Nice Ice: Where and When To Skate
The rink at the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsfield
There’s no shortage of ice in our region these days, but even if your driveway is as glassy as a skating rink you are not going to be cutting figure eights on it. Of course, there is nothing more romantic than skating on a pond or a lake, but when was the last time you saw a Zamboni grooming the ice at your favorite frozen swimming hole? Fortunately, there are public skating sessions at indoor rinks across our region (some at posh prep schools) that might be a good excuse to take a road trip to a town you’ve always meant to visit.
Berkshire School
Sheffield, MA
Sundays: 6 - 8 PM
Information: 413. 229.1290
Boys & Girls Club of Pittsfield
Pittsfield, MA
Saturdays and Sundays: 2 - 3:45 PM; through mid-March.
$5 for non-members; skate rentals are available but get there early to ensure that you can get the right-size skates.
Information: 413.448.8258
Hotchkiss School
Lakeville, CT
Wednesdays: 7 - 8:30 PM; through February 25.
Saturdays: 11 AM - 12:30 PM; through February 28.
Sponsored by the Salisbury Recreation Commission. $2 per person; no skate rentals. Skaters are encouraged to wear helmets and other safety equipment. Information: 860.435.5186
Sundays: 3:30 - 4:30 PM; through February 22
Sponsored by the Shraon Board of Recreation and Youth. Adults $2, Children $1. Information: 860.364.1400
McCann Ice Arena
Poughkeepsie, NY
Mondays & Tuesdays: 12 - 2 PM
Fridays*: 12 - 2 PM; 7:15 - 9 PM
Saturdays & Sundays: 2- 4 PM
Adults $6, Children $4; skate rental $3
(*Friday public skating will be from 11 AM - 1 PM on January 9, 23, 30 & February 6 & 13; Friday Night DJ Skate, $10 per person)
Information: 845.454.5800
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink
North Adams, MA
Monday - Friday 11 AM - 1:50 PM
Friday evenings: 7 - 8:50 PM
Saturdays & Sundays: 2 - 3:50 PM
Adults $4, Children $3, Seniors $1; skate rentals $3
Information: 413.664.8185
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 01/08/09 at 04:32 PM • Permalink
The Wonderland that is Winter Walk
Photograph by Peter Blandori
Come as a clown, a clock, a character from Dickens, or simply as you are. Bring the kids, the dog, grandpa, and your most exacting, hard-to-please friends. Like Hudson itself, Winter Walk, the annual citywide holiday festival that takes place this Saturday, December 6, from 5 to 8, is a unique amalgam of sophistication, nostalgia, inclusiveness, hipness, and anything goes. Now in its 12th year, the event typically draws crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 (depends how cold it is that night) from near and far. “We had folks from North Dakota one year,“ says Gary Schiro, Executive Director of the Hudson Opera House, presenters of the festival. “Another time, we got a thank you card from a family who live north of Montreal telling us what a great time they’d had.“
In years past, the action at Winter Walk has been concentrated on and around upper Warren Street. There’s still plenty to do there, including visit Mr. & Mrs. S. Claus, who after arriving in a parade led by mammoth puppets, will set up shop at City Hall, where they have a wrapped gift for every child who divulges his or her wish list. But this year, more activities will be taking place on lower Warren, below 4th Street, where several new shops and restaurants have opened within the past year. In fact, at 4:45, the carillon will ring at the First Presbyterian Church on the corner of 4th Street to announce the beginning of Winter Walk. And Stageworks Salon, at 133 Warren is doing a highly abridged retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by Lucile Lichtblau. Described as “a zany, interactive, fun-filled romp” (heartless Scrooge? pathetic little Tiny Tim?), the actors retell this classic holiday tale in 15 minutes flat, come what may. The first show starts at 5:30 and is repeated every half hour through 7:30.
Up and down Warren Street and beyond stores will be serving a little something and/or will have Abby Lappen-choreographed tableaux vivantes in their windows. Activities range from the sedate—Rural Residence‘s wine-and-hors d’oeuvres reception for the photographers Steve Gross and Susan Daley, celebrating their recently-published book, Time Wearing Out Memory: Schoharie County— to other-worldly— the Gingerbread Witch, the elves of all sizes, the live reindeer, the brass quartet, the bagpiper and the stilt-walking toy soldier.
