Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center Receives Ridgefield Thrift Shop Grant to Develop a Self-Guided Audio Walking Tour

Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center (KTM&HC) is pleased to announce it has received a generous grant from Ridgefield Thrift Shop to help pay for development of a state-of-the-art outdoor audio walking tour based on the period when renowned architect Cass Gilbert and his wife Julia Finch Gilbert owned the property during the Gilded Age.

“We are immensely grateful to The Ridgefield Thrift Shop for this generous funding, which will help us create new ways for visitors to experience this historic landmark,” said Rhonda Hill, KTM&HC board president. “A walking tour of the campus funded by the Ridgefield Thrift Shop is

an exciting new opportunity for driving visitors to our cultural site. RTS and its volunteers, donors, and shoppers are a valuable resource in the Ridgefield community, and we could not be more pleased to be recognized by them this way.”

The Ridgefield Thrift Shop grant will pay for the cost of curating, designing, manufacturing, and installing a series of 11 permanent, weather-proof museum signs throughout the campus, as well as the cost of curating, creating, and recording an audio component that will take visitors through the tour, accommodating and engaging 21^st-century audiences.

“This grant helps us realize our mission as a regional history center in the heart of the Ridgefield community,” said Hildegard Grob, KTM&HC executive director. “With it, the RTS will help us reinterpret our site for a 21^st -century audience by providing new visitor experiences to explore our 300-year history and contemporary relevance. We are tremendously grateful.”

Photo shows Ridgefield Thrift Shop (RTS) volunteer Mary Coleman, far left, hand-delivered a check to Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center (KTM&HC) Board President Rhonda Hill on March 16, 2020, while RTS volunteer, Marilyn Maneri, center right, stands with Hildegard Grob, KTM&HC’s Executive Director.