The sign to the Museum cannot be missed – but I missed it on the first pass:

Today we planned to end our visit to three of the New England states, after looking for the best Fall foliage colors. I am happy to report that we found the colors at their peak in the Western parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont!

On Tuesday we drove by the Museum, only to find it closed. In October, and due to budget constraints, it is open only on Thursdays. Today, the start of our return trip was delayed a bit, as we once again returned to the Sloane-Stanley Museum of Tools & Artwork, to experience in person Eric Sloane’s beautiful art work on display. He also had an amazing collection of Americana tools, including many woodworking hand tools. Some of the pieces in the Museum’s collection are outstanding, and rare. Click on the Links button at the Sloane page above to get to the Museum web site.

I will post more about the pieces in the Museum in a future article; for now, I share only a couple of them. Please click on the images to enlarge them.

First up is a “standard tool chest, c. 1840″. It has dovetail joinery; and its contents are on display in a way very similar to the way it was found after the artist’s death:

The chest contents:

The joinery on the carcase:

A special piece in the collection is the following wooden wheelbarrow:

It is made special because he painted in full color, against a gorgeous backdrop:

As we headed South on Connecticut Highway 7, we came across this gorgeous barn:

We will continue our journey West, stopping along the way to take more photos. In the meantime, enjoy!

Acknowledgment: I thank Ms. Barbara Russ of the Sloane-Stanley Museum for allowing me to take photographs for publication on this blog. Although her official title is not “Curator”, she demonstrates the knowledge and research ability to be the Museum Curator.