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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Broadway is Bittersweet for Litchfield's Larry Kramer

If you think Larry Kramer's seminal 1985 AIDS play, The Normal Heart (which will open on Broadway on April 27), is strictly a period piece, think again. Yes, it is set 30 years ago, when a mysterious disease is killing gay men, and the panic tearing through the

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Act III for Ragamont House: Now a B&B and Chic Caterer

Finally, Pete Hathaway has figured out what his landmark mansion on Salisbury's Main Street was destined to be: A party house.  When Rural Intelligence checked in with Hathaway a little more than a year ago— A ‘Step-Down’ House in Salisbury That’s A Cut Above—he was

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International Women’s Day, a Celebration in Three Acts

Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox had it right: Sisters are doin’ it for themselves, and have been for the past century. On Saturday, March 5, the 10th Annual International Women’s Day Conference at Simon’s Rock will celebrate what is actually the 100th anniversary of International Women's

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