Lay Home Housewarming: Yoga, Music and More!

February 21, 2026
Lay Home Housewarming: Yoga, Music and More!

Guided Yoga Session
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Members: FREE
Non-Members: $10.00
Registration Required. Please use the ticket reservation link below to reserve your spot

Lay Home: Sneak Preview Tour
Learn about the history of the Lay Home and how CRM plans to tell its story
11:00 am
FREE
No registration required

Open House
Enjoy a brief introduction to the Lay Home and how CRM plans to tell its story and use the new Multipurpose room space
2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
FREE
No registration required

Musical Performance by Ben Cosgrove
Meet the Museum’s Inaugural Artist In-Residence
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Members: $15.00
Non-Members: $25.00
Registration Required. Please use the ticket reservation link below to reserve your spot

RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR THE GUIDED YOGA SESSION!

RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR THE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY BEN COSGROVE!

The Connecticut River Museum welcomes you to a very special housewarming event! The Lay Home, located just up the street from the Museum building, is a deeply historic property with centuries of stories to tell. In celebration of recent renovations to the Lay Home, the Museum is hosting a full day of opportunities to enjoy and explore this cornerstone of Essex.

At 10:00 am, local yoga instructor Hayley Cann will lead a guided yoga session in the Lay Home’s multipurpose room. Beginners are encouraged to attend! Please bring your own yoga mat.

Following yoga, there will be a 30-minute guided house tour at 11:00 am, led by the Museum’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Kaeser. This program will act as a preview for future Lay Home tours and will explore the process behind telling the story of a building with rich, layered history. During the Open House from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, additional 30-minute guided house tours will take place.

At 5:00 pm, the multipurpose room will host a musical performance by Ben Cosgrove, a traveling composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. As the Museum’s new Artist-in-Residence supported by grants funds from the Wolf Kahn Foundation, Ben will create music inspired by the Connecticut River over the next year. This concert provides an opportunity for Ben to share his existing music and get to know members of the community. Ben will be present in the Lay Home before his performance begins, so make sure to stop by and chat!

Hayley Cann is a 200-hour certified yoga teacher specializing in Vinyasa and Hatha flow with an emphasis on rest, restoration, and mindful alignment. A former athlete, she found yoga through injury and a shift toward gentler, more intentional movement. Her teaching invites students to slow down, reconnect to breath, and support the nervous system while building ease and awareness in the body. Outside of teaching, Hayley enjoys time in nature, especially swimming and being in the water, where she feels deeply grounded and restored.

Described by the Boston Globe as “a sonic plein-air painter… [using] his piano as a paintbrush,” Ben Cosgrove has performed in every U.S. state except for Delaware, collaborated with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributed music to several radio and film projects (including the recent Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo), and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, Acadia National Park, White Mountain National Forest, Isle Royale National Park, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge, and the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology.