Southport's fall calendar this year comes down to two addresses on one street. Pequot Library sits at 720 Pequot Avenue, and Southport Congregational Church is at 524 Pequot Avenue. Between mid-October and Thanksgiving weekend, the village's biggest dated events all take place at one of the two buildings.
The busiest stretch runs from November 3 to November 13. In those eleven days the library and the church hold back-to-back events, and they share a theme. One is a map exhibition about how America was claimed and fought over. The other is a design show about British influence. A collection of early Americana fills the gap between them.
October is for the library's youngest visitors
Pequot Library's October calendar is mostly for kids and teens, and the dates come fast:
- Spooky Sensory Storytime, Thursday, October 15, 10 to 10:45 a.m., in the Wright Room. It includes pumpkin painting, a Halloween treasure hunt and stories.
- Halloween Costume Swap, Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the library auditorium. The library has been taking gently used costume donations since September 21, and the last day to drop one off is October 15.
- The Haunted Library, a teen event, Wednesday, October 28, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
- Halloween "Boo Fest" Movie & Costume Party, Saturday, October 31, 1 to 3 p.m., in the auditorium. Crafts, games and a screening of Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest.
The swap and the Boo Fest work as a pair. A costume picked up on the 17th gets worn two weeks later in the same auditorium, on Halloween afternoon. Full listings are on the Pequot Library events calendar.
The map show that sets up November
The library's main fall exhibition, which already opened, also ties together everything that follows. Lines of Liberty: Maps, Power, and the Making of America opened October 8 and runs through January 9, 2027.
It draws on the library's own historic maps, atlases and manuscripts. The focus is the Revolutionary period, when maps helped European powers claim territory and guided armies across disputed ground. Some of the earliest maps of America hang alongside letters and military records about how the war was experienced in Connecticut. The library asks visitors to treat maps as objects shaped by the knowledge, purposes and values of the people who made and used them, not as neutral pictures of the world.
The opening night on October 8 featured The Jovial Crew performing sea songs and early American ballads, followed by guided tours. That evening has passed, but the exhibition stays up through the holidays. It covers the same period the November events come back to, so seeing it first gives the rest of the month some context.
Eleven days, two addresses
After Halloween the calendar shifts from children's programs to adult ones, and from the library to the church and back.
| Date | Event | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue., Nov. 3 | Out of the Vault: Selections from Pequot Library's Americana Collection | Pequot Library, 720 Pequot Ave. | 2 to 3 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov. 5 | Rooms with a View Opening Party | Southport Congregational Church, 524 Pequot Ave. | 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Rooms with a View, general show hours | Southport Congregational Church | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | A Night at the Hadley, industry networking event | Southport Congregational Church | 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Rooms with a View, general show hours | Southport Congregational Church | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Rooms with a View, general show hours | Southport Congregational Church | Noon to 5 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 13 | Literary Luncheon with Jean Hanff Korelitz | Pequot Library | Lunch |
The Americana session on November 3 is a one-hour look at the library's own collection. It fits naturally between Lines of Liberty in the gallery and the show at the church two days later. The Literary Luncheon on November 13 features author Jean Hanff Korelitz. Tickets are $150 and include lunch and wine.
What fills the church at 524 Pequot Avenue
Rooms with a View is in its 31st year. Designer Albert Hadley founded it in 1995, and it has been held every November since. This year's theme is The Enduring Influence of British Design. That puts the church show in conversation with the library's map exhibition. The library looks at how America broke away from Britain, and the church looks at what American interiors kept from it.
The format stays the same from year to year. Twelve designers each create a small vignette, or "room," set up in the library and great hall of Southport Congregational Church. The building itself is a stone Gothic Revival church.
Around the rooms there is plenty more to do:
- The lecture series. The show runs its own Rooms with a View 2026 Lecture Series.
- The Tartan Shop. This is the show's own bookstore and holiday shop.
- The Marketplace. Outside vendors sell alongside the show.
- The Hadley Library Cafe. It serves coffee, lunch or a glass of wine.
The Friday evening event, A Night at the Hadley, is an industry networking event that raises money for the show's NYSID scholarship. Tickets went on sale October 1 at roomswithaview.org. The full schedule is also posted on Home & Garden CT-NY's event page, since the magazine is a media sponsor.
For anyone with an older Southport house, the vignettes are a useful source of ideas. Twelve designers each take on British-influenced rooms at a small scale, which helps when a real room has limited space.
Thanksgiving weekend returns to 720
The season ends where it started, at the library. Pequot Library's Black Friday/Saturday Book Sale runs Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. Admission is free.
The library advertises more than 10,000 books and media items, picked with gift-giving in mind and described as "like new" or "gently used." Hundreds of CDs and DVDs are priced at $1 to $3 each. Categories include Art/Photography, Children's books, Christmas/Holiday and Cookbooks. The library pitches it as a way to beat the crowds after Thanksgiving and start holiday shopping.
Taken together, the season has a clear order. The library hosts the Halloween events in October. The church takes over for the design show in early November. The library closes out the season after Thanksgiving with a sale meant for holiday gifts. Lines of Liberty stays up the whole time.
The storefront to watch on the same street
One more Pequot Avenue address may join the calendar before the year ends, though nothing has been confirmed. The Hartford Business Journal reported in February that Southport Village Properties LLC, controlled by Southport residents Kerri Miller and Adam Gray, planned a Southport General Store and RoseHill Kitchen, a 26-seat restaurant, at 327 Pequot Ave. Home & Garden CT-NY lists the address as 329 Pequot Avenue. It also says the store goes into the former Spic & Span Market space, a business that had operated in the village since 1928, and that the opening was expected in fall 2026.
As of mid-October, no published report confirms an opening date. RoseHill Kitchen did host a ticketed dinner on Thursday, September 17, off-site at Sport Hill Farm in Easton, which says nothing about when the Southport storefront will open. Until the doors open, the Horseshoe Café at 355 Pequot Ave is the village's long-standing option. It has been in business since 1934 and owned by the Fraser family since 1957. Its charbroiled burger and rotating craft beer list are a short stop between the church show and the map exhibition.
If you leave Rooms with a View thinking about your own rooms, whether that means trim, built-ins or how an older Southport house could take a British-inspired update, Robbie Salvatore can go through what that work involves and what it could add to your home's value. Start with a Free Home Valuation, and we'll take it from there.