15 August 2023 to 17 August 2023 - Concord MA to Austerlitz, NY
We left the Boston area on a grey and drizzly day and drove west to the other side of Massachusetts to tour the area where Norman Rockwell spent the last 25 years of his career and life. We visited Stockbridge, his hometown which figured prominently in many of his paintings. The Norman Rockwell Museum is nearby, and we had a great day seeing his paintings and touring his studio. We stayed in a campground just across the border into New York. I got a bit concerned when we turned off a small, paved road onto a smaller dirt road and the nav system told us we had 3 more miles to go. As we bumped along the dirt road, all I could see on either side were forested areas with scattered homes and hills on both sides. I had visions of having to thread our way up through trees to an uneven site which would be difficult to back into. But we came up over a hill and the land opened out into a pretty level, clear spot where the campground was. We ended up with a very nice campsite which was easy to get into. Whew! It is always a crapshoot when you pick out campgrounds on the internet - their pictures aren't always truth in advertising.
The signs said NOT to feed the sea beast, but Russ just had to see how far he could stick his head in.
This is a much smaller version of the giant Sea Beast that Tony Sarg created in the 1930s as a hoax on one of the Eastern seashores. For weeks before it's appearance, rumors had spread of sightings of a giant sea beast. Then footprints started showing up all over town overnight. Finally, the beast appeared, and the hoax was revealed. It was all great summer fun!
This is the prison that was just across a marsh from the hotel we stayed at near Boston. The actual prison is behind, complete with corner towers and lots of barbed wire. This is what, I assume, is an administrative building built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The internet identified it as a medium security prison for men.
We weren't able to appreciate the vistas too much because of the low cloud cover. It was drizzling most of the time.
There has been an inn on this site since the late 1700s. There has always been a red lion associated with the various iterations of inns. This version was built in the late 1800s after the previous one had burnt down. Norman Rockwell ate lunch here quite frequently since his studio and home was just down the street on the other side.
One of the previous owner's wives collected teapots. I thought I had quite a nice set, but this woman displayed teapots on almost every ledge in the living room and restaurant. When the fire happened in the late 1800s, she managed to save all of them.
Not sure what this wood device is - I think it is a clock. Lots of antiques on display in the inn's public rooms.
I enjoyed my birthday lunch at the inn and had a beer specially brewed for the Red Lion Inn.
Wow! What kid wouldn't want this rocking horse?
The buildings on Stockbridge's main street have been immortalized by Norman Rockwell in some of his paintings. He loved living in the town and used many of his neighbors as models for his paintings.
The old firehouse, now a home.
This is the land of yellow houses, they are everywhere. I love them, especially colonial and Victorian ones.
The museum has the world's largest collection of Rockwell's paintings and drawings. It also houses his working papers.
Rockwell had a long relationship with the Saturday Evening Post, creating over 300 covers up through 1963. He moved to the Look magazine in the 60s and spent several years there before getting out of the magazine cover business altogether.
The last cover he did for the Saturday Evening Post was a reprint of a John F Kennedy drawing he had done a few years earlier as part of a series of prominent Americans. This was published in memory of JFK just after his assassination.
Just one of the many wonderful paintings on display, this is in honor of the Peace Corps.
A panoramic of Stockbridge. We were told that, every winter, the scene is recreated, as part of a winter festival.
The museum also had a special exhibit of the art of Tony Sarg. I didn't know much about him, but he was well known for the marionettes he created and the balloon figures. He had a long relationship with Macy's and was instrumental in designing many of the early Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons, including the turkey and Grover.
We had a sandwich in the Museum's little cafe. You could pose for some of the iconic paintings. I think Russ didn't care about the gossiping and flirting that was going on, he just wanted his milkshake!
The museum moved Rockwell's studio from Main Street in Stockbridge to the museum's grounds. They restored it and styled it to look just like he had it in the final years of his career.
He never just started painting, he did drawings and different studies of the scene until he was satisfied with the results, then he started painting. When you consider the detail of his art and the large number of works he created, he must have been working 24/7. They did say that he did not take vacations and spent all his holidays working 10 to 12 hours a day.
He was meticulous with his brushes. He once said that he probably spent as much time on cleaning his brushes as he did on actual painting.
He collected all sorts of props, including this real human skull. He said you couldn't paint a person unless you understood the details of the skeleton and the musculature, like how Leonardo DaVinci approached his art.
We wondered what this was. Came across it as we were wandering around the countryside surrounding Stockbridge. Turns out it is the top of a building which is part of an over 100-year-old dairy farm. They pride themselves on using "at-will" milking for their Jersey cows. The cows can line up whenever they feel the need and get milked. And they get a snack while they are being milked. They claim their cows are happier and more productive.
