Salisbury Association Site

Holiday Concert
2025-12-06 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | Congregational Church of Salisbury, 30 Main Street, Salisbury, CT
Holiday Concert: Stay Tuned for Details

Closed for Veteran's Day
2025-11-11 08:00 - 17:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
We will be closed on November 11 in observance of Veteran’s Day

The American Revolutionary War in the Northern Colonies - Tom Key talk at the Scoville Memorial Library
2025-11-09 16:00 - 17:00 | Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, 06068
Sunday, November 9, 2025
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Scoville Memorial Library
38 Main Street, Salisbury
The battles in the Northern Colonies didn’t win the revolution, but they helped set the stage for victory. The defeat of the British at Saratoga convinced the French to send troops to assist the colonists. Washington, primarily because he kept his army together through difficult times with little help from Congress, was finally acclaimed the rightful leader of the army and the fledgling nation. And finally, the British in the Northern Colonies were confined to New York City only.
Registration is required and available here.
This event is in connection with the community READ of Revolution Song by Russell Shorto. Join us in reading and discussing Revolution Song, and come participate in a variety of related events during the second annual Salisbury READS, October 2025 through March 2026.
This year’s READ is presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association, the Salisbury Forum, the Scoville Memorial Library, and the Troutbeck Symposium.
To learn more and see the whole calendar of events, please visit Salisbury READS.
This talk will take us from the early battles of Ticonderoga (led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, both from Connecticut) and Quebec (led by General Montgomery and Arnold) to the final battle in the Northern Colonies at Monmouth Court House. The battle, though actually a draw, showed that the Colonials could stand up to British regulars.
We will discuss how Washington was badly beaten at Brandywine Creek while his chief rival for command, Horatio Gates, was winning at Saratoga. We’ll also recall how the British army surrendered and was marched from Boston to Virginia, passing through Salisbury and camping at our own Stiles Meadow.
We’ll ask key questions about strategy, class, religion and commitments: Why did the Thirteen Colonies fail to get the Canadian colonies to rebel? Was a class divide maintained despite the declaration that “all men are created equal”? And why did General Arnold betray the Colonies? Was it money, his Tory wife, the mob, the belief the British would win, hurt feelings, or something else?
After graduating with a BS Engineering from University of Tennessee, Thomas Key spent four years on active duty as a Flight Officer, US Navy, and seventeen years in the Naval Air Reserves, retiring as a Commander, USNR. His professional career was with an international engineering firm, designing and constructing steel mills, nuclear and fossil power plants, and chemical plants, etc. He also served as CEO of two subsidiary engineering firms. Thomas Key has a secondary career as a landscape painter and has exhibited in over thirty galleries and invitational/juried shows from Delaware to Maine.

Salisbury Commemoration 250
2025-10-30 - 2025-12-31 | Various Venues
Join us as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, with an exciting lineup of events, starting at Fall Festival and continuing through 2026!
Fall Festival: Kicking off the 2025-2026 Salisbury READS, the Salisbury Association and Scoville Memorial Library have partnered to give away copies of Revolution Song by Russell Shorto. The free books will be available at the library beginning October 11 and continue as long as copies last!
This year’s Salisbury READ is presented in partnership with the Scoville Memorial Library, the Salisbury Association, the Salisbury Forum, and the Troutbeck Symposium.
While the list is growing, Salisbury Commemoration 250 planned activities currently include:
Historical Talks & Book Discussions:

Tom Key, The American Revolution in the Northern Colonies (November 9)
Darlene Kascak, Quinnetukut: Our Homeland, Our History (January 11)
Peter Vermilyea, Revolution Song Book Discussions (January 25, February 22, & March 15)
Russell Shorto, Revolution Song author with historians Peter Vermilyea and Rhonan Mokriski (March 27)
Peter Vermilyea, on his new book on Litchfield and the Revolutionary War (April TBD)
Adam Ward Rome, author of Connecticut’s Cannon; The Salisbury Furnace in the American Revolution (May TBD)
Tom Shachtman, on How the French Saved America (date TBD)

Revolutionary War Re-enactors: Sheldon’s Light Horse will lead the charge (date TBD)
Music (Spring dates TBD):

The Salisbury Band will perform period music
Salisbury School students will present songs from the musical “Hamilton”

Exhibits: Recreation in the Academy Building of the Cannon Museum from the Holley Williams House
Self-guided Walking Tour: Furnace Village (aka Lakeville)
July 4th: Annual Independence Day Celebration at the Grove

