This Month’s Featured Articles…

History runs through this region. It follows the Housatonic River as it flows through the towns of Litchfield and Berkshire counties. Set out in any direction, and you’re bound to encounter the area’s past. Because of this, in 2006, Congress designated this region as the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area. Designating a National Heritage Area This designation didn’t happen overnight. It was the result of years of planning, studies, and advocating by organizations and individuals dedicated to preserving the area’s rich history. Executive director Dan [...]

Like the legendary painters of the Hudson River School, or the long and storied line of woodworkers in the villages of the Berkshire foothills, the pantheon of craftsmen in the Northwest Corner of our Tri-state is as sublime as the landscape itself. Carved into the deep roots of local family trees is the history of trades that underline the generational bond between skilled labor and quiet artistry. Such is the case within the hearts of the small hamlets that den themselves within our valley and [...]

Residents of Litchfield County opened their newspapers in the early fall of 1918 to find stories about a French army band playing concerts across the region to celebrate the alliance of the two nations in the Great War, and about efforts in North Canaan to construct a wall of honor to commemorate those serving in the war, and lists of the newest draftees. They did not read about a silent killer spreading across the state. Wartime censors would not risk lowering morale with reports of [...]

An epitaph written by a man named Charles Sedgwick in 1829 for a family friend reads: “She neither wasted time, nor property. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper, and the tenderest friend.” This humble, if not innocuous sentiment only vaguely belies the woman who carried the distinctions throughout her life. Those distinctions would also help that woman, known as Elizabeth Freeman, fight for the most basic of human [...]

A week on, the vacuum still picks up the occasional wiry hair. It would seem that the dining room rug has been crisscrossed 20 times, and yet the mementos of our nighttime guest persist. But, in fairness, back to the beginning. For those of us who have chosen to live in the country, whether it’s a weekend and summer getaway or year round, proximity to wildlife seems to be part of the charm. We’ll often overhear snippets of conversations spiced with “our deer…” or “our [...]