Dede Bartlett

‘New Canaan’s Invisible Crisis’: Domestic Violence Panel Discussion Set for Thursday Evening [Q&A]

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A panel of experts on Thursday evening will discuss what local police have described as “New Canaan’s violent crime”: domestic violence. Moderated by local advocate Dede Bartlett, the panel discussion titled ‘New Canaan’s Invisible Crisis: A Conversation About Domestic Violence’ will be held 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the Jim & Dede Bartlett Auditorium at New Canaan Library (register here, there were already 150 people signed up as of last week). We put some questions to Bartlett ahead of the talk, which she notes also marks the fifth anniversary of Jennifer Dulos’s murder. “Our goal in presenting this program is to raise awareness of domestic violence,” Bartlett told NewCanaanite.com. “To give people resources to help a friend in need; and to describe what we all need to do to make New Canaan a healthier place.”
Here’s our full exchange.

Around Town

Work Starts at NCM&HS for ‘Bartlett Center for New Canaan History’; May 31 Grand Opening Planned

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After moving to an historic Oenoke Ridge property many years ago, Dede Bartlett discovered that she and her husband were just its thirteenth owners since 1749. Soon after, Bartlett said, she began to find “incredible artifacts all over the property—pottery shards, horseshoes, old tools.”

“It’s marvelous,” she said Monday morning from the large room that used to house the research library on the main floor of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. 

“We’ve got two antique barns that are well over 200 years old. And I thought, we really should be doing something more with that. So [NCM&HS Executive Director] Nancy [Geary] and I have worked on a number of projects over the years. Probably three or four projects.

Dede Bartlett

Mobile App Self-Guided Tour of Lakeview Cemetery To Launch Thursday

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The NewCanaanite.com Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Carriage Barn Arts Center. Visitors to New Canaan’s main cemetery soon will be able to tour the hallowed grounds with a mobile app detailing the lives of some of the town’s most noteworthy residents interred there. Using cellular location technology, visitors to Lakeview Cemetery will be able to use the Otocast app for a self-guided tour narrated by a prominent local woman. The app will launch at 4 p.m. Thursday with a special tour, according to Nancy Geary, executive director of the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. “We hope that people will come out,” Geary said.

Around Town

PHOTOS, VIDEO: ‘New’ New Canaan Library Opens to the Public

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Some day soon—“it could even be today,” Town Council Chair Steve Karl said Tuesday morning, addressing a crowd of 300-plus people gathered outside the new New Canaan Library—a boy or girl “will walk through these doors and learn to read for the first time.”

“They’ll be holding their parents’ hands, and when they leave here they may leave with a book in the other hand,” Karl said. “Their eyes will be open and they will begin a journey of learning that will last a lifetime. It’s been a magical journey on the corner of Main and Cherry for 100 years now. I actually learned to read here, as well. When the ribbon is cut in a few short minutes, it will represent hundreds of thousands of hours in long-range planning, thoughtful design, hard work, gritty determination and literally a small army of people putting this together.”

More than three years after library officials unveiled a vision for a dramatically reimagined facility and campus, New Canaan Library opened its doors at 9 a.m. on Feb.

News

Letter: Grace Farms Benefits Wider Community with Other Town Jewels

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Dear Editor:

Forty years ago, my husband and I moved to New Canaan to raise a family. We chose New Canaan for its beauty and charm. But in 40 years, we have seen a vocal minority that has time and again resisted embracing anything new even when that change offered a better quality of life for all. As I look at our town’s jewels, I find too many examples where a small group vehemently opposed their development and/or enhancement: The Glass House was decried by a few, but Philip Johnson persevered. Waveny Castle and grounds needed major repairs when they were gifted to the town, but a vocal minority opposed improvements; the swings at Mead Park were rusted derelicts until some brave moms resisted a vocal minority and installed new facilities; the forces-of-no protested lighting the high school athletic fields until parents and coaches overcame this resistance.