Community

Community

Road Trips: Happy Birthday, Harriet

by Angeline GoreauAngeline Goreau is the author of  "Reconstructing Aphra: A Social Biography of Aphra Behn." She lives in the town of Litchfield. Harriet Beecher Stowe was fifty-one years old when Abraham Lincoln, on meeting her at the White House in 1862, declared: "So this is the

By Editor

Community

Big-Spending Boomers Ogle Vintage Bikes

by Betsy MillerGot an extra $200 thousand?  Then you might want to head to the antique and vintage motorcycle show in Rhinebeck on June 10 - 12.  Once there you’ll be able to plunk down your money and ride home on a beautiful, showroom quality, 1936 Harley Davidson—commonly

By Editor

Community

Dan's Diary: Musical Chairs in Millerton

It's a good thing that the merchants of Millerton never decided to make a Monopoly board of the village, because there have been several changes in the retail landscape. Most notably, Jane Eckert Fine Art, which features the work of Eric Forstmann and Robert Rauschenberg, has arrived from

By Editor

Community

A Designer Showcase at Ventfort Hall

Vivian Kimmelman of Berkshire Home & Antiques created an Italian loggia, an indoor sitting room with an outdoor feel, from a skylit space mid-way up the grand staircase, that had perhaps been a fernery in the Morgans' day. When times are good, as they were in the late 90&

By Editor

Community

The Civil War: Frederic Church Makes a Statement

by Betsy Miller Before cameras were common, the cognoscenti learned about the physical world from paintings.  Salons and art openings weren’t just for creative contemplation, they were opportunities to be educated.  And the paintings of Frederic Edwin Church, among the country’s premier artists, were each received by an

By Editor

Community

Naumkeag: Tree Peonies and a Stanford White House

Apologies to Tolstoy, but, happy or not, rich families in any given milieu tend to be a lot alike—similar politics, values, virtues, blindspots.  In contrast, Joseph Hodges Choate (1832 - 1917) and his wife Caroline (nee Sterling) are interesting because they were not quite standard-issue for their day.  A

By Editor

Community

20 Questions for 'Money and Power' Author William D. Cohan

When RI last chatted with William D. Cohan, he had just published House of Cards, his New York Times best seller about the fall of Bear Stearns. Now he's written another insider account of Wall Street greed called  Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the

By Editor

Community

Geo-caching, Where's Waldo for Techies

By Betsy Miller Unbeknownst to most of us, thousands of tiny treasures are hidden in the woods, and on the highways and by-ways of this area.  And not just here.  All over the world individuals are hiding containers as large as bread boxes and as small as ink pen casings.

By Editor

Community

The Wake Robin Inn: A Celebration Destination

If you're one of those people who've always dreamed of running a country inn, Michael Loftus & Shaffin Shariff  would like to talk to you. Ten years ago, the two men (who were then a couple) moved from Chicago to Lakeville, CT, to overhaul the woebegone

By Editor

Community

RIP Jack Stern: The Retired Rabbi Who Wasn't Retiring

You did not need to know that Jack Stern had been a great rabbi to know that he was a holy man.  When he moved to Great Barrington full time in 1991 (after retiring as the senior rabbi at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY), he became involved with Construct

By Editor

Community

Pittsfield's 250th Anniversary

History is often taken for granted in our neck of the woods with so many of our town dating back to before the revolution and the Declaration of Independence. Pittsfield, which is turning 250, will be having a year-long celebration, which kicks off this weekend. It will be a history

By Editor

Community

Whimsical, Winsome Winvian Now Cooks

By Kathryn Matthews “Ninety-five percent of our guests never leave the property—until they head home,” says Maggie Smith (below), owner of Winvian, a private resort tucked amid the rolling Litchfield Hills in northwest Connecticut. Famously discreet, Winvian reflects the spirit of its former owners—Winthrop Smith, a founding partner

By Editor