For anyone planning to dine in Hudson this Saturday night, the time to make reservations is now. Ca’Mea, which is tenting and heating its garden for the occasion, is already fully booked from 7 to 9, but, at this writing, still had openings earlier and later (they stop seating at 10). Several other restaurants have special menus, designed to get diners in-and-out quickly. The Hudson Opera House and Time & Space Limited are both hosting chili suppers that night. The dinner at the Opera House, which has a seating capacity of just 60, is a benefit @$75 (remember, it’s a worthy dot org!). TSL is asking a mere $5 for its chili (made from Cashen’s home-grown beef, no less) and $2 for the cornbread, and, as if that weren’t enough, they have several chanteuses lined up to provide entertainment. For those who fail to plan ahead, the hugely popular Red Dot restaurant, just this once, is not accepting reservations. They’ve gone all out with their decor and want to be able to serve as many people as possible that night.
Street scene: a lumbering snowman, a walking grandfather clock, Victorian carolers, Roger the Jester, African drummers. Indoors: a fiddler and some top-notch shopping.
Winter Walk
Warren Street and adjacent areas, Hudson
Saturday, December 6, 5 - 8 p.m. (officially)
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 12/01/08 at 07:54 AM • Permalink
Christmas Past is Present in Stockbridge
“Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas (Home for Christmas),” Norman Rockwell.Oil on canvas. “McCalls,” December 1967. ©1967. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.
All over the United States, people fantasize about an old-fashioned Christmas, the kind you see in the paintings at the Norman Rockwell Museum. But only the town elders in Stockbridge can deliver the genuine artifact by recreating the iconic 1967 painting (above), which Rockwell worked on for a decade. For the 19th year in a row, the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce will recreate the painting on Main Street with the same decorations and some 50 vintage cars on Sunday, December 7, from noon to 2 PM. Many locals wish the time warp would last for longer. Says Maisie Deely, with tongue in cheek: “As a native New Englander, Main Street has always resonated with me as a comfortingly nostalgic vision of the Berkshires at Christmas, though it lacks the biting social critique of his lesser known Main Street in August, where the idyllic shopfronts are totally obscured by gridlocked SUV’s with Jersey plates.“
The old-fashioned Christmas spirit is not limited to the Main Street shops and Red Lion Inn, which bends the historic spirit by keeping the lights on and hanging decorations. (Back in the day, the Red Lion was closed in the winters). The Chamber of Commerce has a full schedule of events, and so do other local institutions.
Tree Lightings In Our Region
Saturday, December 6
Ashley Falls, MA
Hay rides, caroling and refreshements on the Town Green. 3:30 - 5 PM
Sharon, CT
Caroling with Salisbury Band Christmas Brass and Hot Chocolate Society. 4:45 PM
Lakeville, CT
Caroling, Gallery Night, and late-shopping, 4 - 7 PM
Sunday, December 7
Amenia, NY
Tree lighting at Fountain Square at 4:30. Photos with Santa at the library from 2:30 - 4:30 PM
Salisbury, CT
Parade of lights and caroling with the Salisbury Band Christmas Brass and Hot Chocolate Society at the White Hart Inn Green. 5 PM
Santa’s at the White Hart from 3 - 5 PM.
Sheffield, MA
Carol sing on Town Green and ecumenical service at the Old Parish House with refreshments. 6:30 PM
Saturday, December 6
Holiday House Tour 11 AM - 4 PM
A self-guided tour of historic inns and houses within walking distance of downtown, including the private home of Dan Symecko, Laurel Hill Place, Taggart House B&B, the Campbell House and the Mission House & Merwin House. Tickets: $15.
Holiday Art Sale at IS183, Art School of the Berkshires 11 AM - 5 PM
An official stop on the Stockbridge House Tour, showcasing Berkshires’ best artists & artisans. Kids can participate in free art-making while parents shop for beautiful, handcrafted gifts.
Caroling Luminaria Walk 6 - 7 PM
Meet in front of The Red Lion Inn and bring a candle or flashlight. After caroling, there will be a Luminaria walk to the First Congregational Church.
Holiday Concert 7:30 PM
Berkshire Lyric Theatre Chorus performs at the First Congregational Church.
