Home Care In Colebrook, CT

COLEBROOK — The bell over the door to Spice320 jingled, and in walked a woman talking enthusiastically to owners Alan Thayer and Rich Marchesseault about the homemade soup she had purchased a day earlier.

“Yes,” said Marchesseault, “Alan keeps changing the recipes on some of the soups he makes.” The woman again complimented the owners on the soup’s flavor, and left smiling.

Thayer is a chef with 30 years’ experience. Marchesseault is a designer and builder, who spent two years renovating the circa-1850 former farmhouse at 320 Colebrook River Road where the shop is located.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“It’s been our dream for six years to do a business like this,” Marchesseault said. “Four years ago, before the pandemic, this property came up for sale. I’m going, ‘Al, it’s time for Plan B of our life.’”

Plan B was Spice320, which the owners describe as “a chef-driven marketplace.” In a new kitchen Marchesseault built, which he says is “all up to code and licensed by the Farmington Valley Health Department,” Thayer concocts soups, original spice blends and an imaginative macaroni and cheese dish with white chocolate, which was offered this year for Valentine’s Day.

“I use mascarpone and ricotta for the cheese sauce, nice and creamy,” Thayer said. “It’s something I made years ago at a chocolate festival. It’s award-winning. We entered it in the festival.”

When he tells people he adds white chocolate chips to his creations, “they’ll make a face,” he said. “But it works. People are a little hesitant, but Rick was sampling it the other day, and people just loved it.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Thayer seems to have an affinity for white chocolate. One of his scone recipes pairs white chocolate with cranberries, as well as flour, sugar, heavy cream, baking powder and spices. He stores it in a refrigerator next to “Al’s Lentil & Date Soup,” which also features celery, carrot, onions, sumac, orange zest and cayenne.

“Sumac is a Middle Eastern spice, a berry, and it’s round and it’s very tart and sour,” he said. “I have some ginger there for the under-heat and black pepper and then kale.”

Thayer long dreamed of opening a business of his own. “I started out working in a French restaurant,” he said. “First I traveled to France for several months with a friend. I didn’t work there, but I traveled extensively and ate all around and fell in love with the French cuisine.

"I came back and I found a job where I was working with a French chef, a French-trained chef," he said. "And I worked with him for over seven years and moved up to running a small French restaurant in Essex.”

More than 30 years ago, Thayer was shopping in The Home Depot in New Haven, when a man mistook him for an employee and said, “Hey, I need you to answer a math question.” It was Marchesseault, who was shopping for insulation for a house he was building and needed to calculate square footage. Recalling how they met, Marchesseault said, “I (was) just tired, you know, so I was like, ‘Help. Oh, you don’t work here?’”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

They discovered they both loved to travel, and a few years ago went to Marrakesh, where they saw barrels of spices in a marketplace.

“Oh, we need this at home,” Marchesseault recalled saying to Thayer. “This is brilliant, you know, let’s bring these spices home.”

They began making notes in a journal about the kind of business they could create around spices.

“That trip to Marrakesh kind of crystallized what I wanted to do as a specialty food shop,” Thayer said. “Spices stuck in my head. ... You see cheese shops, you see pasta shops, you see coffee shops, but not so many small artisanal-based, hand-curated blends (of) spices.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

They put Plan B into action. Marchesseault spent long days knocking down walls, repurposing scraps of antique lumber to frame windows or build shelving. Spice320 opened its renovated doors to the public in December 2021.

Almost every detail in the store is Marchesseault’s handiwork, including a whimsical, round window near the bottom of the door to the kitchen, a porthole for children to look through to see Thayer and others working in the kitchen.

One of the kitchen workers recently was a young woman named April Bautista, a graduate of Northwestern Regional 7 High School. She was supervised by Valerie Richard, who works for Highlander Transition Academy, a vocational program for adults 18 to 22, Richard said,

“After they leave Regional 7, they can choose to come to our program," Richards said. "We take them out into the community, and we teach vocational skills and have great businesses to come to like Spice320 that mentors our students and really gives them a nice opportunity to learn skills so that they can be independent on their own in the workforce.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Bautista said she enjoys making biscuits. “It’s nice. They have amazing stuff to sell,” she said.

In addition to Thayer’s original recipes, Spice320 consigns crafts, food items and books from more than 30 local artisans and authors.

