Flowers, Food and Wine: CREATIVITY UNLEASHED in the BERKSHIRES

Other than basking in the sun at Tanglewood on a Sunday afternoon, we also got to visit two places we really wanted to go to in the Berkshires. I absolutely have to share my enthusiasm for The Mount, Edith Wharton's Estate and the Norman Rockwell Museum. If you visit the Berkshires you have to make time for these two extraordinary places full of beauty and artistic expression.

Freedom from Want (1943) 1 of the Four Freedoms

We started at The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, where just the ride out there is worth it, let alone the largest collection of Rockwell paintings inside.

The Problem We All Live With (1963)

As a former print reporter, I appreciate Rockwell's paintings as social commentary for the era he lived in, that speak so eloquently, through imagery, of our America. He so wonderfully captured what the zeitgeist of the nation was during World War II and going into the 70s. He not only chose powerful scenes to capture, such as, The Problem We All Live With (1963) to The Four Freedoms (1943), and The Golden Rule (1961),

The Golden Rule (1961) Also found in the
United Nations Building as a mosaic on the 3rd floor

but the way he painted the people's expressions in his art was as if you could see their thoughts, or at least imagine your own — ones that transcend time. The museum's free guided tours are so informative and descriptive of the collection and the artist — the guide we had was wonderful. I very much enjoyed learning about the story behind the Four Freedoms, and how Rockwell painted those after being inspired from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's State of the Union Address in 1941, and how they were published in The Saturday Evening Post to rally the country during war.

May we be rocking away in these when we're old & gray.

After we left The Norman Rockwell Museum we drove to Main Street in Stockbridge to do some window shopping at the country stores, and take a break on the rocking chairs at The Red Lion Inn. Main Street in Stockbridge is like a blast from the past -- you may just be stepping into the 50s, and if you go to the Red Lion Inn you may just be stepping into the 1850s. The Inn from 1773 has hosted six U.S. presidents.

Entering the Estate

We reached the Mount, the spectacular gardens and estate of the American Author, Edith Wharton. It is one of the most beautiful walks on a pathway through the forest, lined with grand pines, ferns and mossy patches. After learning Wharton's story as the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, first woman to receive an honorary degree from Yale, a humanitarian volunteering in World War I, a free thinker, and her classical philosophy of simplicity for home design, I fell in love with her. I happily purchased three of her books at the Mount's bookstore including The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence because I was told 100% of the proceeds goes towards the restoration of the estate. I just started reading Wharton's autobiography, A Background Glance. After touring the estate and admiring Wharton as a human being, I have now become a member, which not only helps preserve her memory as one of America's great female authors and supports the estate, but you also receive great perks like free visits throughout the year, invitations to special events and a discount to the bookstore.