Excursions

Community

Creative Workspaces Open to the Public in Art Studio Views

Clockwise from top left: Randy Bloom with one of her paintings; works by Jeff Romano, Carl Greico, and Richard Chianelle It's hard enough to be an artist. But to be an artist working alone in a studio in a quiet rural area, however noted for its sophistication and

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Community

Role Reversal for Terry Teachout: Critic Turns Playwright

"I hadn’t written a play before, but I had this dream where I saw the stage picture of Pops and heard the first line. It just popped into my mind." ‘Pops,' like 'Satchmo,’ is a nickname for legendary jazzman Louis Armstrong, and the newly minted

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Community

Homefield: A Shopping Extravaganza at Ventfort Hall

You don't see much bling in the Berkshires, which is ironic when you consider that Lenox was the summer capital of the Gilded Age. Today, inconspicuous consumption is the law of the land (except for the competitive picnics on the lawn at Tanglewood), so shopping and decorating rarely

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Community

COVET: ArtBerkshires Offers Insiders' View of the Art Scene

The Berkshire region enjoys a long-established reputation as a summertime cultural destination for the performing arts; just mention “the Berkshires” and the words Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and Williamstown Theatre Festival spring from the culturati’s lips. Less broadly recognized is the region’s abundance of similarly world-class visual art.

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Community

The Millbrook Mystique: Inside Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials

Rural Intelligence's preview of the Fitch's Corner Horse Trials first ran in July 2010. We've updated Dan Shaw's original story to reflect this year's event. Horse shows are a wonderful combination of sport and style, and nowhere are the equestrians

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Community

Bard’s SummerScape Spiegeltent Is a Seasonal Sensation

Every summer, a bit of magic occurs on the Bard College campus. In what is normally an empty field across from  Frank Gehry's gleaming Fisher Center, the Spiegeltent arises. Surrounded by trees strung with twinkling lights, its irresistible façade beckons passersby, promising untold merriment within. This is no

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Community

And the Rockets' Red Glare, But Where?

Are you ready to rumble? That’s a big part of the appeal of fireworks. More than just a visual display with audio accompaniment, a good fireworks show is a truly visceral experience; you can feel the big blasts – they rattle through your skeleton and make your heart beat harder.

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Community

Discover the Brahmins and Bohemians of Litchfield County

Litchfield Antiques Show & Open Your Eyes Studio Tours June 23 & 24 The northwestern corner of Connecticut can seem highfalutin' to the untrained eye with so many power players from the art and design worlds (Anne Bass, Diane von Furstenburg, Agnes Gund, Michael Leva, Oscar de la Renta,

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Community

Let The Good Times Roll, With Two Types of Horsepower

There are two ways to think about vehicles: as purely functional modes of transportation, or as beautiful, even sensual, means of conveyance that get you from here to there in style. Lucky are those who adhere to the latter sentiment, as this weekend they can enjoy two neighboring events that

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Community

Mount Lebanon HerbFest Unveils the Secrets of Shaker Swamp

From the Native Americans to the Shakers, from the Tilden Pharmaceutical Company (1824–1960) to today’s alternative-healing practitioners and locavore chefs, the residents of New Lebanon, NY, have benefited for centuries from the town’s greatest natural resource: herbs. "Austerlitz has blueberries, West Stockbridge has zucchinis, and we

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Community

Ventfort Hall's First Annual Spring Antiques Show

One of the goals of Rural Intelligence has always been to break through the imaginary glass walls that divide Berkshire, Columbia, Dutchess, and Litchfield counties and to foster a sense of regional community and promote interstate commerce. Thus, we were overjoyed to learn that Ventfort Hall (Mansion and Gilded Age

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Community

38th Annual Chesterwood Antique and Classic Auto Show

On Sunday, May 27, Chesterwood, the 129-acre Glendale, MA home of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of, among other iconic monuments, the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be the setting for the 2012 Chesterwood Antique & Classic Automobile Show. Son of the

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