience participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. Apparently, the challenge of setting a number of books to read in the new year can be the opposite of motivating.
As I was thinking about attaching a number to the amount of books read in a year, my mind was transported into the living room of Miss Edith Morton Chase's Topsmead house. If you have gone on a house tour led by me or another Friends of Topsmead docent, you know that this room is lined with bookshelves, including my favorite one that fills the space above the door to Miss Edith's office. You may also remember that there are almost 2,000 books in the house. Clearly, Miss Edith and her lifelong friends Lucy and Mary Burrall were voracious readers. (Well, not so much Lucy--her choices were more inclined towards cooking and flower tending.) -read complete Musings essay- |
photo by Tom Holzel