PLYMOUTH NOTCH, Vt. – The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site hosts the sixth annual Plymouth Notch Antique Apple Fest Saturday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. This celebration of the harvest pays special tribute to the apple! Visit our heirloom apple orchard and sample vintage apple varieties.
The day begins at 10 a.m. with the third annual Coolidge 5K, a professionally timed road race that winds through and around the historic village. Prizes are available for overall top finishers and age-group winners. Non-runners are invited to participate in the “I Do Not Choose to Run” one-mile walk at 11 a.m., honoring Coolidge’s famously short statement that he would not seek reelection for president in 1928. To register, contact the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation at www.coolidgefoundation.org/coolidge-5k.
Rob Mermin presents “Silents Are Golden: A Celebration of Silent Cinema” at 1:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council’s Speakers Bureau, this entertaining and educational lecture is lavishly illustrated with clips from 100 silent film comedies and dramas from the 1920s. Mermin trained in Paris in 1969 with mentor Marcel Marceau and founded Vermont’s award-winning youth circus company Circus Smirkus.
A variety of activities are scheduled throughout the day including cider pressing, wagon rides, sheep shearing, cheese sampling, and self-guided tours at the Plymouth Cheese Factory. View the work of Vermont craftspeople, including spinning demonstrations by Fiber Arts in Vermont. Bring a picnic and listen to old-time tunes performed by the Stringfield Springers. Participate in period children’s games organized by the Vermont Historical Society.
At the Coolidge Museum & Education Center, view the temporary exhibit, “The Roaring Twenties: Fashions, Fads, and All That Jazz!,” which examines one of the most exciting and prosperous periods in American history. The exhibit was funded with generous support from the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation. Also investigate the nationally award-winning permanent exhibition, “‘More Than Two Words: The Life and Legacy of Calvin Coolidge.”
On Sunday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. is the final Grace Coolidge Musicale. The 45-minute concert is free; donations are welcome. Back by popular demand are mezzo-soprano Ellen Nordstrom and pianist Abigail Charbeneau as the Mairzy Doats Duo, performing “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and other classic songs of the 1920s.
The musicale will be held in the President Calvin Coolidge Museum & Education Center. It showcases the piano given to Mrs. Coolidge by the Baldwin Company and used in the family quarters at The White House. It was the first piano ever to be flown in an airplane.
The Grace Coolidge Musicales are organized by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and generously sponsored by the Alma Gibbs Donchian Foundation. For further information, call 802-672-3773, or visit our website, www.HistoricSites.Vermont.gov.