Challenges Facing Healthcare in the Northwest Corner, a talk with Joanne Borduas, CEO of Community Health and Wellness (CHWC), about healthcare in the Northwest Corner and the impacts of impending federal funding cuts.
2025-10-21 17:30 - 18:30 | The Reading Room, Scoville Memorial Library
Join us October 21 for a dynamic talk with Joanne Borduas, CEO of Community Health and Wellness (CHWC), about healthcare in the Northwest Corner and the impacts of impending federal funding cuts.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
5:30 – 6:30 PM
Reading Room – Scoville Memorial Library
38 Main St.
Salisbury, CT
Registration is required and available here.
This program is presented in partnership with the Scoville Memorial Library.
Registration is requested. Please scroll down and use the registration link below.
Learn how federal funding and Medicaid cuts will impact you and your neighbors in the Northwest Corner, including access to primary care and emergency departments, school-based health centers, and transportation to health services for seniors and disabled residents.
Joanne will also bring us the latest report on how CHWC continues to provide care to the residents of our region.
All are welcome, and we invite you to stay for conversation with Joanne Borduas and CHWC providers following the program. Pizza, salad, and refreshments will be provided.
Joanne Borduas serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Health & Wellness Center (CHWC), the only comprehensive Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Northwest Connecticut. In this role, she oversees the organization’s operations, managing approximately 30,000 annual patient visits across three health centers in Torrington, Winsted, and the newly opened Regional Health Care Center in North Canaan, serving the surrounding towns. With a career spanning over 37 years, Joanne is dedicated to addressing health inequities and ensuring that quality healthcare is accessible to everyone, especially vulnerable populations in the region. In recognition of her exceptional leadership and selfless service to the Northwest Corner, Joanne was awarded the prestigious 2024 Community Leader Award by the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. She was recently recognized by The Connecticut Rivers Council, one of New England’s largest private youth-serving organizations, serving more than 17,000 youths across Connecticut, as one of 25 Most Influential Women in CT.
More about Joanne Borduas
More about Community Health & Wellness Center (CHWC)
News about challenges facing local healthcare: “Health Advocates Across the State Brace for Fallout from Medicaid Cuts” (The Lakeville Journal, August 20, 2025)

Schaghticoke: Stories of Survival
2025-10-18 13:00 - 14:00 | Sharon Town Hall, 63 Main St, Sharon, 06069, United States
Join the Sharon Land Trust, the Salisbury Association, and the Sharon Historical Society for a special presentation with Darlene Kascak of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation.
Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 PM
Sharon Town Hall
63 Main Street, Sharon, CT
Attendees will be immersed in the past and present-day lifeways of the Schaghticoke people. Learn how they adapted to survive the changes brought by colonization, working together for the good of their community and innovating through their knowledge of natural resources.
Registration is requested and available here.

Salisbury Association Open House
2025-09-13 16:00 - 18:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Please join us to celebrate the refreshed Academy Building exhibit space to view a display of purses and other accessories from the costume collection to learn more about the Association Light refreshments will be served.

It's In the Bag! Vintage Reticules and Other Purses from the Salisbury Association's Collection
2025-09-01 10:00 - 2025-12-31 13:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States

Independence Day Celebration at the Town Grove
2025-07-04 12:00 - 14:30 | Town Grove, 42 Ethan Allen Street, Lakeville
Independence Day Celebration at the Town Grove, sponsored by the Salisbury Association. All are invited.

Mushroom walk with Dave Patton - time TBD
2025-06-14 10:00 - 10:30 | Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, 06068
Mushroom walk with Dave Patton. TIME TO BE DETERMINED Scoville Memorial Library

From Echinacea Pollen to Hungry Caterpillars — Stories from the Forest and Field with Michael LaScaleia
2025-06-12 17:00 - 18:00 | Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, 06068
Scoville Library Talk Followed by a Walk to the Salisbury Land Trust Vincent Preserve
Join Michael LaScaleia for a 30-minute talk and Q&A at the Scoville Memorial Library (rain or shine). After the Q&A, we’ll take a short walk (weather permitting) to the Salisbury Land Trust’s Vincent Field for a discussion about what’s happening in the meadow. Socks and sturdy shoes are recommended.
Michael LaScaleia is the Putnam post-doctoral fellow at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum. His research focuses on his wide-ranging passions in ecology as well as his eclectic interests in plants, caterpillars and parasitoids. He hopes that his research in these systems will unlock the tools needed to fight invasive species.
When Michael is not hunting for caterpillars, you can find him hiking, kayaking or reading a fantasy novel.
Michael holds a B.S. in Biology and Environmental Studies from Tufts University and a Ph.D in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut.
This program is sponsored by the Salisbury Association Land Trust and Scoville Memorial Library.
Space is limited. Registration is required and available here.