Music of the Seasonat the Norman Rockwell Museum 4 - 7 PM
An evening of uplifting music, art-making, heart-warming treats, songs of holiday celebrations with a 5 PM sing-a-long with performance artist David Polansky. Children 18 and under free.
Saturday & Sunday, December 6 & 7
Holiday Marketplace at the Berkshire Botanical Garden 10 AM - 5 PM
Exhibition and sale of unique handcrafted wreaths and holiday decorations, seasonal blooms and greens, herb products, crafts and gift items.
Santa’s on Board at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museume
Special 40-minute round-trip holiday train rides between Lenox and Lee with Santa on board. Trains leave Lenox at 11:00 a.m., Noon, 1:00 p.m. & 2:00 p.m
Adults: $11; seniors $10; Children (4 - 14) $7; kids under 4 ride free.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 12/01/08 at 05:59 AM • Permalink
Berkshire Museum’s Festival of Trees Goes Green
A recycled tree by the Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter
It seems as if every school and not-for-profit group in the Berkshires is participating in the 24th annual Festival of Trees, which has an “eco-savvy and eco-fabulous” theme this year. There will be more than 200 trees on display made from sustainable, earth-friendly materials such as post-consumer paper and plastic, recycled steel, and bamboo. The tree in the photograph (left) was made by Pittsfield’s Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter. It is made of alternating layers of empty dog and cat food cans and lit with green lights. The tree topper is a large dog bone-shaped tin. The skirt is made of recycled bird seed bags, dog and cat food bags, and other pet product bags, which were stitched together with purple yarn. The names of some of the other trees on display such as “Pink is the New Green,“ “Brown Bag Christmas,“ and “Recycling Santa” suggest a great deal of whimsy in the interpretation of a serious theme.
Besides the trees, the museum is mounting a Going Green exhibition with artworks such as Virginia Fleck’s colorful, wall-sized mandalas made from discarded plastic bags; stylized purses and tote bags made from candy wrappers, plastic grocery bags and drink pouches by Cara Taylor; a sculpture by Gordon Chandler in the shape of a deer made from recycled metal. An interactive component of Going Green permits visitors to hop on Pedal-A-Watt bicycles to power the lights on several of the trees.
The Festival of Trees kicks off with the museum’s Party of the Season on Friday, November 14, from 5:30 to 8 PM. Tickets are $45 for museum members; $55 for the general public and $60 at the door. RSVP: 413. 443.7171, ext. 10.
Festival of Trees at the Berkshire Museum (through January 4, 2009)
39 South Street, Pittsfield; 413.443.7171
Monday - Saturday 10 AM - 5 PM; Sunday noon - 5 PM
(Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days; closing early at 2 PM on Dec.24 and Dec. 31.)
Admission: $10 adults; $5 children (3 - 18); members $5/$3
Children under 3 are free.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 11/12/08 at 03:35 PM • Permalink
Stealing Beauty: the Olana Viewshed Tour
It’s like having a license to trespass on some of the most felicitously sited private properties on earth. On Saturday, November 1, friends and supporters of Olana, the Frederic Church historic site in Greenport, NY, will be permitted, thanks to the generous owners of twelve Olana-adjacent properties, onto private land that has the sorts of vistas that inspired Church, his mentor Thomas Cole, and the other painters of the Hudson River School. Participants will visit farms and estates, they’ll walk across meadows, climb hills, stroll along the edges of ponds and streams, and amble through orchards. And from nearly every vantage point, there will be spectacular views of the Hudson River and the Catskills in one direction, and, in another, glimpses of Olana, Church’s haute bohemian, Persian-inspired house and property.
Perhaps the most striking view of all, however, is from Olana’s own bell tower, which also will be open for current members to tour in the morning. Then, later in the day, there will be a sunset wine and hors d’oeuvres benefit reception in a restored barn on private property (below) within the Olana viewshed.
The point of all this snooping around, besides feeding our insatiable curiosity about how the lucky live? To raise money for the restoration of Olana’s artist-designed landscape, work that has really just begun. Not surprisingly, Church never thought of Olana as just the house. To the artist, the house and its 250-acre setting were one indivisible entity. Once designed, the house was quickly built; Church worked on the land from 1860 until his death in 1900.
