Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Creating Beautiful Keepsakes Since 1970

By Clementina Verge
Photos by Ryan Lavine

Intricate diamond necklaces or rugged cord bracelets—jewelry captures attention, reflects individuality, and often carries emotional significance.

“More than an accessory, jewelry is a reminder, a keeper of meaning and memory, a way to express yourself and your story, ” reflects James Michael Murphy, designer and managing partner at Onyx in Woodbury. “From generation to generation, it stands the test of time and can be enjoyed in its original state or repurposed into a new piece.”

Legacy and repurposing have been woven into the Onyx story since 1970, when Zenaida Perez founded it after she fled Cuba. Grandson Daniel Sanchez spent his childhood at her side and, after briefly attending law school, “passion for jewelry and Onyx” propelled him to return and assume leadership in 2005.
“As I reflect on my life and the history of Onyx, a story that comes to mind is one told by a decades-long client,” Sanchez reminisces. 

She remembers walking into the original Onyx in Waterbury in the mid 1980s and, while browsing, she heard a little voice asking, “Can I help you?” She turned toward the showcase, but didn’t see anyone. Again, the little voice asked, “Can I help you?” This time, she leaned over the displays to see a boy not yet tall enough to reach the counter looking up at her. That little boy was Sanchez.

“Hearing her tell this story made me smile, and retelling it makes me smile to this day,” he notes. “I guess I always had this business in my blood. I wasn’t old enough to know it then, but something about the jewelry store was inherently appealing: the beauty, glamor, and artistry captivated my young imagination. I ended up where I was meant to be, and I am so lucky to be able to do what I love and to have taken Onyx to a new level.”

“Our aesthetic certainly sets us apart,” says Murphy, who joined Onyx in 2013, further propelling it from a tiny storefront to a show-stopping space. “Everyone is vocally taken by its design, feeling as though we have brought Manhattan to the Hills.” 

In a way, they did. Before settling in Connecticut, he and Sanchez resided in New York City, bringing its sophisticated residential allure into the store with inviting fireplace seating and beautiful artwork. The jewelry is similarly striking.

“Custom design and redesign is our calling card,” states Murphy, who has designed thousands of engagement rings alone. 

“Great collections say something about you,” he remarks, encouraging clients to value pieces beyond trendiness and material status. “If I laid out my jewelry, walked away, and you didn’t know anything about me, I’d like to think it tells a story of who I am, and serves as a window into what I appreciate and where I’ve been.”

Moving forward, Onyx remains committed to meticulous craftsmanship and meaningful customer relationships.

“We love being part of the experience, the memory,” says Murphy. “All I’ve ever wanted is to leave this world more beautiful than I found it, and I hope I’m spreading beauty through jewelry making its way into someone’s life.”—onyxjewelers.com

 Nearly everyone has a favorite Christmas movie, even if they don’t celebrate Christmas. And Connecticut—or the idea of Connecticut—has played a central role in Christmas movies throughout most of cinema history. In holiday classics from 1942’s Holiday Inn to the 2005 Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle The Family Stone, a snow-globe version of the Nutmeg State’s country charm competes for top billing no matter who plays the leading role. Never mind that a white Christmas in Connecticut is about as common as a red-nosed reindeer.

According to actress and film historian Illeana Douglas, “a huge part of the success of these films is the presence of the perfect Connecticut house.” Douglas recently hosted a screening of another movie whose focus is a Connecticut house, the classic screwball comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse at Bantam Cinema and Arts Center. “So, it’s ironic that most of those houses were built on a Hollywood sound stage.” 

Most, but not all. Because of Connecticut’s proximity to New York, its attractive film production tax credits, and the abundance of camera-ready architecture and quaint towns, a lot of the locations of these films are real, even if their names are not.

Douglas presented Mr. Blandings as part of Bantam Cinema and Arts Center’s new Storyteller Series, regular film screenings with special guests who often have a tie to the area such as actress/director Dorothy Lyman and actor/director Campbell Scott. 

In her new book, Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia, Douglas, who lives in Haddam, devotes an entire chapter to Christmas movies shot and/or set in the state. In it, she claims the 1945 classic Christmas in Connecticut marks the first time the word “Connecticut” was used in the title of a movie. The film was inspired by the writing of Gladys Taber, who lived at Stillmeadow Farm, which is now part of the Southbury Land Trust.

Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan, Christmas In Connecticut is also set in a made-up town, this time one called Stanfield, which Douglas suggests is a mash-up of Stamford and Litchfield. And even though the film was inspired by real people and places, Hollywood art directors were responsible for building the sets in California. Released just as troops were starting to return from World War 2, Christmas in Connecticut was what today we’d call a monster hit. Its popularity created an indelible—if somewhat idealized—image of hearth and home that now is so closely identified with Connecticut that Christmas movies set in the state number in the dozens.

“A slew of Hallmark Christmas movies has made Connecticut look like Santa’s backyard and a cozy place to spend the holidays—and, yes, still discover who you are,” Douglas says in the book, alluding to Connecticut’s other role throughout cinema history, which is to act as a setting for a movie’s protagonist to leave behind city life and learn about their true nature. 

“The authenticity of the environment …brings about the realization that there is a better way to live.” We think that part, at least, is true.

To learn more about Connecticut’s fascinating role in the history of American cinema, signed copies of Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia are available for purchase at Bantam Cinema and Arts Center. Go online for tickets to BCAC’s Storyteller Series and regular showtimes, or to find out how to support BCAC, now in its fourth year of operation as a community-run nonprofit organization.—bantamcinema.org. 

By Paul Marcarelli
Courtesy of Warner Brothers

Julie King leads Litchfield County’s “be homeful” campaign to fight family homelessness.

By Cynthia Hochswender
Photos by Lisa Nichols

In this season more than any other, the nearly 5,000 people who experience homelessness on any given night across the state—including 480 here in the Litchfield County region—need a place to call home. 

It isn’t just the loss of holiday traditions in a safe home setting; it’s also the weather. Winter in Connecticut is not for the faint of heart.

Keeping residents in their homes or seeking homes for the displaced is important 365 days of the year. But the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness understands that, in the winter months, the need feels especially acute.

For nine years now, the Coalition has organized a campaign called “be homeful for the holidays,” with underwriting from the Connecticut REALTORS Foundation, that is specifically targeted at family homelessness. To date, the campaign has helped keep more than 1,500 families with more than 3,000 children out of emergency shelters.

The “be homeful for the holidays” campaign kicks off in October and runs through the end of the year. Its goal is to raise money that will be used to keep children and their families in their homes, so they never need to enter a homeless shelter—during the holidays or at any time throughout the year.

To help raise money and awareness, Connecticut Realtors host fundraising events and set up displays at area libraries that feature a Paddington plush bear and Paddington book, and decorative trees or wreaths with scannable QR codes that make donating easy.

Paddington is the cuddly “spokesbear” of the campaign. Generations of young readers have loved the visitor from Darkest Peru, who arrived at Paddington Station in London, in the children’s books by Michael Bond. Along with a distinctive blue toggle coat and red felt hat, he has a note around his neck that asks, “Please look after this bear. Thank you.”  

A commuter spots the bear, brings him home, and makes him part of the Brown family. For each $25 donation made during the campaign, a child currently in a shelter for the holidays receives a Paddington plush bear. Through this campaign, more than 5,000 bears have been donated to children in homeless shelters across the state. The Connecticut REALTORS Foundation sponsors the bears, so that all donations in total can go directly toward preventing family homelessness and keeping children and families housed.

The Litchfield County portion of this statewide holiday campaign is organized by Julie King, the manager for multiple offices in Litchfield County of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. Not only does she marshal agents and staff to take part in the campaign, she also works with the ownership of the parent company to donate generously. Sotheby’s fundraising parties are held in conjunction with townwide holiday celebrations in Washington and Salisbury. In the past nine years, the company has raised approximately $50,000 for the campaign and the fight to end family homelessness here.

This year’s events will be announced on Instagram @livelitchfieldhills. To donate online, visit CTR Foundation.—behomeful.org

Good Food for a Good Purpose in Falls Village
By Charles Dubow
Photos by Ryan Lavine

Most restaurants have a simple mission: Make good food that people want to eat. But Mountainside Café in Falls Village has a second, even more important mission: Make good food in an environment where people recovering from substance abuse can learn life skills that will help them succeed in the outside world. Mountainside Café gets it right on both scores.

