The programs listed below are presented by the Friends of the Morrill Homestead in partnership with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
Please click on the program or event in the list below for more information, or scroll down.
PLEASE NOTE: The Morrill Homestead State Site will be closed for this 2025 Season due to major repairs on the grounds but The Friends are still planning some wonderful off-site events. Please check them out below.
You can register and pay securely online for many events.
May
Wake Up the Garden: Cultivating Morrill’s Gardens (May 31)
June
Walking Tour of Justin Morrill’s Strafford Village (June 14)
Day Trip to Historic Sites (June 21)
July
Online Auction of “Morrill Minis” (July 4-11)
Walking Tour of Justin Morrill’s Strafford Village (July 12)
Morrill’s Speaker Series: What Really Matters (July 20)
August
Walking Tour of Justin Morrill’s Strafford Village (August 9)
Morrill’s Speaker Series: What Really Matters (August 10)
September
Walking Tour of Justin Morrill’s Strafford Village (September 13)
Morrill’s Speaker Series: What Really Matters (September 14)
Wake Up the Garden: Cultivating Morrill’s Historic Landscape
Saturday, May 31, 1-4 p.m. A Free event!
Work with the Homestead’s Master Gardeners to prepare the Victorian gardens for the 2025 season. This day is very important because the kitchen garden will be impacted by the State VDHP drainage project in summer 2025.. The work on this day will be different given what work is ahead of gardens and grounds this season. As always, we are so appreciative for our volunteers!
Come join us and become a part of Vermont’s history as we care for the historic landscape of this very influential American. You can earn all of your Master Gardener outreach hours with us.
What is provided:
Basic garden tools will be on hand. Snacks and beverages will be provided.
All welcome! No experience needed.
Event is free. Please preregister:
Online: Register for free online
Phone: 802-649-2940
Email: director@morrillhomestead.org
Walking Tours of Morrill’s Strafford Village
Saturdays, June 14, July 12, Aug. 9 and Sept. 13
11 a.m. leaving from the Morrill Homestead Entrance
Historical tours of Strafford’s village which remains much the same as in Morrill’s time. Tours include Morrill’s birthplace, his father’s blacksmith shop, two libraries, the Strafford Town House, and the mausoleum where Morrill is buried.
$5.00; Children under 12 free Please pay when you arrive.
Please preregister:
Online: Register online
Phone: 802-765-4288
Email: director@morrillhomestead.org
Sponsored by Strafford Saddlery
Custom Bus Tour Day Trip to State Historic Sites
Saturday, June 21
Explore Vermont in a unique way on a guided day trip to popular historic attractions with links to Vermont State Senator Justin Morrill. The sites we will visit are:
— Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home
— Bennington Battle Monument
— Park–McCullough Historic Governor’s Mansion
— Robert Frost Stone House Museum
Join us on this all day chartered bus tour with guided tours at each site, lunch included, all for the price of $50 per person. Middle and high school grade students will be free if accompanied by an adult.
Click Here to Access the Itinerary for the Day Trip:
Register Here:
Online: Register online
Contact director@morrilhomestead.org with questions.
Sponsored by Kate Cassidy at Four Seasons – Sotheby’s Realty and The Strafford Seniors Club
Underwritten by The Strafford Area Lion’s Club and Mascoma Bank
Minis for Morrill Online Auction: Finding Joy
Opening Reception Friday, July 4th from 5-7 pm at the Homestead.
Join us for Finding Joy, an online action of over 50 mini works of art created by talented artists of regional and national reputation.
Online Bidding Open July 4th, 5:00pm to July 11th, 7:00pm
View the auction at: new.BiddingOwl.com/JustinMorrillHomestead
Sponsored by Agatha’s Resale Shop and Kayen & Liepmann PC.
Morrill’s Speaker series: What Really Matters: Free
July 20th at 4 pm at the Strafford Town House
Meg Mott, “Our Dramatic Constitution”
While the United States Constitution is small in size, it is large enough to support our most dramatic disagreements. Beginning
with the clash between slave states and free states, we have staged all of our controversies on the Articles and Amendments. Even during the Civil War, the Constitution held. This presentation considers how the structure and principles of the Constitution gives us a chance to become better opponents, smarter contrarians, and more savvy about the greater good. We’ll consider times when political polarization threatened a constitutional crisis and how citizens like Justin Morrill kept the constitutional faith alive.
After twenty years of teaching political theory and constitutional law to Marlboro College undergraduates, Meg Mott has taken her love of argument to the general public. Her award-winning series Debating Our Rights on the first ten amendments brings civil discussions on contentious issues to public libraries and colleges.
Meg’s website is: https://www.megmott.com/
Sponsored by VT Humanities.
August 10th at 4 pm at the Strafford Town House
Julia Alvarez, Dominican-American author and educator who writes about the immigrant’s experience and living in a world with a bicultural identity, will read from her latest novel The Cemetery of Untold Stories and engage in a conversation onstage with Jon Stableford, FMH Board Chair, that will include audience participation.
Julia Alvarez left the Dominican Republic for the United States in 1960 at the age of ten. She is the author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, three collections of poetry, and eleven books for children and young adults. She has taught and mentored writers in schools and communities across America and, until her retirement in 2016, was a writer in residence at Middlebury College. Her work was included in the New York Public Library’s program “The Hand of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, from John Donne to Julia Alvarez. “Her novel In the Time of the Butterflies, with over one million copies in print, was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for its national Big Read program, and in 2013 President Obama awarded Alvarez the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her extraordinary storytelling. In 2024, she was the subject of an American Masters documentary, “Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined, “on PBS. Alvarez is one of the founders of Border of Lights, a movement to promote peace and collaboration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She lives in Vermont
Sponsored by Flint, Blake, & Boles Roofing and BGY Diversified and EC Fiber
September 14th at 4 pm at the Strafford Town House
Shirley Jefferson –“Where Do We Go From Here”.
This talk will explore the experience of growing up in Selma, Alabama, during the Civil Rights movement. It will focus on the challenges faced during that time and highlight the accomplishments achieved. Additionally, the discussion will examine how both these historical experiences and achievements are currently being challenged by the new administration.
Shirley A. Jefferson joined Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) in 1999. She is a member of Vermont Law School Class of 1986. Jefferson currently serves as the vice president of community engagement and government relations and is the school’s first vice president of color. In this role, she reports directly to the VLGS president and provides strategic insight and advice to the school’s senior leadership regarding community issues; local, state, and federal government matters; and efforts for the enrichment of society and intercultural understanding. Jefferson previously served as a special assistant to admissions, director of alumni affairs, associate dean for student affairs and diversity, and Title IX coordinator. She is also a professor of law and has taught race and the law, civil rights litigation embedded racism in the law and non-profit organizations. She is a nationally sought after speaker and adviser on matters relating to race and the law and equitable access to legal education.
Sponsored by Flint, Blake, & Boles Roofing and BGY Diversified and EC Fiber