But the tour has another purpose—to drum up sympathy for the very concept of “viewshed preservation,“ a modern notion spawned in California’s Napa Valley and later applied to the region surrounding Monticello, the Thomas Jefferson historic site in Virginia. Scenic Hudson, the crusading organization that spearheaded the Olana viewshed preservation movement, has, with assistance from the Columbia County Conservancy, thus far placed 1,248 acres under protection. The effort to protect Olana’s viewshed, as experts dub the natural environment surrounding a particular vantage point, is the most ambitious such project to date in the Northeast.
In the 19th century, when Church designed Olana and its surrounding landscape, he employed the Chinese concept of a “borrowed view,“ carefully manipulating plantings and vantage points to reveal and frame exceptional vistas of land, mountains, and, of course, the Hudson river. Thanks in part to this savvy manipulation of the assets at hand, Church’s 250-acre working farm has come to be regarded as a masterpiece, every bit as important as any of his paintings. Moreover, the paintings, and those of other Hudson River School artists, while long revered for their contribution to art history, are now also credited with inspiring the American Environmental Protection Movement. The idea that a majestic landscape is an irreplaceable national treasure, a vital resource for residents and visitors, was triggered and furthered by the wide public exposure of the Hudson River School paintings, each of which was eagerly anticipated, and most of which went on tour immediately upon completion to be granted rock-star-like receptions in cities across the U.S.
Olana Viewshed Tour
5720 Route 9G, Greenport; 518.828.1872 ext. 103
Saturday, November 1, 10 - 4
Tickets, maps and box lunches may be picked up on the day of the tour at the Wagon House Education Center at Olana
Viewshed tour only, $50 non-members; $40, members
Benefit party only, $100 non-members; $75 members
Tour and benefit, $150 non-members/ $100 members
Free bell tower tour for members only
Boxed lunches: $15
Memberships: $40 - $100
To receive members’ discounts, advance reservations are required, as they are for the bell tower tour and for all who wish to buy box lunches and/or attend the benefit.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 10/27/08 at 08:44 AM • Permalink
Old Houses, New Life: The Ancram Historic House Tour
Ancram is one of those off-the-beaten track towns that feels more remote than it actually is. For the most part, the residents like it that way, but they are also fiercely proud of their community’s history which dates back to pre-Revolutionary days when it was home to the Ancram iron forge. To ensure that the town’s historic character is not lost by development or neglect, a group of locals founded the Ancram Preservation Group eight years ago because they believe “that a significant part of the community’s identity is embodied in its historical structures which serve as a living testament to the shared heritage of this community, and whose sense of ‘place’ is dependent upon maintaining the physical fabric of its past.“
To support their work, the group is sponsoring the Ancram Historic House Tour this Saturday and encouraging outsiders to discover the town’s many charms. The five residences include a hilltop Georgian built by a Revolutionary War Captain that has virtually all of its original details, including 12-over-12 windows and wide-board floors; an 1851 Greek Revival farmhouse owned by two artists who have given it their own distinctive spin; a late 19th century farmhouse that has been updated with a new kitchen featuring an AGA hearth; a 1790 house that has a painting and sculpture studio added by the current owner, an artist; an 1850 Greek Revival that was Victorianized in the late 1800s, which has a matching guest house built by the current owners.
The tour is meant to be a social occasion, too, and there’s a wine-and-cheese reception afterwards at Simon’s General Store from 4 - 5:30.
Ancram Preservation Tour
October 25, 2008; noon - 4 PM
Tour and reception, Non-members: $45
Tour and reception, Members: $40
Tour only, Non-members: $35
Tour only, Members: $30
To reserve tickets: 518.398.6435
Tickets available at the Ancram Town Hall after 11 AM on October 25; the town hall is at 1416 County Route 7, one-quarter mile north of the blinking light at the intersection with Route 82.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 10/22/08 at 09:05 AM • Permalink
Well, Boo to You, Too!
Let’s hear it for Halloween falling on a Friday!! This year the calendar gets it right for trick-or-treaters. But the era of the one-night-only Halloween is clearly behind us. The season kicks off on Saturday, October 25 and continues through Saturday, November 1, with Halloween-related events in our region for chill-seekers of every age and persuasion.
