The Black House Project

The Black House Project is a 2-acre site in rural Connecticut, situated on tidal wetlands along the Patchogue River near Westbrook. The Patchogue begins in Westbrook, converging with the Menunketesuck River in a marshy area on the west side of Westbrook Harbor, where the combined stream flows into Long Island Sound. Patchogue is a word adapted from the Eastern Algonquian language family, meaning where two rivers meet.

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples and their ancestors cultivated and cared for the land along what we now know as the Connecticut. The land is the territory of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Nipmuc, and Lenape Peoples, who have stewarded the land throughout the generations. The Black Project is an voluntary annual contributor to the Mohegan Land Trust.

For over seven years, the Black House Project is a self-build collaboration between Jessica Varner and David Baker, which questions making in times of crisis, materials in a broken industrial production system, rural community life, and the environment in an era of collapse. 

As an interdisciplinary, invited residence research project (including history, anthropology, art, natural science, ecology, and science studies), researchers engage with seasonal themes during two sessions (spring and fall). The first residents (fall 2024 season, fingers-crossed) will address the topic “Burning,” around burning practices, fire, heat, invasives, and pests.

For more information email here.