Library Grounds
Memorial Garden
"Memorial Garden Dedication Set for Saturday" (The North Haven Post, Friday, September 26, 2003)
The Memorial Library Association announces the dedication for the Library Reading Garden on Saturday, Sept 27, 2003.
The dedication will take place in the garden at 10 a.m. The public is invited to attend.
The Reading Garden is the parting gift of the Association to the library.
Chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1884, the Association was the governing board of he Memorial Library until 1972 when the library became a town department. It is the oldest sitting board in North Haven.
The Association has continued its support of the library over the years by providing "seed" money for many projects and services not covered in the library budget. The first computer, the initial security system, the CD collection, the video collection, the microfilming of the North Haven Post are but a few of the projects initially funded by the Association.
With their parting gift of over $70,000 to the Town, the Library Reading Garden will become the lasting legacy of the Memorial Association. Upon the garden's dedication on September 27, the Association will dissolve.
Current members of the Association are Paul Stuehreber, President, Dr. Allen Hutchinson, Treasurer, Lorraine Martin, Phyllis Kaercher, Eileen Donahue, Ann Bacon, and Mary L. Rapuano.
The garden will be used for story times and small library programs. It will also be open for the enjoyment of all that care to visit.
The architectural firm of Fredricksen and Guido of North Haven designed the garden. Plantings were purchased from Preferred Properties of Cheshire.
Members of the garden committee are Phyllis Kaercher, Lorraine Martin, and Ann Bacon of the library association, Jianny Keegan representing the North Haven Garden Club and Library Director Lois Baldini.
Garden Sculptures
"Weed Picker"
This sculpture by David Millen is made of steel and concrete.
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Donated by North Haven resident, Natalie Rae.
"The Dancer"
This sculpture by David Millen is made of steel, concrete, and fiberglass mesh.
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Donated in memory of Suzanne Bonito.
David Millen studied in New York with internationally known sculptor Chaim Gross, and later continued his figurative sculpture studies at the New School. His work has been on exhibition in many galleries, featured in numerous juried art shows, and is held in public and private collections throughout the country. Mr. Millen resides in North Haven.
Rose Garden (Front Lawn)
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The Rose Garden, planted in the spring of 2017, is in memory of former staff member Rose Mangiulli. Mangiulli, affectionately known as "Grandma Librarian," worked in the Children's Department from 1993 - 2012.
Dinosaur Tracks (Front Lawn)
Have you seen the dinosaur tracks on the library's front lawn just outside the library's entrance? Below is an article telling the story of how the library was fortunate to get the dinosaur tracks when the Town of North Haven won a lottery.
"Town Wins Lottery; Gets Dinosaur Tracks" (The North Haven Post, July 11, 1979)
Normally in a lottery, winners receive money, but North Haven got dinosaur tracks instead.
An estimated 180 million-year-old,three-ton mud slab, bearing tracks of a prehistoric lizard, will be on display in the public library here shortly.
The 10-inch thick slab was delivered recently to the local highway department site for safekeeping, by officials from Rocky Hill Dinosaur State Park, while a display facility is prepared in the library.
The prints are speculated to have been made by the dilophosaurus, a two-legged carnivore, and one of the earliest species of dinosaurs, according to information obtained from Richard Krueger, Dinosaur Park chief geologist. This particular species was approximately eight feet tall, 18 feet long, and weighed about one thousand pounds.
According to Fred Scimone, North Haven High Science Department chairman who coordinated local efforts to obtain the fossil prints, North Haven came in fourth in a statewide lottery give-away, in which 26 such dinosaur tracks were awarded to municipalities.
Describing how the impressions were made, Scimone says, these creatures ran through a riverbed, leaving deep impressions in the soft mud, preserved by a build up of silt sedimentation. Geologists term that bottom portion of the solidified mud, bearing the actual impression, a print "negative," he explains. As the top layer of sediment is carefully removed, it contains the print "positive" which is what North Haven now possesses.
Dimensions of the entire slab are about 5112 feet width by 8 feet long and 10 inches thick. Due to existing fault lines, stress points along which cracks occur, the giant artifact should only be moved once more to its final resting place in the library, Scimone prescribed. However, in an effort to share this prehistoric treasure, Scimone said he and science teachers from North Haven's elementary schools will make molded casts of some of the prints, and these will be displayed in each school.
To cast a mold, Scimone described the relatively simple process: The stone imprint is coated with a half cup of vegetable oil, as 10 pounds of pre-mixed plaster of paris cement are applied to the oiled area. The oil base permits easy removal of the hardened cement cast.
According to Library Director Mary Faust, "I think it's very exciting to have the prints, which ought to be in a public place where everybody can see them." The most prominent place to secure and display the slab will probably be the library lobby, she noted.
North Haven Little League Historical Marker
Heaton Field, date unknown (Image courtesy of North Haven Historical Society)
Heaton Field was the first home of North Haven Little League, formerly located on land now occupied by the North Haven Memorial Library. This plot of land was donated to the Library Association by the Heaton Family, whose family home stood just south of the ballfield. The Library Association graciously allowed North Haven Little League to build a ballpark at that site until it was needed for the present library building.
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"North Haven Historical Society Hosting Event to Commemorate Heaton Field" (Shore Publishing, June 14, 2024)
On Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to noon, the North Haven Historical Society will host the unveiling and dedication of a stone marker indicating the original site of Heaton Field to celebrate Little League’s roots in town. This event will be held on the front lawn of the North Haven Memorial Library at 17 Elm Street. After brief remarks by First Selectman Michael Freda and honored guests at 10 a.m., the marker will be unveiled.