“Every day is different,” Thayer said. “It doesn’t get boring.” He said he sources spices and other foods locally and nationally and is working on acquiring them from other countries.

Marchesseault loves interacting with people. “I get excited helping out local artisans, because I’m an artist,” he said.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Spice320 is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, and is closed on Tuesdays. For more information, call 860-464-2580 or go to https://spice320.com.

COLEBROOK >> The historic Colebrook Store will open once again. Defunct since March, the store that was once lauded as the oldest continuously operating general store in Connecticut has spent more time closed than open in recent years. With the help of new store operator Jodi Marinelli, that will soon change.

Marinelli has her fingers crossed that Colebrook’s most famous store will open its doors once more in December after an eight month hiatus. She has a five-year lease on the general store and wants to again make it a destination spot for the people of Colebrook.

“It’s a really cool building. There is a lot of history there,” Marinelli said. “I want it to be a welcoming warm place for people to come, get something to eat and get what they need.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Built in 1812, the Colebrook Store is a minute’s walk from Town Hall in the Colebrook town center. Originally owned by Martin and Solomon Rockwell, the store changed hands several times, thrice selling for under $1,000 in the 1800s. It operated continuously until July 2007, a whopping 195 years, when owner Lora Murphy placed out a sign reading “closed for vacation,” according to the Colebrook Historical Society’s website.

Murphy had no intent in re-opening, the historical society posting says. The store was vacant until the summer of 2013, when the Colebrook Preservation Society purchased the shop for $85,000.

That summer, the store re-opened under the society’s ownership, with operator Miriam Briggs at the helm. As is customary, Briggs and her family lived above the store. After nine months, Briggs again closed the shop. She and the preservation society had difficulty cooperating. Briggs told monthly non-profit news outlet Norfolk Now that the society was “too intrusive” and that she was treated “terribly.”

Members of the preservation society were not interested in discussing the subject and are instead focused on the new operator, Marinelli.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“She’s a really good fit for the town of Colebrook,” Marty Neal, one of the Colebrook Historical Society Directors said. Neal said Marinelli was the clear choice to take over as store operator because of “her enthusiasm, her dedication, her work ethic [and] her experience in the food service business.”

Marinelli plans to move into the space above the store in the next few weeks with her longtime fiancé and two children. Running the store, she said, will be a family affair. Marinelli’s sister, father and teenage daughter Charlotte will have various roles within the store. Marinelli said she’ll hire additional workers if necessary, but for now will stick with this group.

Most recently, Marinelli worked at the Riverton General Store.

“We’re very excited,” Neal said. “We think she’s an excellent choice for the town of Colebrook [and an] excellent choice for the store.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Marinelli said she’s “100 percent” committed to bringing the store back to what it was years ago.

“It’s a great little place for the community,” she said.

Though she would like to re-open in December, Marinelli said nothing is set in stone.

“I’m shooting for December,” she said. “I’m not making any promises. If it has to be the first of the year, it has to be the first of the year.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Reach Ryan Flynn at 860-294-0155.

BARKHAMSTED — Landing a near 30-pound Northern Pike will get you noticed; it might even get you an invited into the “old boys club”.

That’s what happened when Barkhamsted’s Leslie Slater hauled in a 29-pound Northern Pike recently while fishing with her family in Colebrook’s West Branch Reservoir. Not only did she catch what is a record-tieing Northern Pike for Connecticut waters, she had to haul it into her kayak, an act that gave her a few pretty nasty cuts on her fingers when the sharp-toothed fish resisted coming aboard.

“I’ve gotten invited to a boys fishing trip,” said the 40-year-old Slater with a chuckle. “A lot of older gentlemen have told me they have been fishing their entire lives and never landed a fish anywhere like that.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

But Slater is no neophyte to the sport. She learned to fish at a young age from her grandfather and father, and is an avid angler who fishes both salt and fresh waters. Her 11-year-old son, Mason, learned to fly fish at the age of four and a half, and a daughter, Faith, also casts a line in the water.

More For You

Where to find trout? CT is stocking over 500,000 this season.

Judge orders Connecticut nursing home to close, 67 jobs to be cut

What’s the notch at the top of Connecticut’s Massachusetts border?

