Celebrate Connecticut Open House Day in New Haven County 2026

Come to the Harrison House Museum and receive a free tour of the historic Harrison House, the barn, and the gardens. Learn about life during Colonial times and about Branford's history. The Harrison House tour is appropriate for all ages.

Enjoy complimentary admission to the Barker Character, Comic and Cartoon Museum and get ready to take a trip down 'Memory Lane'!

Featuring a private collection of over 80,000 toys, collectibles, and memorabilia; it does not matter if you're a child, or just a child at heart, get ready for an afternoon filled with laughter and joy as we celebrate over 100 years of play!

In celebration of America 250, come enjoy an immersive display of our Nation's many flags and the history behind them. Additionally, view our 1976 time capsule filled by Norton Elementary school and guess what's inside! This time capsule has been sealed since 1976 and will be open this July 4th, so be sure to come back to discover what treasures are sealed within!

Calling all detectives, treasure seekers, and puzzle solvers!  Join the quest for the Giant Golden Chalice at the Osborne Homestead Museum on Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 12noon to 4pm. Learn about history, art, and more with a map and clues that will lead you to the hidden treasure! Bring your thinking caps, skills, talents, and A-game to find the missing golden chalice!  This is a free, family-friendly event, and participants can play the game at their own pace.  

Enjoy free trolley rides at the Shore Line Trolley Museum during Connecticut Open House Day from 11am-1pm. Travel along a scenic stretch of the Farm River aboard a historic electric trolley and discover how public transportation shaped Connecticut’s communities. Explore exhibits, visit the museum shop, and experience a unique piece of living history.

Come to the Dudley Farm where we will be providing free tours of the historic Farmhouse Museum and of the Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum. Learn about life on a farm during the Victorian Era in the Farmhouse and about the indigenous population that lived on the land in Dawnland Museum.

Free admission to Connecticut's oldest house with a unique behind-the-scenes experience seeing how the Whitfield House is being preserved for future generations. Most of the collection has been moved out in preparation for a rehabilitation project that will include repointing stone walls and replacing antiquated electrical wiring. The project commemorates America's 250th, funded in part by a federal Semiquincentennial grant administered by the National Park Service.

The Hyland House Museum provides a tour that represents the lifestyle of families, through its museum's collections, spanning three centuries.

Take a free, guided tour of our 1685 house led by docents in period dress. Observe antique tools displays and hearth cooking demonstrations. Outdoors, stroll the wildflower walk and enjoy the large perennial garden impeccably maintained by The Garden Club of Madison.

In honor of Madison's 200th anniversary of incorporation, the Madison Historical Society is pleased to host a Flag Day Celebration on June 13 at 11 am at its historic schoolhouse, Lee's Academy. This event is free to the public. It will feature patriotic music by the Scranton Strummers, a Presentation of Colors by the American Legion and the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, and a ceremonial flag raising by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The program will also include a reading by Madison's poet laureate, Ed Lent, along with remarks from local and state dignitaries, followed by a ceremonial proclamation recognizing the historic occasion. The Scranton Strummers will conclude the ceremony with additional patriotic Selections. Following the ceremony, the public is invited inside the schoolhouse to the MHS's Madison Center for History & Culture. There, they can enjoy light refreshments and view an exhibit of Revolutionary War artifacts, along with historical flags from the Society's collection.

We're throwing open the studio doors and you're invited! Join us at Eventful Splat & Craft Studio Connecticut's newest (and messiest) place to get creative.

When: Saturday, June 13 | Drop in anytime between 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Eventful Splat & Craft Studio, 1371 E Main St, Meriden, CT

Special - 10% discount on all craft projects and the Splat room. Reservations required, sessions sell out. EventfulCraftStudio.com.

Hands-on Studio Crafts for adults and kids
Access to the Splat Room (yes, it's as fun as it sounds)

Come say hi, make a mess, and help us kick things off with a splash (of color, of course)!
 

Step inside Lost in New Haven for our biggest scavenger hunt yet: the America250 hunt! Try to find the 250 uniquely American artifacts from our list among tens of thousands in our collection - free admission on Open House Day, 12-5pm! Family friendly.

Explore history, discover immersive exhibits, and view the stories of our city up close. No ticket required. Just curiosity.