Friday, October 24
Frankenstein’s Fortress
This coming weekend and next are the last opportunities this season to visit Frankenstein’s Fortress, a unique and fiendishly clever October-only Stanford NY theme park, now in its 10th season. The creation of Washington, CT-native Pete Wing, Frankenstein’s Fortress is a spooky ghost town with a haunted mansion, a crypt, a rickety bridge, and an asylum (would that every town still had one), all brilliantly fashioned by Wing from castoffs he personally gleaned from the town dump. Actors wearing scarey costumes and lots of bizarre make-up will thrill some kids and scare the bejeezes out of others. There are no refunds, so try to anticipate how much your tyke can take.
Frankenstein’s Fortress
86 Creamery Road, Stanfordville; 845.868.7782
Friday & Saturday, October 24 & 25; 6:30 - 9:30
Sunday, October 26, 6:30 - 8:30
Friday, October 31 & Saturday, November 1; 6:30 - 9:30
Admission: $14; $5/children under 10
Closes if it rains; if questionable, call first.
Legends by Candlelight Spook Tours
Sunny, breezy Clermont, the ancestral Livingston mansion so many of us know and love by day is transformed into a shadowy historic haunt on these October nights, when the skeletons come out of the closet. Staff members dress up as the ghosts of Livingstons past, each from a different generation. Visitors tour the house by candlelight and get a solid history lesson cloaked in rustling satin. There are even a couple of historically accurate death scenes, including one in which a Livingston hostess of yore raises a glass to toast her guests and abruptly cools. Talk about awkward.
Clermont State Historic Site
1 Clermont Avenue, Germantown; 518.537.4240
October 24 & 25; 6 - 7:30
Admission: $10/adults; $5/children.
Reservations required.
Saturday, October 25
Spooky Tour of Mass MoCA
The littlest members of Mass MoCA are invited to gather this Saturday at noon, in full regalia, if they like, for a Halloween-themed tour of the galleries and an opportunity to make some Halloween crafts. Afterward, there will be cider and donuts. The only glitch: it’s for members only, so why not take this opportunity to join.
Mass MoCA
1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams
Reservations recommended; 413.664.4481 x8112 or e-mail
Hallowine Celebration
The DeVito Family of the Hudson-Chatham Winery have a special regard for Halloween. Saturday grown-ups can enjoy a glass of “witch’s brew,” and anyone, regardless of age, who shows up in costume qualifies for a special treat.
Hudson-Chatham Winery, 1900 Route 66, Ghent; 518.392.2598
Saturday, October 25, 11 – 5
Monday, October 27
Para-normalcy
See what we mean about the DeVitos? To get us into the “spirit” of the season, they’ve invited Stephen Wagner, a.k.a. the “Ghost Man” of New York, to give a talk at the winery about the world of ghosts, anomalies, strange creatures, ESP, EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena!?) and other unexplained weirdness. Wagner, a writer, editor, and tireless delver into matters paranormal, is a member of the Central New York Ghost Hunters.
Hudson-Chatham Winery, 1900 Route 66, Ghent; 518.392.2598
Monday, October 27, 6 - 8
Admission/$20, includes two glasses of wine, cheese and crackers, and the lecture
Reservations required
Friday, October 31
Darrell Pucciarellos’ Ballet Metropolis Production of Dracula
The Gothic allure of a Transylvanian castle starts in the lobby of the Colonial Theatre, where Berkshire County native Carl Sprague, a renowned stage and film set-designer (Martin Scorcese’s The Age of Innocence, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tanenbaums), sets a fearful-yet-fascinating scene that continues right through to the stage. Dracula, a ballet in two acts created by director-choreographer Darrell Pucciarello, with a haunting score by David Edwards, promises to be a fascinating family Halloween experience.
The Colonial Theatre
111 South Street; 413.997.4444
Regular performances Friday, October 31 at 8; Saturday, November 1 at 2
Tickets $15 - $25
Gala benefit performance November 1 at 8
Tickets: $50 & $125
Ticket purchase by phone, on-line or in person at the theater office, open Monday - Friday 10 - 5; Saturday 10 - 2
P.M. Party
Are you a Good Witch, like Glenda? Or a Bad Bitch, like that Wicked One from the North? On Halloween at their stylish tapas and wine bar, P.M.‘s co-owners Mario Pollan and Kevin Moran will host their first annual Witch/Bitch Party. Costumes (expect a lot of Tina Fey impersonators) are encouraged and, from 5 to 9, for a cover charge, there will be snacks, beer, and select wines. After 9, it’s business as usual.