Sound On Sound is a go in Bridgeport in September

WFSB meteorologist leaves the station after nearly four years

Slater and her husband, Stan, were fishing a deep hole (she estimates it to be about 80-feet deep) when suddenly something struck her Rooster Tail lure. “My husband had landed a pretty big trout and I just wanted to catch something that would beat him. I was jigging up and down in the hole and I actually at first thought I snagged on the bottom. But I knew I had something big when the pole bent when I was reeling it in. I knew I had a fish but thought that maybe I also snagged a log or branch along with it.” But when the pike finally broke water as it tried to elude capture, Slater knew she had indeed latched onto something grand. She said it took about 15 minutes to haul the 46-inch-long fish in after it made several deep dives and then came up to the surface.

“I didn’t have a net so I put my hands under its gill to bring it on board,” she explained. “I got cut by its teeth and I thought I was going to have to get stitches. I finally got the pike down in the front of the kayak and was able to keep my feet on its back to keep it still. It was pretty spent by that time.”

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Slater, the owner/operator of Laugh Time Childcare, didn’t intend to keep the fish, as her family practices catch and release with anything it doesn’t eat. However, her attempts to revive and release the pike failed. At that point, hoping to make something good of the situation she decided to see if it might be a state record. She took it home and put it in the refrigerator, hoping to get the fish officially weighed.

Slater said, “We didn’t have power during the bad storm that hit us but were running our refrigerator with a generator. We kept the fish in there for a few days and then had to put it in the freezer.” A challenge was attempting to get the lunker weighed with a certified scale during a major power outage and COVID-19 restrictions. A deli owner was willing to weigh the fish but the scale proved to be too small for the massive fish, although Slater said the pike drew “ooohs” and “aaahs” from the owner and patrons of the store.

DEEP Fisheries Division biologist Edward Machowski, who has spent the past two decades managing Northern Pike in Connecticut, heard of Slater’s catch and was willing to assist. He called the Slaters after learning of the catch and their dilemma in finding a certified scale. Ryan Craig, the owner of the Berkshire Country Store in Norfolk, agreed to weigh the pike using a certified scale in his deli. Slater plans to have the fish mounted for display.

While Slater’s great catch struck a blow for fisherwomen, she is not the only Litchfield County female making waves on the water.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Andrea Nivolo of Kent, who grew up in New Milford, has built a strong reputation as being highly knowledgeable about fishing. A cover photo on Connecticut Anglers Guide in 2014 sort of launched her into the consciousness of the fishing industry. “It opened some doors for me,” she said. She also appeared on the cover of the New England edition The Fisherman Magazine, and appeared in the Connecticut Anglers Guide again. Her social media handle (@theblondeangler) has about 25,000 followers. She has earned respect in a male-dominated sport. All of this attracted fishing supply and equipment companies, such as Abu Garcia, Berkley and others, whom she represents at trade shows.

Said Nivolo, a young mother, “My mom was an avid fisherman and at one time held the Rhode Island record of having caught the biggest blue shark. I believe people follow me not because I am a woman but because they know I’m dedicated and know my stuff. I take a lot of time trying out new equipment so I can give educated advice.”

“The Fish and Wildlife Division of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection holds women only fishing classes to get more women engaged in the sport, and when they see Andrea leading the class they feel empowered,” said her husband, Jessie.

Holly Jones, formerly of Warren who recently moved to Utah, posts regularly about her fishing exploits on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and has over 1,300 followers on Instagram.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“Orvis has an initiative they call 50-50,” said Jones. “It’s a movement established to get more women into fly fishing and fishing in general. Fishing, as well as hunting, is still very much dominated by males. Even the clothing companies that sell for women are mostly downsized male apparel in pink. We have different bodies and need our own outdoors apparel to feel comfortable.”

Jones believes women should be treated as equals in the outdoors. “Being a female angler, sometimes people overstep how they treat me. I was on a trip with a guide and I was being treated like a little girl when I landed a fish. I wanted that one-on-one moment with what I caught and I was being helped with the fish. The mentality that I somehow need help because I’m a woman spills over sometimes in the sport.”

Here’s a bit of irony to the whole Leslie Slater/Northern Pike story; the fish caught 40 years ago, that her catch tied the state record for, was recorded on the day she was born.

Maybe it was destiny that led her to fish that deep hole in the West Branch Reservoir and strike a blow for female anglers.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Connecticut Media Group

COLEBROOK — Camp Jewell is working to replace its cabins that they said have been used by hundreds of thousands of visitors since 1956.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time, providing safe, great programs for kids,” Craig Dawson, the camp’s director, said after the first day of camp. “This year, camp is more like normal than it has been in a long time.”

