Part of Chapin's regular life (and a requirement to live here) are firesides. As a rule, experts in a field are brought in to tell us all about what they know. There are annual firesides such as the baseball fireside and the Halloween fireside. Other recent firesides have included: swing/tango/salsa/cha cha lessons, Roman coins, Persian rugs, chocolate tasting, cigar tasting, and South Indian dance.