Etching from Harper’s Weekly magazine, 1871. The caption reads, “‘Stockbridge Bowl,’ or the mirror of the mountain. The cottage where Hawthorne wrote ‘The House of the Seven Gables.'”
In 1871, Harper’s Weekly called Stockbridge “a true New England village” and “the loveliest village on the plains.” His illustration of Stockbridge Bowl, known as the “Mountain Mirror,” with Hawthorne’s house in the foreground, was proof of this.
Why was Stockbridge so neat and nice in 1871? It wasn’t for a lack of tourists or holiday home owners.
In this part of the westernmost part of the state, the flow of summer tourists grows stronger every year, and many of the residents of the crowded, steamy cities find new life in their homes for a few weeks, nestled among the picturesque rolling hills. I learned that. valley.
Instead, it was wide plains between rugged mountains, “every field, every doorstep, even every neatly gravelled path.” [there are] A testament to care and culture – the perfect combination of nature, art and taste…that’s what makes Stockbridge! It’s the most beautiful village on the plains! ”
That was in 1871, 15 years before the first Gilded Age cottage, Elm Court, was built. That was 63 years before the first Berkshire Symphony Festival was held at Tanglewood. Eighty-two years before Norman Rockwell arrived, they already recognized Stockbridge as a place of “rural culture.”
How did the author have such foresight? For he was twenty-five years after the arrival of writers Melville, Hawthorne, Bryant, Sedgwick, James, and Holmes.
Stockbridge, where Hawthorn lived, is visited by hundreds of people every year from all over the world, especially from England. Herman Melville had a residence within easy driving distance of Hawthorne. In 1851, novelist Henry James purchased a mansion in Stockbridge.
From its inception, Stockbridge attracted talented and skilled people who left their mark on the village. Painters George Innes, Thomas Cole, Frederick Church, and Asher Durant arrived in 1846, 25 years before this article. Stockbridge has been a cultural center for her 180 years. But Stockbridge didn’t always get the credit.
Stockbridge has been a cultural center since its inception. Harper’s properly listed Elm Court, Wheatley, Kripalu and Tanglewood in Stockbridge. Twenty-three years later, in 1894, Scribner’s magazine shuffled its deck and accidentally published everything on Lennox. why? Perhaps it was because it was economically advantageous to claim ownership of those venues or villas, or perhaps the author did not know where the village boundaries were. Whatever the reason, it took 130 years (and more to come) to sort it all out. This year, the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce will install signage identifying the cultural venue and its village.
Stockbridge has been culturally diverse from the beginning. “Therefore, in 1761, Johannes Mutoksin and Captain Jacob Cheekson Kung were the Chosen Ones, constables of Frederick Pou Phu Seat, and tithes of Peter Naw Ni Wau Nau Coot. It turns out that the donor was King Benjamin Kau Ke We. Nau-naunt and Cheeksou are part of the committee to seat the church.”
Sergeant John, one of the first white settlers, wrote a book titled “The Improvement of the Mind.” It shows that education has always been at the heart of Stockbridge. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Dorset, and Lord Gower, among others, became liberal subscribers to Stockbridge, the mission and school.
The Missionary Sergeant and Stockbridge Munsee communities were mutually supportive. “The Indians were noted for their good morals and their peaceful nature.”
When the sergeant died young, his tombstone read: “This quaint inscription, written by one of his Indian students, is an expression of their respect for him…Where is that pleasant shape…that pious… “Where is my soul?” was engraved on it. Thought, consciousness? I will go to heaven and there I will find my sergeant. ”
It was also an intellectual center. Theodore Sedgwick has moved from Sheffield. Sedgwick was a friend of George Washington, a delegate to the Continental Congress, freed from slaves Moonbet and Blom, and the proud father of novelist Catherine.
The Fabulous Fields arrived with their father, the Rev. David Dudley Field. His sons were excellent. Your Highness. David Dudley Field Jr. codified New York’s criminal law. Stephen Field, Esq., was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Abraham Lincoln. Cyrus W. Field “set up a girdle around the Earth in 40 minutes,” or laying a transatlantic cable. Jonathan Field’s son invented the trolley car. “In the midst of the wilderness, cut off from light and civilization, the sons and daughters of Stockbridge made Stockbridge “the very center of the world’s movement of ideas.”
Before and after 1871, Stockbridge, with its prairie landscapes, lakes, rivers, and extraordinary people, has always been a symbol of “the culture of this country…its extraordinary people are the crowning ornament of its beauty.”