Connecticut Open House Day is June 9, statewide. Many free or discounted admissions, special exhibits, studio and vineyard tours, plus walks, trolley rides, history and stories, much more. For example, children (up to age 11) ride free all day at the Essex Steam Train (pictured above). Train departures: 11 a.m., 12:30, 2 and 3:30 p.m. Call for details.

Connecticut residents are invited to discover – and rediscover – the state’s exciting arts, history and tourism offerings with a variety of special incentives, such as discounted or free admission, free gifts or special exhibits and activities.

The annual event is coordinated by the Connecticut Office of Tourism, a division of the Department of Economic & Community Development.

Visitors can ride free aboard Selden III, the second oldest continuously operating ferry service in the state, which crosses the scenic Connecticut River near Gillette Castle State Park, Chester to Hadlyme.

Special viewing of a restored 1847 Concord stagecoach, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., at the East Granby Historical Society barn, East Granby Farms, 85 North Main St. Many more places to explore. Complete listing here.

Good things take time to grow – and so do stories worth telling. What do stone-ground cornmeal, a team of Devon oxen and a stone marker to denote something worth saving – and salt marsh hay have in common?

That's coming up.

Meantime, consider this –

“There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage. I won’t have it.

“The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain or Lazarus.”

– Annie Dillard in “A Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek” (which won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction)

An exhibit of 19th and 18th century coverlets from the collection of Lebanon resident Jude Fera, a board member at the National Museum of the American Coverlet in Pennsylvania are on exhibit at the Jonathan Trumbull Jr. House in Lebanon through Aug. 23. Free.

Free admission to the fine art show at the homestead, Maples Farm Park, 45 Bozrah St., Bozrah, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Garden Week at the Emily Dickinson Museum is a celebration of gardening and writing on the museum grounds in Amherst, June 11 through June 14. Hours are 9 a.m. to noon each day.

Work in the earth at the Dickinson home and gardens under the direction of Marta McDowell, landscape historian and author of Emily Dickinson's Gardens. To participate call (413) 542-5084.

Consider becoming a member, which allows access to many events during the year including when McDowell will talk about her latest research on Beatrix Potter and Emily Dickinson at a member luncheon on Tuesday, June 12, 12:30 p.m.