As the bells and sticks of Morris and Scottish dancers rang out in front of the newly painted facade, doors of the historic Pardee-Morris House opened to the first public program in two years.
It was a harbinger of ongoing reconciliation between the New Haven Museum, which owns the historic house, and East Shore neighbors who yearned for a restoration of the house’s dignity of appearance and its programs.
Some two dozen people gathered on a bright Sunday afternoon to mark the turnaround.
Like other attendees, Emma Piscitelli spoke of fond memories of visiting the house when she was small, in her case on student trips from the local Nathan Hale School.
Such events stopped two years ago when the Museum ran out of money to maintain what NHM Education Director Ben Breton called the oldest standing domestic residence in New Haven.
As the grass grew higher, and the paint peeled, residents mobilized about the sorry state of external maintenance.
Morris Cove Alderwoman Arlene DePino called for an inquiry as to whether dedicated endowment income from the New Haven Museum was being diverted for other than Pardee-Morris uses.
A contentious meeting convened by the East Shore management team in June resulted in a recommitment by the New Haven Museum to regular maintenance. Following that, Attorney General Dick Blumenthal issued a finding that while there had been no illegal activity, $30,000 in deferred maintenance had to be channeled directly to the house.
That has already been well underway since the summer, said DePino.
As she stood by a recreation of a colonial pillory, she received an award from the museum for her leadership.
“We’ve got a very good working relationship now with the museum,” she said.
Results were on display Sunday afternoon.
Piscitelli (pictured) was able to tour an interior she had not seen for 30 plus years. Windows have been replaced and a water line restored. A local committee of volunteer gardeners have helped restore the hedges and an herb garden.
Yet with no heat or proper electricity in the 18th century structure and still no working bathroom for the public, regular public programming will not likely be a feature of the place until the spring.
The furniture that had been in the house resides either at Yale’s furniture collection or at the New Haven Museum; the house is relatively bare. Still, Piscitelli was able to admire a 1780s corner cabinet, likely original to the house that was rebuilt after the structure was burned by the British in 1779.
It now featured Morris Cove-inspired watercolors on exhibit by area artist Emilia Dubicki, a sign of more cultural programs to come.
They will likely include the colonial game of hoops that was happily being played by Sasha Northrup, age 6, and her friends on the now groomed Pardee-Morris lawns.
Volunteer tour leader Christine Schloss said the maple in front of which the kids were playing was likely standing when the British, having invaded at the harbor and overcome Fort Black Rock, marched up and burned their way to East Haven.
She said that in connection with the revitalization of the Pardee-Morris House, this fall the museum’s major exhibit is going to be “East Shore New Haven.” It will feature many of the house’s furnishings that have been removed for safety and preservation reasons.
That exhibition was conceived, and many of the texts written, by Bill Hosley, the former executive director.
In the museum’s latest bulletin, new Executive Director Willlam Miller wrote that the house is now physically sound but cannot be opened to the public on a regular basis until the heating and other systems are restored.
That was supposed to be accomplished through $500,000 in state bonding, but ithe proposal was one of the casualties of the poor economy. Until other money is found for major restoration, programming is likely to be periodic and of a strictly guided nature.
Even the focus of a restored house is still up for grabs.
DePino said that an area committee, formed as a result of the neighborhood rapprochement, is tying to figure out how the PMH can work best for Morris Cove and New Haven. “We’re talking about a possible library, maybe some office space. We used to have programs for kids like butter making too.”
That’s all churning, as it were. In the meantime, energy and synergy seem to be high and the bureaucratic music on key.
She said the next major volunteer effort is for area residents to help in the restoration of the brick paths. Piscitelli said she is an outdoors person and on the spot volunteered to work on that project or the herb garden.
The dark basil growing where an invading British army had trod 230 years before already intrigued her.
