A little get away

Paul and I headed south to Stockbridge, Mass., early Thursday morning to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum.   Having visited the impressive collection of Rockwell paintings and magazine covers a few years ago, we were intent on seeing a special exhibit of artwork from Mad Magazine.  It was impressive!  And the ride down couldn't have been nicer, albeit long (4 hours).  It was a sunny but slightly humid day.

Afterwards, we headed back north to spend the night in Bennington, VT, a nice town with an impressive monument to the Battle of Bennington in 1777.  The Green Mountain Boys defeated the British in the battle which actually took place over the New York State line.  The supply depot was where the monument now stands, right in the middle of a residential neighborhood with beautiful, historic homes.  We visited early in the morning, before it opened.  I imagine the view from the top is impressive.

The statue of Col. Seth Warner, who led the ragtag bunch, stands in front of the monument.  It was carved in the Montpelier sculpture studio of Harry Bertoli, the grandfather of a friend of ours.  Of course, I had to take a picture of Paul with this impressive statue.  Unfortunately, it was quite muggy and buggy, so I didn't stay out of the car for too long to catch many details of the carving.  

We headed north from there over historic Route 7A, through Shaftsbury where Robert Frost once farmed and then Arlington where Norman Rockwell once lived and painted using local citizens as his models.  In Manchester, we stopped to tour Hildene, summer home of Abraham Lincoln's oldest son, Robert.  It is an impressive place with a working farm, cheese making, an impressive house, and lovely garden where the peonies were in full bloom.

We arrived home in the late afternoon and agreed it was a fine trip, full of interesting things to see and do.   Friends came for a cookout lunch yesterday, and today I hope to get back into the sewing room.  We are in for a week of unusually hot, humid weather, so there won't be a better place to be than there with the AC blasting.