Gold Award Project Begins

On March 25 Margaret Czepiel, a Girl Scout from West Hartford, started her ambitious Gold Award project here at Hill-Stead.  For those not ‘down’ with scouting parlance, “Gold Award” equals “Eagle Scout project” if you are a Girl Scout.

Margaret Czepiel-Is that a halo over her head?

There were scouts of all kinds there to help Margaret. Her goal is to transform our Pump House into a jewel-box nature center, an exhibit space highlighting the natural history of Hill-Stead. Together they removed decades of dust, repainted windows, removed brush, erected a bird house and identified future steps to take to fulfill the objective. Margaret’s family was there, as well as museum staff. Margaret carefully determined how best to preserve the historical import of the building, working with Curator Melanie Anderson, Eric Easton of Operations and Naturalist Diane Tucker. At the end of the day they all packed up their vans, picked up their equipment and were gone in a puff of dust, which I could swear was the last remaining particles of rust-laden detritus from the Pump House interior. Either that or the end of a dream sequence.  But no, they’ll be back, and soon, for Margaret plans to measure for pedestals and stands that will sit over the old plumbing fittings, providing places to showcase things as well as safety in navigating around the room free of tripping hazards.  Stay tuned for more on Margaret and the Natural History Bungalow-to-be.

Tags: children and nature, environment, Girl Scouts, Nature, outdoors, Uncategorized