P.M. Wine Bar
119 Warren Street, Hudson; 518.828.2833
Friday, October 31, 5 – 9
Cover charge $25
An Enchanted Evening
Cafe Latino at Mass MoCA is hosting a dance party with DJ Joel Fever. The Enchanted Evening theme (think: eerie forest) will be carried out by the costumed staff, a full-size taxidermy bear, and a special drink called Bear’s Brew.
Cafe Latino
1111 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams; 413.662.2004
Friday, October 31; doors open at 9 PM
Cover charge $4
21 and over only
Saturday, November 1
Chatham’s 2nd Annual (Day After) Halloween Celebration
The only drawback to Halloween falling on a Friday is that, apart from the assiduous pursuit of high blood sugar and tooth decay, the rest of the weekend can be kind of a let-down. So the spooky-yet-charming town of Chatham has come to the rescue with its second annual all-day celebration, which this year falls on Saturday, November 1. For little ones, there will be games, crafts, entertainment, balloons, and lots more fodder for those goody bags. For grown-ups, there’s a wine-tasting at Chatham Liquors and, of course, lots of places to browse and eat. Best part, all of the activities below are free.
10
Scavenger Hunt for Kids - Pick up your checklist at Warm Ewe and Cow Jones Industrials. Top ten scores win a prize!
10 - 5
Warm Ewe -Guess the number of candy corns. Prize awarded for the best guess.
12 - 3
American Pie -Face Painting
12 -4
Chatham Makes Sense - Supernatural Animal Flags. Kids choose and color a decorative flag featuring their favorite supernatural hero: Garuda, Dragon, Tiger or Snow Lion.
12 - 4
Cow Jones Industrials - Kids, slide your hand inside our big box filled with assorted materials. The first treasure you find you keep!
12 - 4
Clocktower Toys - Body Tattoos
12 - 6
Chatham Wine & Liquor - Wine and cheese tasting (just for adults)
2 - 4
R.H. Van Alstyne Fine Jewelry - Fortune teller (Please bring a donation for the food pantry)
4 - 6
Chocolate Moose - Holiday crafts
Psst: Here’s who’s giving out free treats: Banner Clothing, Main Street Grainery, groovi, Chatham Book Store, Warm Ewe, Native Clay, Chatham Kids/Welcome Home, and Hudson-Chatham Winery will be giving out free balloons in front of Clocktower Toys.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 10/21/08 at 01:28 PM • Permalink
The New York State Sheep & Wool Festival
A few years ago, a friend of mine bought a 200-year-old manor house near the Hudson River with an impenetrable, overgrown meadow, and he decided that keeping goats might be the most efficient, ecological and economical way to clear and maintain the land. He knew nothing about goats so he persuaded me to accompany him to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, which was as entertaining as it was educational. We toured the livestock area and met dozens of people who raise goats, and they were all full of tips about fencing, shearing and milking. So were the sheep owners and breeders who were justifiably proud of their beautiful animals that often had exotic pedigrees. “Are you looking for a fiber animal?“ the exhibitors would say, making me aware of the distinction between animals raised only for their wool and those raised for food.
If you’ve been mulling the idea of getting some sheep to maintain your lawn and up your rural cred, the Sheep and Wool Festival is a must. You can find lots off folks who’ll advise you on what type of fences and outbuildings you’ll need and how to keep the animals’ water troughs from freezing during the winter. At the festival, my friend learned the he’d also have to get two gigantic Great Pyrenees to guard the Shetland sheep he was coveting. Apparently, coyotes like to dine on lamb.
Even if you have no interest in keeping livestock, the festival makes for a wonderful outing; it’s part petting zoo and part holiday bazaar. If you knit, you can find skeins of every imaginable type of wool from suppliers like Red Hook’s Hudson Valley Sheep and Wool, and you can attend workshops in spinning and felt-making. And if you’re planning ahead for the holidays, you can buy handmade gifts like fingerless mittens from Tivoli’s Year of the Goat. And If you’re bringing children, the organizers suggest that the sheep dog trials, leaping lama contest, and the canine Frisbee Demonstration will equally amuse the kids and adults.
