Osborne Homestead Celebrates Centennial Wedding Anniversary

DERBY- In honor of the 100th wedding anniversary of Frances Eliza Osborne and Waldo Kellogg, the Osborne Homestead Museum will have a special exhibition of wedding pictures taken at the Kellogg Estate gardens and Osbornedale State Park.

Its gardens and grounds have in the past and continue to provide an ideal and affordable destination for wedding photography. For the entire month of October, visit the museum and view wedding photos from the 1970s to the present day. 

Frances Eliza Osborne and Waldo Stewart Kellogg married October 21, 1919 at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Derby.  As Frances wrote to her mother, their love was as strong as “Romeo & Juliette or any of the storybook lovers,” and their marriage was one of equal partnership.  Frances was already a successful business woman and community leader when she met Waldo, an architect who supervised the design of the Veteran’s Hospital in West Haven.  They ran Osbornedale Farm, at what is now Osbornedale State Park, and contributed to the design of the museum.  

This special wedding exhibition will recognize and honor the couples who have had their wedding photos taken in the state park. About eighteen wedding couples’ photos will be featured in the museum.  You might even see the wedding pictures of your relatives, friends, and neighbors!  Along with their photographs, there will be a display of bridal gloves, wedding accessories, and the Kellogg’s wedding gifts.  Wedding stories and legends will also be featured.  

Get inspired, learn about wedding legends, and celebrate Frances and Waldo’s, other “Kellogg” couples’, and your wedding anniversaries at the Osborne Homestead Museum throughout the month of October.  

The Osborne Homestead Museum, a facility of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is open for free guided tours on Thursdays and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sundays from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  It is located at 500 Hawthorne Avenue off of Rte. 34 in Derby.  For additional information email susan.d.robinson@ct.gov or call 203-734-2513. 

(This is a press release from Osborne Homestead Museum)

Derby Elks to sponsor fishing rodeo at Osbornedale State Park

  DERBY - The Derby Elks Lodge will sponsor a free fishing rodeo for children ages 1-14 from 8 a.m.-noon May 10 at Osbornedale State Park.

First, second and third place trophies will be awarded for the biggest fish caught in three age groups.

The winners will also receive a fishing rod and reel.
The pond will be stocked with fish.

For information call the lodge, 203-735-1142.  


This is a release from the Derby Elks Lodge.

Poet to read works at Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby

DERBY - Philanthropist Francis Osborne Kellogg deeded her 350-acre property to the state of Connecticut for a state park, which led to the creation of Osbornedale State Park.

Kellogg, who died in 1956, supported the arts and brought many famous speakers and performers to the Valley during her lifetime.

To help continue the tradition all are invited to celebrate spring and Mother’s Day at a special poetry reading and book signing by Marilyn Nelson at the Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Ave.

The program will be held at 2 p.m. May 11.


Nelson will open the season with readings from her collection of poems, "Carver: A Life in Poems."

This collection provides young readers with a compelling, lyrical account of the life of revered African-American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver.
Born in 1864 and raised by white slave owners, Carver left home in search of an education and eventually earned a master's degree in agriculture.
Rising to head the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Institute and known for his studies on sweet potatoes, cow peas and peanuts, Carver provided the world with many products and agricultural innovations.
Nelson tells his story through 44 poems celebrating the man and his accomplishments. She is the author or translator of 15 books and five chapbooks.

Image Journal writes, "American history as conceived by Marilyn Nelson is the inside-out, last-shall-be-first version. She inhabits the voices of the overlooked and disenfranchised and shines light into forgotten corners that reveal essential truths about the whole....But if she is a revisionist historian’s poet, she is also a child’s poet, a mother’s poet, a housekeeper’s poet, and scientist’s poet....It’s this breadth of perspective, from pole to pole, past to present, from spheres domestic to atmospheric, that make her so remarkable. Nelson is also an openhanded citizen of the nation of writers." 

Nelson's honors include two NEA creative writing fellowships, the 1990 Connecticut Arts Award, an A.C.L.S. Contemplative Practices Fellowship, the Department of the Army's Commander's Award for Public Service.
In addition, she has received a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, a fellowship from the J.S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Frost Medal—the Poetry Society of America's most prestigious award, for a "distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry."

Nelson is a professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut. She was (2004-2010) founder/director and host of Soul Mountain Retreat, a small non-profit writers' colony; and held the office of Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut from 2001-2006. 

The staff of the Kellogg Environmental Center is honored to host Nelson.

The program is offered free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Refreshments will be provided.

The Kellogg Environmental Center, operated by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information call 203-734-2513.

This post is taken from a press release from Kellogg Environmental Center.

Snow + sleds = recipe for winter fun

Derek and Katelyn McMahon of Middletown enjoy the winter weather.

Friends Grace Saldana and Leah Gilbert of Derby demonstrate the art of having fun.


Thanks go out to April Pruzinsky of Derby for contributing these photos she took at Osbornedale State Park in Derby.

Fall foliage found in Derby

Pickett's Pond, Osbornedale State Park, Derby

After an interview in Derby today I took a ride over to Osbornedale State Park to see if I could snap a photo or two of autumn colors.

Sunny morning at Osbornedale.

I found some beautiful colors and lazy person that I am I actually took these without getting out of the car. Lazy and in a rush, I suppose.


Do you have autumn photos you've taken in and around the Valley? Send them to me at pvillers@nhregister.com and I just may post them.

Thanks in advance.