Fox Valley Homicide: No Perfect Crime Book Signing

May 23, 6:00 pm

When a high-profile political candidate is murdered in her upscale Wisconsin home, all of the evidence points to one man. But when the crime scene is almost too perfect, sometimes you need to view things from a different perspective. Does Lieutenant Kurt Singer, a counterintelligence officer turned Appleton Police Detective, possess the skills to learn the truth?

Hearthstone welcomes Green Bay author David Jones for this evening of museums and murder! The evening will feature David doing a dramatic reading from his newest novel No Perfect Crime as well as signing copies for purchase.

A special note: A good portion of the novel takes place in Hearthstone and includes a character named Lynne Phillips who just happens to be the museum’s curation director! Coincidence? Absolutely not! How often do you get a chance to hear an author read his work where much of the novel takes place!

This is David’s sixth book, all of which will be available at the signing and from the museum’s gift shop.

The event is free. Seating is on a first come basis. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Please join us.

Hearthstone's Nooks and Crannies: A Behind the Scenes Tour

June 5 at 11 am

June 6 at 6:30 pm

June 8 at 11 AM

In this behind the scenes, special limited tour, Hearthstone’s Curation Director Lynne Phillips will take you through the museum to peer, literally, into the nooks and crannies that make Hearthstone so special. Guests will visit the spaces normally not open to the public and hear stories about the restoration of the house as well as the interesting revelations that have been found in the process.

Lynne will open drawers, closets, whole rooms, and complete floors to reveal items not normally on display. Over the past 35 years, museum restoration teams have looked under moldings, peeled away canvas, torn down plaster, and stripped layers of paint to reveal the past. Lynne will relate how restoration is done professionally and, most importantly, how it helps provide an authentic view of the Victorian Era.

As an added bonus, this year’s Nooks and Crannies tours will include an extraordinary evening edition that lets guests experience the museum as dusk falls. Flashlights will be provided.

Please note:

• Tickets for the Nooks and Crannies Tour are $15 and are available on-line only.

• Tours are limited to just 6 guests per tour.

• Please allow for two hours for completion of the tour.

• Guests will be climbing four stories of stairs. 

New Money, New Ideas: Impressionism and Chicago.

June 21 and 22, July 19 and 20, August 16 and 17, September 20 and 21

All tours at 11 am

The Rogers family, as regular upper-crust visitors and then residents of Chicago who were mixing with the city’s elite, would have been exposed to the Impressionist works that were being brought to the city by the Gold Coast elite.

This special tour, authored and presented by Hearthstone’s Executive Director George Schroeder, will provide a detailed exploration of the multitude of connections that are illustrated by the museum’s Cloth and Canvas exhibit. These include:

·  The interplay of period clothing and its representation in in Impressionist art.

·  The Gilded Age’s nouveau riche and their impact on taste and style.

·  The early connections between Chicago and Paris in the 1870s through the 1890s.

·  The Rogers’ time in Chicago and their possible exposure to such new art.

The tour will also include select pieces of original works of art in Hearthstone’s unparalleled period art collection as well as items from the museum’s exquisite historic clothing collection.

Please note:

• Tickets for the New Money, New Ideas Tour are $15 and are available on-line only.

• Tours are limited to 12 guests per tour.

• Please allow for 90 minutes for completion of the tour.

• Guests will be climbing stairs to the second floor.

Summer on the Veranda

June 7, July 12, August 9 FROM 5:00 - 7:00 PM

Do you revel in HBO’s The Gilded Age? Have you ever wanted to feel like a part of Miss Scarlet or Murdock Mysteries? Or maybe that you just stepped off the pages of a Sherlock Holmes short story or Bram Stoker’s Dracula? You can, at Summer on the Veranda.

Relax in late Victorian splendor while you stroll the veranda and first floor at Hearthstone, our beautifully restored 1882 Queen Anne Style residence. Immerse yourself in the period, listening to performances on our 1875 square grand piano with a cool drink in hand served by maids and butlers in livery.

Everyone is encouraged to dress up in their best late Victorian attire. (Think Bridgerton but with even fancier finery.) Don’t worry if “you have nothing to wear,” anything that makes will feel elegant and pampered will more than suffice. (Hey, don’t you still have that bride’s maid dress? That will be perfect. Seriously.) Even just adding a hat will more than do. Ladies are encouraged to wear their best Victorian hats (any lovely hat will more than do) as beautiful hats were de rigueur for Victorian ladies. Gents can sport their own top hat, boater, or bowler. In fact, if you do not have a ladies’ or gentlemen’s hat, we will gladly lend you one from our recreation collection.

Our docents will be dressed up as well playing the roles of hostess or the Rogers’ servants as they welcome you into the home while serving complementary lemonade, iced tea, white wine, or mint juleps.

But don’t feel like you have to dress up. The evening is really about slowing down the pace of life while experiencing the lavish surroundings of Hearthstone.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Proceeds support all of the museum’s operations, including its educational programming. Tickets include beverages. Please note: Tickets are strictly limited. Advanced ticket purchase is strongly recommended as the evenings sell out quickly.