Opened in 2014, the café is affiliated with Mountainside, a treatment facility that is headquartered nearby in North Canaan. “Our philosophy is to nurture and nourish our community by providing farm-to-table ingredients from local farmers, growers, and producers,” says Jason Chartier, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and Mountainside’s vice president of food services, who oversees the café. “We reinvest 100% of our proceeds back into the café and vocational programs for our clients. Equally important, the café also provides a safe, supportive space for individuals in recovery through our extended care program, to work part-time as they adjust to their new sober lifestyle.” 

Judging by the lively crowds that swell its charming, light-filled dining room, the café is doing a great job. On a recent weekday visit, every seat was filled and more people kept coming in. “You should see it on the weekends,” grins Dan Smith, Mountainside’s vice president of strategic operations. “You’ve got to get here early. We have people coming from all over the Northeast.”

The simple yet tasty (and reasonably priced) menu, overseen by executive chef John Horrigan and general manager Sarah Winkley, changes with the seasons; but certain favorites, such as the Country Burger made with beef from Hurlburt Farm in West Cornwall, and the Johnny Cash Skillet, made with eggs, bacon, cherry tomatoes, and cheddar, can always be found. Other menu highlights include the pulled pork grilled cheese with barbecue sauce, bacon jam, and cheddar on sourdough; the avocado sandwich with provolone, tomato, red onion, chipotle aioli, and arugula on grilled wheatberry bread; the shaved steak sandwich with bell pepper, red onion, and provolone on sourdough with a beef au jus; and the streusel French toast with cinnamon apple compote. 

“We are really proud of the work that we do here,” says Smith. “Most of our clients come from the Northeast, but we have also had people from around the country and even overseas. In the 26 years since Mountainside opened, we have helped more than 25,000 individuals; and because of the café, many of them have been able to find careers in the food service industry, even in some of Litchfield County’s best restaurants.”

Both Chartier and Smith are more than employees of Mountainside. They are also alumni. “Mountainside literally saved my life,” says Smith, a brawny, bearded man who is the picture of health. “I graduated 13 years ago and have been working here since 2014. I’m originally from Westchester, but I love Litchfield County. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. The community has been so welcoming to us, and we want to do everything we can to give back.”

Mountainside Café, 251 Route 7 South, Falls Village. Open for breakfast and lunch Wednesday-Sunday; reservations not accepted.

MOMIX Returns to the Warner

By Clementina Verge 

From a studio that was once a horse barn on a back road in Washington, MOMIX has delighted and astonished audiences globally for more than 40 years. This January, you can catch the company in its own back yard in two performances of ALICE at the Warner Theater in Torrington. 

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, the show premiered at the Warner in 2019 and has been touring worldwide since.

“The show is a magical mystery tour, fun and eccentric,” comments Artistic Director Moses Pendleton, who founded MOMIX in 1980. “Alice falls down that rabbit hole and experiences all kinds of transformation. The show’s a little trippy – like the books.” 

“We’ve created our own wonderland,” notes Associate Director Cynthia Quinn. “We didn’t try for a strict dance realization of the Alice story but used it as a springboard for our own creations. We have the Queen of Hearts, of course, but we also have the Queen of Clubs and the Queen of Spades; all kinds of queens.”

The 90-minute performance fuses dance, light, music, costumes, and projected imagery in a multi-sensory experience. Highly skilled dancer-illusionists extend themselves by means of props, ropes, and other dancers to conjure up the life of Alice in 22 evocative vignettes.

A year in the making, the project began with Pendleton’s research into Carroll’s works. Like Carroll, a serious early photographer, he is passionate about taking pictures and exploring the surreal. “It’s a highly visual and technical show that was first designed on the Warner stage, an excellent place to see it.”

“I often tell the dancers that a great show always merits further rehearsal,” says Pendleton, explaining the process of tweaking performances and working continuously to make them better. “This show has developed a good deal since the premiere five years ago.” Pendleton is quick to credit his team for bringing his visions to life and working hard to transport audiences to a richly imaginative world.