New York State Sheep and Wool Festival
Dutchess County Fairgrounds
Rhinebeck, NY; 845,756.2323
October 18, 9AM - 6PM
October 19, 10AM - 5PM
Admission: $10 (Two-day pass: $15)
Children under 12: Free
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 10/13/08 at 03:52 PM • Permalink
Historic Hudson Offers a Tour of. . .Claverack?
Before the town we now know as Hudson, New York was formed, the area by the river was called Claverack Landing, and it was a whaling port teeming with sailors and sin. Fortunately, all this lurid conduct took place at a seemly remove from the respectable town of Claverack proper, an early Dutch settlement that by the 18th century was already well-established and prosperous.
This 200-hundred-year-old connection between the two, long-separated municipalities is Historic Hudson’s justification for holding its 3rd annual Old House Tour this Saturday, October 18, in Claverack. Any organization with a stake in history can be forgiven for using any excuse to offer up the old houses of Claverack, which are among the most distinguished in our region. Happily, many of the best, including the Dr. William Bay house (circa 1780, pictured above) on the main street (Route 23B), will be on the tour.
Many house tours promise historic significance; this one delivers. Of the eight structures on tour, six were built in the 18th century, and of the later ones, Brookbound (right), a second Empire manor, is the “newest,“ having been completed in 1878. Others include the Cornelius Miller House, a Dutch-style brick house built in 1767; the Stephen Hogeboom house, a Georgian house built in 1784 and refitted in 1854 in the Greek Revival style; and Miller’s Crossing, an Adam-style Federal house constructed in 1818. Docents at each property will provide color and context.
For diehards whose appetite for historic structures is still not sated even after eight properties (or who simply wish to show additional support for Historic Hudson’s many worthy projects, including preservation of the Plumb-Bronson house on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility), the day ends with a benefit reception at Talavera, a Clavarack country property known to many apple-picking enthusiasts as the house at Philip Orchards. As recently noted in Rural Intelligence, this house has been passed down, barely changed since its completion in 1816, through generations of the family that built it. Portraits of forebears adorn faded but stain-free walls last papered, for all appearances, in the 1940s. It is a rare privilege to be permitted inside.
Historic Hudson Old House Tour & Benefit
Saturday, October 18, 10 - 5; benefit 6 - 8; 518.828.1785
Tickets and maps: Reformed Dutch Church, Route 9H (north of Rte. 23), Claverack.
Admission: tour, $35; benefit, $60.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 10/13/08 at 09:32 AM • Permalink
Cornwall House Tour Spans Four Centuries
There’s a difference between impressive houses and important ones, and the 9th annual Cornwall House Tour has both, None of the five residences on this year’s tour are ordinary: They include a 1950s Fieldstone cottage connected to a corn crib and barn, which the owners describe as a “mutt of a house”; two homes with cores that date to the 1700s but have been added onto in all directions over the years; and an eight-year-house with a restrained Arts & Crafts interior that references the farmhouses of both old New England and Martha’s Vineyard.
The most “important” house is the one designed in 1974 by architect Peter Bohlin for his parents. (Many of the great architects of his generation designed houses for their parents at the beginning of their careers as documented in A House For My Mother by Beth Dunlop.) Featured in The New York Times Magazine in 1976—“At Once A Rugged Cabin and A Glass Box” read the headline—the house was hailed for its relationship to its woodsy site and for incorporating “simple, often industrial materials in carefully thought-out, often subtle juxtaposition with one another.“ Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote that Bohlin’s “work has a modesty and a concern with the idea of comfort—with the ‘making of a pleasant place,‘ as he puts it—that sets it apart.“ Bohlin has continued to set himself apart, and his firm, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, was part of the team that designed Bill Gates famous house in Medina, Washington, which has a similar relationship to nature as the seminal Cornwall house.
Just as important is the work of the Cornwall Housing Corporation, which benefits from the House Tour. Founded in 1988, the Cornwall Housing Corporation provides affordable rental housing and leased parcels of land for building first homes as well as emergency rental assistance.
Cornwall House Tour
Tickets $35
Available at the Cornwall Package Store in Cornwall Bridge (860.672.6645) or The Wish House in West Cornwall (860.672.2969)
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