80 Hamilton Street, New Haven - plenty of free off-street and unmetered street parking, close to New Haven apizza!

The New Haven Museum is a vibrant center for exploring the people, places, events, and ideas that shape and define the Elm City! Open 12 p.m.-5 p.m. with free admission on Open House Day.

Join the New Haven Museum 12-4 p.m. for their new exhibition, “New Haven’s Unfinished Revolutions.” Discover an immersive environment exploring key moments when freedoms were expanded or restricted in New Haven as the nation commemorates the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. View original objects, enlarged photographs, and an interactive connecting you to New Haven’s role in national movements that transformed ideas about human rights and liberty.

Visit this 18th century brick school house and step back in time to become a scholar using slates and slate pencils and quill pins. A docent will lead you through the fun and educational experience. Enjoy playing Colonial games - fun for ALL ages!  Come between 10 am and 3 pm for your free visit.

Bullet Hill School
215 Main Street North
Southbury, CT

The Old Town Hall Museum has been revived this year for America's 250th celebrations with an exhibit called, Revolutionary Southbury: Untold Stories, Unheard Voices. Discover the town's stories through the eyes of women, suspected Tories, POWs and the enslaved soldiers. Don't miss the special display of a British musket ball from the Danbury Raid, that was embedded in a Southbury soldier for 33 years!  Colonial toys are available for try out for all ages. Open from 10am to 3pm. The Museum is located at 624 South Britain Road, Southbury.

Take a step back in time and visit this small, perfectly preserved library, built 122 years by a master builder. Your memories will be revived of going to your favorite library, including a wooden card catalog, original date stamp, and more! Look for the old traveling library in a wooden box from the 1830s. We will be open from 10am to 3pm for you to see this treasure.

South Britain Library
576 South Britain Road
Southbury, CT
 

Make Your Own Chocolate Bars and Free Mini-Tours !!

Fascia's regular Chocolate Experience has been enjoyed by tens of thousands since 2013.  For Open House Day, participants can take advantage of the Make Your Own Chocolate Bar part for just $7 each, 40% off the regular price.    

Then, enjoy a free version of the rest of the Experience and learn all about chocolate. It's fun and perfect for all ages.  Register at ExperienceYourChocolate.com

The Mattatuck Museum invites visitors to enjoy two exciting experiences as part of Connecticut Open House Day. Through Access for All, supported by Art Bridges, admission to the Museum will be free for all guests throughout the day. Visitors can participate in Ask A Curator from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., where guest curator Camilo Alvarez will be available in the galleries to answer questions and engage in conversation about the exhibition *Ascendancy: The Self in Contemporary Art*. Guests can also explore a lineup of exhibitions on view throughout the Museum, including *About Face: 250 Years of American Portraits* in the Whittemore & Noonan Galleries. Presented in celebration of the nation's semiquincentennial, the exhibition examines American history through portraiture, exploring how artists across 250 years have represented identity, citizenship, and belonging. Visitors are encouraged to engage with an interactive portrait selfie station and community talk-back wall featured within *About Face*. Additional exhibitions opening June 13 include *Psychedelic Splendor: The Concert Art of AJ Masthay & Helen Kennedy* in the Munger Gallery and *Theodate Pope's Highfield: A History* in the History Gallery. *Psychedelic Splendor: The Concert Art of AJ Masthay & Helen Kennedy* showcases the vibrant and imaginative world of contemporary gig poster design through the work of Connecticut artists AJ Masthay and Helen Kennedy. Independently creating screen-printed posters for some of the most influential rock, jam, and counterculture bands performing across North America, the artists bring together bold color, intricate detail, and psychedelic imagery in this dynamic exhibition. Featuring more than twenty works created for bands including Black Sabbath, Dave Matthews Band, Dead & Company, Foo Fighters, Goose, The Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam, and Phish, the exhibition marks the artists’ first museum presentation together and celebrates the evolving art form of concert poster design. Sponsored by Keith and Jane Mahler.

Our two history museums will be open from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm. These museums are filled with a variety of artifacts from Wolcott history.  The Stone Schoolhouse museum located at 155 Nichols Road is 205 years old and features school history, tools and kitchen and farm utensils.  Our Center School History Museum located at 154 Center Street contains military and farm history as well as information on two well-known residents who were born and grew up in our town, Seth Thomas and Amos Bronson Alcott.

The Amity and Woodbridge Historical Society will hold a Witness Stones plaque-laying ceremony honoring the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked at the Darling Farmstead and History Museum.