Join Windsor Historical Society’s educator Julia Baldini on Saturday, May 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. as she leads a ten mile bicycle tour through the historic heart of Windsor’s first English settlement.  The tour, which covers mostly flat ground, has as its northernmost point Captain Nathaniel Hayden’s brick 18^th century homestead on Hayden Station Road.  The tour’s southernmost point is the Loomis Chaffee School campus.  Reservations for the tour, limited to 20 participants aged 18 and over, must be made by Friday, May 22 by calling 688-3813, extension 102.  All participants must wear bicycle helmets while riding.

From an automobile going 35 to 40 miles per hour, it is easy to miss details of historic architecture or the scenic beauty of Windsor’s historic landscapes.  Julia Baldini’s tour will feature ten stops, including Windsor’s Palisado and Broad Street Greens, the Bissell Ferry, the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead, and the Loomis Homestead.  The tour is planned so that participants have sufficient time to visually absorb details of architecture and landscape as they listen to ancient and more recent events that took place at the stops.  They also will have things to look for as they enjoy the ride between stops.

Baldini hopes to repeat this tour in the fall and develop others if public interest warrants.  As she notes, “This is part of the Society’s efforts to become a more environmentally-friendly institution.”  Baldini recently offered a composting program for adults and a recycled art contest for children at the Society and lobbied for the installation of a bicycle rack at the Society which happened in April.  She commutes to work and runs errands by bicycle whenever possible.