“It’s a collaborative effort and everyone has a role,” he says, acknowledging costumes and props by Litchfield resident Phoebe Katzin, who has been with MOMIX for 20 years, and video design by Winsted resident and MOMIX veteran Woodrow F. Dick.

Though “MOMIX is better known in Italy than Connecticut,” jokes Pendleton, he has called Litchfield County home for nearly 50 years. He moved to the area from Vermont in the mid-70s with other members of Pilobolus, the company he co-founded in 1971. “Nurtured by nature,” as he says, he daily explores the area’s natural features: “A before-breakfast ritual bike ride by farms and fields starts my day, rain or shine. In summer, I swim in the waters of Mount Tom and end up on the edge of hypothermia in October. Fanatical about taking pictures, I’m currently chasing light over decomposing tree stumps at Steep Rock Preserve. What I’ve found there borders on the mythological.”

Whether you’re discovering MOMIX for the first time or going to the Warner shows for years, you’re invited to go down the rabbit hole with the company on January 18 and 19. 

“We wanted to take this show into places we hadn’t been before,” says Pendleton. “We hope you’ll join us there in the New Year.”—www.momix.com

[Sponsored]

By Julia McMurray

Among the serene landscapes of Litchfield County lie the Christmas tree farms that have woven themselves into the holiday traditions of generations. But among these historic farms, which are the oldest?

Averill Farm, established in 1746, has been operated by the Averill family for ten generations. This gem, located in Washington Depot, not only presents a variety of Christmas trees but also a delectable assortment of apples and fresh produce. 

Angevine Farm in Warren was founded in 1868 by the Angevine family. The farm spans generations, offering a range of trees along with wreaths and a holiday gift shop. Enjoy their scenic outlook perfect for picture taking.

Maple Hollow Tree Farm in New Hartford dates back to 1976, when brothers Jim and Pete planted their first trees. The farm is surrounded by forested hills and lazy creeks, capturing the essence of a New England holiday.

Last, Holiday Farm, founded in 1932, is a cornerstone in New Hartford. Its vast selection of trees transforms the farm into a winter wonderland each season. In 1973, Deeply Rooted Farm was started by Jonathan Sederquist. Today, Farmer Jon and his wife, Patti, have combined their successful strawberry business with their line of edible fall ornamentals and Christmas trees.

As time moves forward, these Christmas tree farms stand as a testament to the timelessness of tradition.

Camella’s Cupboard delivers more than food—it delivers care and community.
By Michelle Madden
Photographs by Anne Day

 “When kids are stealing food from the high school cafeteria it’s not just ‘what teenagers do.’ They’re stealing because they’re hungry.” Angela Chastain is the founder of the food service Camella’s Cupboard. She remembers her boys coming home from school and telling her that some kids never brought lunch. She began packing three sandwiches every day for her kids to give away.

Hunger is easily hidden. It could be the young teacher with a family, or the carpenter whose seats at the table more than double—from two to five—overnight. “Our triplets are now ten,” explain Bill and Jill, holding a box of cabbage, spaghetti squash, and microgreens. “They love cooking. With food like this, we can eat well.”

Chastain is well acquainted with hunger. Her mother, Camella, was one of eight, with an alcoholic father who moved the family every time he couldn’t pay the rent. Chastain began the organization in 2017 as a summer lunch program for youngsters who qualified for free school lunch. From this seed has grown an operation serving 800 families, and relying on 60 volunteers to collect, pack, stack, and distribute weekly. To date they have served more than 1 million “meals.”

Camella’s Cupboard differs from most pantries, as the staples are not canned goods but fresh produce, bread, dairy, and meat. Clients must have children at home, and be residents of the greater New Milford area, including Washington, Kent, and New Preston.

Outside the building, a line of cars is forming. Pick-up starts at 4:30 pm on Fridays at the Pettibone Community Center, but cars start coming at 2:30 pm. “We never run out of food,” says Chastain, “but families are excited.” One volunteer greets the driver and gets a headcount of children, to determine the number of mixed snack bags. “Three kids and a pack of size two pullups [diapers are distributed too],” she calls to another volunteer, then opens the trunk, and carefully lays the purple bags inside. By the time distribution is over at 7 pm, 250 families will have been served.