The camp, which started in 1901, is a branch of the YMCA of Greater Hartford and serves more than 1,500 campers annually. That’s one reason staff members decided they needed to replace all 24 of their cabins, which they use all year long.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“Being built in ‘56, the buildings are getting a bit older now,” Dawson said. “People don’t want wooden shacks with screen windows and doors. They’re like little houses almost. They’re reaching that age. They’re inefficient. It costs a lot to heat them and upkeep them. We made the decision that we’d need to start replacing them.

The camp is working to raise money to replace the cabins through a capital campaign called “Building Dreams.” They’ve now replaced four of them, just in time for this year’s campers to arrive for the summer.

So far, they’ve utilized grants, like the Urban Act Grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection that helped them complete the last two cabins.

Dawson is hopeful that the statewide reach their camp has will help during the fundraising period.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“No matter where I go, if I’m wearing a Camp Jewell shirt, you’ll bump into someone who went there for camp or with their school,” Dawson said. “We don’t want to, as a nonprofit, we’re not going to hike up fees to pay for it. We just need to raise the money to ensure Camp Jewell remains here for the next 50 or 60 years.”

At one single time, Dawson said, the camp can serve 425 children during an overnight camp.

“We’re a pretty big overnight camp,” Dawson said. “The other reason we’re doing them is that our existing cabins have one shower and one toilet, and they’re not accessible.”

Dawson said the old cabins are still serving their purpose, particularly as demand for camp services this year ramps up with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Each cabin can accommodate 28 people, are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and feature common areas to encourage bonding and friendships.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“The old cabins are still nice. The new ones are going to meet people's needs even better than the old ones at this point,” Dawson said. “There’s a lot of demand this year. Everyone has been tied to technology. They’ve been locked up. Parents want to get their kids outdoors and making friends and doing fun things.”

Dawson said there has been a lot of excitement around camp this year, as they look to continue their goal of teaching children social-emotional skills.

“We make people realize that there’s more that’s similar about each other than that’s different,” Dawson said. “The world can be quite divided. It’s getting people to say I’m a human being and you’re a human being. That helps the kids too. That they’re part of a bigger world.”

July 3, 2022

As U.S. federal officials look to expand wind energy, Connecticut's dense population and environmental concerns will likely preclude many wind farms, like the one shown here, from being built in the state.

West Hartford renewable energy developer BNE Energy is cleared to build three wind turbines in Colebrook, after a Connecticut Supreme Court ruling on Monday ended a three-year legal battle.

This will be the first commercial wind project in Connecticut.

BNE had proposed six turbines for two projects in Colebrook and another two turbines in nearby Prospect. The Connecticut Siting Council, which approves electricity generating facilities, denied the Prospect proposal but upheld the Colebrook proposal.

A group of Northwest Connecticut residents, who had formed a turbine opposition group called FairWindCT, then filed a lawsuit against the Siting Council’s approval of the Colebrook turbines, saying the council made several errors in its approval of the petition.

The trial court dismissed FairWindCT’s lawsuit, and on Monday, the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld that dismissal, saying all of the errors made by the Siting Council were harmless.

FairWindCT does not plan on further appealing the ruling, as it would next have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, said Nicholas Harding, attorney with Hartford law firm Reid & Riege, who represented FairWindCT.

“The reality of the decision is that of the six turbines BNE Energy wants to build, they can build three of them,” Harding said.

The other three turbines in Colebrook still are waiting for approval from the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers.

"Right now we are focusing on Colebrook south," said Paul Corey, BNE chairman. "Once we are done with south, then we will turn our attention to the north project."

BNE will propose some mitigation measures to satisfy surrounding land owners and get the Army Corps. approval, Corey said. Mitigation measures could include items like planting trees.

The vocal opposition that surrounded BNE’s proposed turbines led the Connecticut legislature in 2011 to ban the development of new wind turbines until the Siting Council wrote specific regulations on the technology. Since the Colebrook turbines were approved before legislature approved the ban, the project could have proceeded, if not for its legal battle.

The ban on new wind turbines was lifted earlier this year after the legislature approved the Siting Council’s proposed regulations.