Bird Walk with George Wallace
2025-06-08 08:00 - 10:30 | Location To Be Determined
Bird Walk with George Wallace. 8am Location TBD. This event will be part of the Connecticut Trails Day, sponsored by the Connecticut Forest & Park Association

Go Native!
2025-06-07 10:00 - 2025-07-31 13:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Exhibit: “Go Native!” Academy Building

Look for us in the Salisbury Memorial Parade
2025-05-26 10:00 - 11:30 | Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, 06068
Look for us in the Salisbury Memorial Parade. Parade begins at Scoville Memorial Library and follows Route 41 via Main Street to honor veterans at the cemetery.

Exhibit: Local Student Projects from the Troutbeck Symposium
2025-05-10 10:00 - 2025-06-10 13:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
The Troutbeck Symposium is a student-led collaboration uncovering our local history through student authored documentaries, art exhibitions and posters. On April 30 and May 1, middle and high school students from 20 regional public and independent schools gathered to listen, present, and discuss findings of their research projects uncovering little-known local histories of communities of color and other marginalized groups that tie to our national fabric.
Schools with projects on display in the Academy Building: Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Salisbury Central School and Salisbury School

Student exhibits from Troutbeck Symposium
2025-05-06 10:00 - 13:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Student exhibits from Troutbeck Symposium at the Academy Building.

Morel Mushroom Hunt with Dave Paton
2025-05-03 10:00 - 11:30 | Location To Be Determined
Saturday, May 3, 10 – 12pm Sugar Hill in Salisbury
Join Dave Paton in search of morel mushrooms, the first mushrooms of the season. Meet at the top of Sugar Hill. Sugar Hill Road is 0.4 miles north of the Amesville/Water Street bridge. Parking is next to the trailhead at the very end of the paved roadway.
Limited to 20 participants. Sign up here…

Defeating Invasive Bittersweet & Reversing Forest Collapse
2025-03-29 10:00 - 14:30 | Sharon Town Hall, 63 Main St, Sharon, 06069, United States
A Free Two-Part Event Hosted by the Sharon Land Trust, the Salisbury Association Land Trust, the Sharon Conservation Commission, the Sharon Energy & Environment Commission, and the Sharon Audobon.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Morning Presentation: Defeating Invasive Bittersweet & Protecting Standing Trees at Hamlin Preserve
Sharon Town Hall, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Join local conservationist Tom Zetterstrom for a powerful discussion on the devastating impact of invasive bittersweet at the Sharon Land Trust Hamlin Preserve. Tom will share the specific strategies the Land Trust uses to combat invasive species, save trees, and restore native habitats. Learn how volunteers and experts are working to save hundreds of conifers and preserve notable trees, including a towering American elm, multi-stem paper birches, and the Connecticut Champion Wild Apple Tree.
Afternoon Workshop: Hamlin Notable Trees Walk & Hands-on Invasive Control Demonstration
Hamlin Preserve, 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Following the talk, join us at the Hamlin Preserve for a guided Notable Tree Walk and survey the scope of the forest losses due to bittersweet. Learn best management techniques to combat bittersweet, porcelainberry, buckthorn, and privet with expert demonstrations.
For more details and registration, click here

Birth, Death, and Alphabets: The Enduring Legacy of Schoolgirl Needleworks Before 1850
2025-02-22 16:00 - 17:00 | Wardell Community Room, Scoville Memorial Library
Sampler collector and historian Alexandra Peters talks about how these needleworks made before 1850 show us life before the Industrial Revolution from the often surprising perspective of young women.

Talk located in the Wardell Room of Scoville Memorial Library, co-sponsor of this event. Presentation offered in hybrid format, online and via Zoom.
Registration required.
https://scovillelibrary.libcal.com/event/14046661

Opening Reception for Historical Society Exhibit: Birth, Death and Alphabets: The Enduring Legacy of Schoolgirl Needleworks before 1850 with Alexandra Peters
2025-02-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Don’t miss this remarkable show of needlework samplers stitched by girls, mostly aged 5 to 16, between 1689 and 1850. On display through April 30.

Historical Society Exhibit: Birth, Death and Alphabets: The Enduring Legacy of Schoolgirl Needleworks before 1850 with Alexandra Peters
2025-02-15 10:00 - 2025-04-30 13:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Remarkable for their inventiveness and beauty, needlework samplers are historical documents written by girls on silk and linen with needles.

