Puzzle Swap Brings Hands-On Pastime to Port Chester–Rye Brook Public Library

PORT CHESTER, NY (January 23, 2026) — The Port Chester–Rye Brook Public Library is hosting a Puzzle Swap for adults and teens on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

The event follows a simple format: “Take a puzzle, leave a puzzle.” Participants are invited to bring gently used puzzles and exchange them for others. The library requests that puzzles brought for swapping have no missing pieces.

Jigsaw puzzles have a history dating back to the 18th century, when mapmakers mounted maps on wood and cut them into pieces for educational use. These early puzzles were cut by hand with fine saws, a process that later led to the term “jigsaw.” By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, improvements in printing and die-cutting made puzzles more widely available and increased their popularity in homes.

SEE: Bob Armstrong’s Old Jigsaw Puzzles

Port Chester has historical connections to woodworking and sawmills and was once known by the nickname “the Saw Pit,” a reference to pits used for sawing logs into lumber during the village’s early industrial period.

Jigsaw puzzles saw renewed popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when stay-at-home orders and social distancing prompted people to seek indoor, screen-free activities. Many individuals and families turned to puzzles while spending extended time at home.

The Port Chester–Rye Brook Public Library serves the villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook. According to the library, it strives “to educate, inform, enrich and entertain” and seeks “to engender a love of reading, to encourage curiosity and to instill a joy of learning in patrons of all ages.”

This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.