Food and personal items are donated from stores such as Big Y, Whole Foods, and Stew Leonard’s. The reasons are many, from slightly damaged containers to expiration dates approaching, or a company’s change of package graphics.  

In the early days, Chastain relied exclusively on community donations. “I created an Amazon wish list with $25,000 worth of goods. By the end of the summer, everything was purchased. It was then that I knew we were going to be OK,“ she says, her eyes welling up with tears of gratitude. “Most of our donors are not wealthy. They are people who know that they may be one job away from needing this themselves.”

The virtuous cycle of giving is powerful. One of the women registering families is trilingual, and translates for those in need. When she is done, she will collect her own purple produce bags and bring the love home to her own family.—camellascupboard.com

By Litchfield Historical Society

Photo Courtesy of Litchfield Historical Society

Harriet Beecher Stowe is best known for her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and her work as an anti-abolitionist; but here in Litchfield County, she is also known as one of 13 children of famed preacher Lyman Beecher (and sister of the even more famous Henry Ward Beecher).

Although Harriet and the Beecher family lived in diverse parts of the country during their lives, they are most associated with Litchfield. Some of Harriet’s writings give a picture of life here in the county seat—notably her book Poganuc People.

Although Poganuc and its inhabitants are works of fiction, Stowe based each character on real-life residents of early 19th-century Litchfield. Perhaps the most precocious was Dolly, a young girl Stowe modeled on herself.

Like Stowe, Dolly is the daughter of a Calvinist preacher. Like all Calvinists of the time, the family does not celebrate Christmas. When an Episcopal Church opens in Poganuc, however, Dolly is amazed at the festivities.

Sneaking a glimpse through the windows, Dolly watches the churchgoers “dressing the church with grand pines, laminating the church, and a candle in every pane of glass, making the church as ‘light as day.’”

Through this fictionalized version of her youth, Stowe captured for readers not only a view of Litchfield in the 1810s, but also a sense of what the holiday season meant over 200 years ago.

Chore: A Win-Win Situation
By Wendy Carlson

In 1992, Ella Clark, a social service agent in Sharon, noticed that several elderly residents in town were struggling with chores and housework. With a small grant, she started Chore Service, which helps individuals and families who need affordable help to live safely and independently at home. 

Last February, Chore Service and Litchfield Hills Chore Service in Bantam consolidated. It serves more than 200 adults and people with disabilities with in-home, non-medical assistance in 13 towns in Litchfield County. 

The nonprofit is partially funded by a grant from the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, which subsidizes all clients aged 60 and over, regardless of income. Clients donate based on monthly income, and the 40 employees who work for the service are paid based on their expertise, says executive director Jane MacLaren. They provide light housekeeping, laundry, grocery shopping, transportation to medical appointments, outdoor work, and compaionship. As little as three or four hours of services a week can be enough to keep people in their homes, regardless of their ability to pay, she says.

“We get calls from clients daily, so the need in the area is great and the reward for workers is limitless,” she says. 

Many workers at Chore have developed friendships with the people they serve. They become part of the family. So, it’s a win-win situation,” MacLaren says.

When Francois Dischinger chose the Litchfield Hills for his weekend home, he never imagined it as a place to finally debut his lifelong passion of realizing his creative impulses—particularly as they relate to the rather obscure convergence of generative photography and abstract painting.

Always an experimenter and a mountebank to the digital crowd, Dischinger has returned to the analog darkroom, a place where the seemingly impossible becomes possible, to return to the essence of what it felt like when, as an 11-year-old, he first plunged his film into the developer, observing in the green safelight as the chemical reactions produced the startling results of his optical experiments.

A practical career in photography ensued, and the heady brio of fashion, design, and celebrity features soon satisfied Dischinger’s desire to be featured and published in the leading editorial magazines—which were considered the ultimate platform for creative expression. Soon enough, however, he was led back to the darkroom by a dear friend, who reignited the spark.

Now finally debuting this latest chapter with “Into the Light: Photography and Painting,” Dischinger has launched Yo Studio, a work and gallery space in North Canaan, where one can experience his work in person. His show is open through January.

Yo Studio, 91 Main St., North Canaan—yostudioct.com, [email protected], francoisdischinger.com