Free Family Event Bringing Baby Animals To Ellington

ELLINGTON, CT — A free family event is bringing baby animals, crafts and outdoor fun to a local museum this weekend.

Barnyard Babies Day returns Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Nellie McKnight Museum, 70 Main St., according to the Ellington Historical Society.

The event will feature baby farm animals, barnyard-themed crafts, bubbles and outdoor play in celebration of National Play Outside Day.

Families will also be able to explore the museum’s newest exhibit, “Our Town, Our Story: An Ellington Timeline,” according to the Historical Society.

Oakridge Dairy is also expected to attend and offer samples of Moozy, its new farm-fresh beverage.

The Historical Society described the event as “free for one, free for all” and invited families to spend the morning at the museum grounds.

The Nellie McKnight Museum is owned and operated by the Ellington Historical Society. Nellie McKnight bequeathed her home to the Historical Society to be used as a museum in 1981.

McKnight was born July 22, 1894, on her father’s farm in Ellington, in a house built by her grandfather in 1850 at the intersection of Sadds Mill Road and Muddy Brook Road. She graduated from Rockville High School in 1913 and Mount Holyoke College in 1917.

McKnight taught school until 1929, when she returned to Ellington and became librarian at Hall Memorial Library. She remained there until her retirement in 1967, and many Ellington residents later remembered school trips to the library to hear her stories.