Heirloom Apple Cultivation, Cider Making, & Cider Tasting with Rob Bixby
2025-01-26 14:00 - 15:30 | Wardell Community Room, Scoville Memorial Library
Join apple grower Ron Bixby for a talk on orchard restoration and cultivating organic heirloom apples for cider pressing.
A Salisbury READS North Woods event presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association Land Trust
40 years ago, Ron Bixby acquired an old orchard, overgrown with gnarly little apples. Through years of careful clearing, pruning, replanting, and grafting, he restored the orchard, which is now thriving and producing organic heirloom fruit including Northern Spy, Golden Russet, and Baldwin apples.
Harking back to old traditions, Bixby’s apples are hand-picked in select batches to press fresh and hard ciders that express the distinct flavors of different varietals. Hear his story, packed with knowledge about apple cultivation in our region. Afterwards, please stay to enjoy a tasting of hard ciders from Little Apple Cidery.
Farmer, orchardist, cider maker, and farm cidery operator, Ron Bixby is the owner of Little Apple Farm and Cidery in Hillsdale, NY. In 1980, he bought the old Rudolph Orchard and restored it, adding American heritage fruit and cider apple varieties. In 2016, the cidery opened, followed by the Orchard Bar in 2020. Ron loves growing fruit trees and talking to them. Outside of work, he’s a climber (mountaineer, rock, ice), hiker, bicyclist, and president of the Copake Hillsdale Farmers Market.
What’s the connection to North Woods? Central to Daniel Mason’s novel is the love, care, cultivation, and vulnerability of trees, especially apple trees. Mason’s 300-year saga of a Berkshire house and its occupants chronicles the strange, fortuitous origins and the shifting fortunes of an apple orchard with roots in colonial times. This fictional orchard’s extraordinary fruit — named Osgood’s Wonder — has uncanny connections with an apple variety that may have its origins in Salisbury. The Northern Spy, one of many heirloom varieties cultivated by Ron Bixby, has a fascinating history of its own, which we will divulge at this presentation on heirloom apple growing.
Registration is required and available on the Scoville Memorial Library events page here.
For more information about Salisbury READS North Woods, please visit this program page.

Holiday Puppet Show, Congregational Church
2024-12-14 13:00 - 14:30 | Congregational Church of Salisbury, 30 Main Street, Salisbury, CT
Holiday Puppet Show, Congregational Church, 1 PM Reserve a spot here…

Bird Conservationist George Wallace on Bird Populations in the Northwest Corner: Changes, Needs, and How to Help
2024-12-12 17:30 - 18:30 | Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main Street, Salisbury, CT, 06068
Join bird conservationist George Wallace for a presentation on bird populations in Northwest Corner. Learn about changes in bird populations, how different bird species are faring, what their needs and vulnerabilities are, and what we can do to support birds in the Northwest Corner and beyond. Read more…
George Wallace has been active in wildlife research and conservation for over 40 years, working on projects from bird migration monitoring in Canada and California to seabird breeding biology in Antarctica to protecting habitat for endangered bird species throughout the world’s tropics. George recently retired from American Bird Conservancy where he served in multiple capacities over 18 years including as Vice President for International Programs, Vice President for Oceans and Islands, Chief Conservation Officer, and Director of International Programs and Partnerships. In an emeritus role, he is now an ABC Ambassador assisting with public outreach and web and print publications.

Victorian Christmas Concert, Congregational Church
2024-12-07 16:00 - 17:00 | Congregational Church of Salisbury, 30 Main Street, Salisbury, CT
Victorian Christmas Concert, Congregational Church, 4 PM Reserve a spot here…

Professional Knife Sharpening
2024-11-09 12:00 - 14:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Get your knives ready for Turkey Day! Get up to 4 knives sharpened by a pro, Nick the Knife. Registration required. Spots going fast. You’ll pay Nick directly $1.25 per inch. Reserve your spot here…

67th Salisbury Fall Festival
2024-10-11 - 2024-10-13 | Main Street of Salisbury
October 11 – 13

This fun-filled celebration in the historic towns of Salisbury and Lakeville offers activities and events for people of all ages.

Opening reception for exhibit "The World Comes to Salisbury: Celebrating the Holley Knife Collection" 4 PM
2024-10-05 16:00 - 17:00 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Oct 5–Opening reception for exhibit “The World Comes to Salisbury: Celebrating the Holley Knife Collection” 4 PM

Knife Talk by Theodore O'Neill, descendant of Governor Holley Scoville Memorial Library, 3 PM
2024-10-05 15:00 - 16:30 | Academy Building, 24 Main St, Salisbury, CT, 06068, United States
Theodore O’Neill, the great-great-great grandson of Alexander Holley who founded the Holley Manufacturing Company in 1844, will kick off the exhibit “When the World Came to Salisbury: Celebrating the Holley Knife Collection” with a talk and knife sharpening demonstration at the Library, prior to the Opening Reception at the Academy Building.

Historical Walk Through Ames' Iron Works with Lou Bucceri
2024-09-29 11:00 - 12:00 | Ames Iron Work, Falls Village, CT, Falls Village, CT, United States
Historical Walk Through Ames’ Iron Works with Lou Bucceri, 11 AM
