The museum, at Steamboat Dock, is open from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Tuesday to Sunday.

In addition to the private homes, the Connecticut River Museum at Steamboat Dock, and the Pratt House Museum furnished with 17th and 18th century pieces, are also on the tour.

Launching points will be Marine Park in Haddam, Saybrook Point and the Steamboat Dock in Essex.

Four two-hour boat tours are scheduled to depart from the Steamboat Dock at the foot of Main Street in Essex at 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:30 and 3 p.m. on Feb. 19 and 20.

A four-mile road race will begin Sunday at 10 A.M. from Essex Town Hall, ending at the museum on Steamboat Dock at the foot of Main Street, where awards will be presented.

CONNECTICUT RIVER MUSEUM, Steamboat Dock, foot of Main Street, Essex, (203) 767-8260.

"More young families are moving in now," said Brenda Milkofsky, the curator of the Connecticut River Museum, which is on Steamboat Dock at the foot of Main Street.

The two-hour cruises are the only ticketed event of the festival, at $40 per person, departing from Steamboat Dock at the foot of Main Street.

The museum, overlooking the Connecticut River at Steamboat Dock, 67 Main Street, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children 6 through 12.

They paddled into the river and past Steamboat Dock, where people fished, fed the birds and shouted greetings.