Road Trip: 2nd Annual Hillsdale Historic House Tour
Hillsdale is at the epicenter of the Rural Intelligence region, and it’s a New York State town with a New England feel and a surfeit of historic homes. The organizers of the second annual Hillsdale Historic House Tour on Saturday, July 31, have designed a pedestrian-friendly event that takes place on a quarter mile stretch of Cold Water Road that is part of a National Historic Register district. “Cold Water Street is ideal for our historic house tour, “ says tour chairman Matthew White, “because so many architectural styles from the 1800’s through the early 1900’s are represented on this one short street.”
Wing & Clover: A School That is a Store and Vice Versa
It’s an unusual hybrid, according to Rural Intelligence’s Dutchess County correspondent Kathryn Matthews—part school, part store, part gallery. At Wing & Clover, daily workshops bring together two types—those who have experience making things and expressing themselves creatively and those who wish to gain such experience. That Marla Walker, MA Harvard School of Education and former co-owner of the popular Brooklyn clothing store, Bird, should be the creator of this Rhinebeck retailing curiosity seems like fate.
Parties: Celebrating the Arts in Berkshire & Columbia Counties
Members of the Pi Clowns who are at the Fringe through August 2.
Artistic innovation comes in all shapes and sizes.The Berkshire Fringe Festival kicked off its three-week residency at Bard College at Simon’s Rock In Great Barrington with a gala that included performance by the Pi Clowns of San Francisco. The Mount, Edith Wharton’s historic estate in Lenox, was the setting for Berkshire WordFest, a three-day gathering of contemporary writers including Garrison Keillor, Francine Prose, Susan Orlean, Dani Shapiro and Frank Delaney. And in Columbia County, Olana, the fantastical 19th century home of painter Frederic Church, was the backdrop for a gala whose theme was “Paradise Found.”
Restaurants: Arielle in RhinebeckIn the two years since Nick and Patricia Rebraca, owners of the landmark Belvedere Mansion b & b in Staatsburg, opened Arielle in nearby Rhinebeck, the restaurant on East Market Street has become a popular destination, thanks to its varied bistro fare and charming ambience. Recently there has been a shift in the kitchen personnel and Rural Intelligence’s Dutchess County correspondent Kathryn Matthews reports on the impact. |
Community: A Horse Show That's Also a Fashion ShowThere was a party atmosphere last weekend at Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials with Bloody Marys flowing like water, women wearing elaborate hats, and everyone being photographed by Bill Cunningham, the New York Times legendary “On the Street” columnist. Held at the Millbrook farm of Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, some 250 riders competed in dressage, cross country jumping through rolling fields, and stadium jumping in an arena. |
AgriCulture: The Sanctity of LeeksTo our AgriCulture blogger Peter Davies, and millions of other Welshmen, the leek is more than a vegetable, it is a national symbol. Which is one reason why Davies and his partner Mark Scherzer take such pains blanching theirs, so the whiteness of the bulb extends up into the delicate adjacent foliage. The results are tender and elegant, in marked contrast to the horsey, tough California leeks we find in supermarkets. |
The Taste of Columbia County BountyColumbia County Bounty is an organization dedicated to the simple proposition that chefs and farmers ought to talk, and on Monday, at their annual benefit, Taste of Columbia County Bounty, they bring the public in on the conversation as well. Here chefs, farmers, cheesemakers, brewers. distillers, winemakers, bakers, picklers and canners and the locavores who love them get to mix and mingle, eat and drink. |
Recipes: Tuscan Tomato Bread SoupNow that it’s finally tomato season, here’s a delicious alternative to gazpacho: Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup. Amy Cotler, the West Stocbridge author of The Locavore Way : Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food , has devised a seasonal soup that transports you to Italy. It can be eaten hot, cold or at room temperature, and you can even use it to make a sandwich on a crusty baguette. |
We ♥ Rhinebeck: A Guide for Clinton Wedding GuestsWe’ve compiled a list of favorite people and places that make Rhinebeck—and neighboring Hyde Park, Red Hook and Tivoli—such a vibrant agricultural and artistic community. Like all parts of the Rural Intelligence region, it has world class cultural offerings, working farms, historic houses, and independently-owned shops and boutiques. Says one longtime resident: “Rhinebeck is the anti-Hamptons, the anti-Martha’s Vineyard.” |
Instant Intelligence
Now - August 7 - Hudson Imagining Madoff, a new play by Obie-award-winning playwright Deborah Margolin, at Stageworks/Hudson; Wednesdays & Thursdays 7:30 p.m., Fridays & Saturdays 8 p.m.; Sundays 2 p.m.
Now - August 21 Norfolk Music Festival is offering first-time attendees two free tickets to “Test Drive” their superb series of chamber music concerts.
July 29 - North Adams DownStreet Art Openings; 2 - 9 p.m.
July 29 - Pittsfield Barrington Stage Company’s “OUT Night at ART”; 8 p.m.
July 29 - August 1 - Kent Kent Sidewalk Festival has food, music, sales, activities and fun for all ages. Admission free.
July 30 - Stockbridge Staged reading of Chris Newbound’s Birthday Boy with James Barry at Berkshire Theatre Festival; 2 p.m.
July 30 - Pine Plains Nueva Escocia 8 Goal Tournament at Mashomack Polo Club; 3 & 5:30 p.m.
July 30 - Hudson The Blue Ribbon Boys and Julia Gottlieb at Helsinki Hudson; 9 p.m.
July 30 - Annandale-on-Hudson Franz Schreker’s The Distant Sound opens at Bard Summerscape; 7 p.m. & 3 p.m.
July 31 - Salisbury Jane Llyod Fund Clambake at Satre Hill; noon - 7 p.m.
July 31 - Hudson Opening reception for Victoria Sambunaris’ “Terra Firma” at Nicole Fiacco; 6 - 8 p.m.
July 31 - New Marlborough Music & More opens its season with the Harold Llloyd silent film Grandma’s Boy, featuring Ben Model, resident silent-film accompanist for MoMA; 8 p.m.
July 31 & August 1 - Ancram Poet John Ashbery’s, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, performed by six voices accompanied by projected images and text, at the Ancram Opera House; 8 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sun
August 1 - Lenox Yo-Yo Ma plays Elgar’s Cello Concerto at Tanglewood; 2:30 p.m.
August 1, 2 & 4 - Lenox Tanglewood Music Center presents a fully staged production of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos; 7:30 p.m.
August 2 - Chatham Taste of Columbia County Bounty, a family feast for locavores (and their kids); 5 - 8 p.m.
August 5 - Stockbridge Marine combat artist Chief Warrant Officer Michael Fay speaks at Norman Rockwell Museum; 5:30 p.m.
