We're continuing with a selection of encore blog postings this week. Here's another memorable blog from our visit to Woodbury, Connecticut. It was originally posted on September 5th, 2018. Enjoy.
If you’re ever in or around western Connecticut and love visiting small, charming towns or shopping for antiques, I encourage you to make a stop in the quaint hamlet of Woodbury.
Nestled in the foothills of Litchfield County, Woodbury is known as the “Antiques Capital of Connecticut.” This reputation was established more than 50-years ago when antiques dealers began setting up shops in the historic homes along Main Street. Now the area has more than 35 antiques stores featuring some of the best in period furniture, decor, and art. Woodbury is also filled with beautiful churches and inns, and excellent restaurants and cafes. I've been to Woodbury many times and have always enjoyed my visits there - I know you will too.
Yesterday, my assistant went to Woodbury to pick up something I had recently purchased. This is Tucker Frey Antiques, a shop specializing in 18th and early 19th century pieces. http://www.walinfreyantiques.com/
I had purchased these two antique windows from Tucker Frey, last month, at the New Hampshire Antiques Show. These windows are 300-years old.
They came from a church in Sheffield, Massachusetts. I love the shape and architecture of these windows.
Tucker’s shop has many treasures including William and Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal period furniture and accessories.
Here is a folk art portrait of a boy and his dog from the early 1800s.
This tabletop figure of a woman and her hat probably came from a 19th-century milliner’s shop.
Here is a beautiful antique chest with original brass hardware – everything is in such excellent condition.
Here is one of several copper molds at Tucker’s shop – this lion is quite rare. Molds were popular during the Victorian Era for both savory and sweet dishes. I have collected many molds over the years.
This is an antique pheasant weather vane mounted on a wooden stand.
Next door to Tucker Frey Antiques is Cedar Meadow Store – an antiques shop with whimsy. Owners, Veronica Martin and Jim Orsi both enjoy color, graphics, nature, and folk art. On a center of this table is a taxidermy kingfisher under a glass dome. It is early 20th century from a Natural History Museum in Italy.
This large “store” sign is original from 1850.
This is a set of Victorian nesting blocks.
And here – two Hubley cast iron Boston Terrier door stops. In front of them are modern Tatine votive candles.
Woodbury is very historic. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church sits across the street from Tucker’s shop. It was first organized in 1740.
In 1961, a new parish house was attached to St. Paul’s. The land under the parish house had belonged to the Town of Woodbury, which sold the property to the church in 1959 for a dollar.
Further down Main Street is The Elemental Garden. Unfortunately, it was closed at the time. http://www.theelementalgarden.com/
The Elemental Garden focuses on rare and authentic garden antiques, bold furnishings, and unusual decorative accessories – the walkway to the entrance was decorated with this quaint arbor.
Along the driveway are several ornamental garden statues. This is a set of four lead figures, each representing a different season, raised on large plinth blocks of limestone. They were once part of Oprah Winfrey’s personal collection.
These are covered marble mid-18th century urns hand-carved by a master Italian artisan in Marchese.
This is the Woodbury Public Library. The town’s library first opened in 1851 with a collection of 200-books. It moved to this location in 1902. In its earliest days, the library was governed by several rules including “books could be drawn on the first Thursday of each month, and three-cent fines were levied for damages such as turned down pages or ink spots.”
Not far is the Woodbury Town Hall Building.
The Red Barn Thrift Shop is the go-to place for gently used clothing, household items, books, linens.
The sign next to the door listed its hours and times. Unfortunately, this day was a Tuesday…
Next door is the Red Barn’s other building called the Parsonage Boutique, where most of the clothing items are displayed for visitors.
Wayne Mattox Antiques is a trusted source for 18th and 19th century American furniture, paintings and folk art as well as primitives and antiques with historic appeal. https://www.antiquetalk.com/
The gallery is housed in a classic Greek revival home. This handsome wooden figure sits by the front door.
Wayne has many beautiful antique weather vanes such as this cow with a beautiful patina – the green or brown film on the surface of bronze or similar metals, produced by oxidation over a long period of time.
This is a horse weather vane. A weather vane, wind vane, or weathercock, is an instrument showing the direction of the wind. They often sit atop houses or tower buildings.
This is a giant wooden antique post topper from the early 19th century.
Woodbury is also home to this charming old hardware and feed store, CL Adams Company.
Housed in a converted barn, the stalls are used for storing farm animal feed and supplies.
There are also smaller, hand-packed bags of birdseed.
Inside the store, vintage shelving holds an array of cabinet hardware.
And of course, old fashioned gumball machines for its younger visitors.
Many shops along and around Main Street are listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings, such as the B. Bourgeois Lighting Building, a gallery of historic lighting fixtures. This structure was originally built in the late 1700s.
I hope you get the opportunity to visit this wonderful New England town – steeped in history, charm, and filled with many antique treasures.
My blog team is taking a little break, so for the next few days we'll be posting some of our favorite summertime blogs from years past. This one was originally posted on August 29th, 2018 - a fun day antiquing in New Hampshire. Enjoy the look back. And if you're in the area, this year's New Hampshire Antiques Show is on August 11-13, 2022.
I love antiques of all kinds and have been collecting for many years, so whenever my schedule allows, I always try to attend a show.
Not long ago while still vacationing in Maine, Kevin Sharkey and I took a day trip to New Hampshire to visit a couple gardens and to attend the 61st annual New Hampshire Antiques Show. The three-day event is hosted by the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association. This year, 67-exhibitors gathered at the Manchester Downtown Hotel to showcase some of their finest early American pieces - folk art, porcelain, country and formal furniture, paintings and prints, glassware, metalware, pottery and much more. It was a fun morning, followed by a fun lunch and a visit to the country's longest wooden covered bridge.
Enjoy these photos.
I always stop in the booth of Judy Milne. I’ve admired her pieces for many years. Judy owns Milne Inc., which offers design and decorating services and a showroom of vintage, industrial, antique and custom furniture in Kingston, New York. This wall is filled with fun antique and vintage signs.
Judy Milne also featured this rare marlin weathervane from the 1920s.
And these interesting antique pottery jugs and plates. Early American utilitarian earthenware and stoneware vessels date back to the Colonial period.
This deer buck was presented by John Chaski Antiques in Camden, Delaware. John Chaski’s love for antiques began at an early age, while attending auctions with his father. Now, he exhibits his collections at shows around the country, operates an open shop, and serves as broker for auction sales. https://www.johnchaski.com/
Here’s a brass eagle wall piece from Ian McKelvey Antiques in South Windham, Connecticut, a shop specializing in antiquities, art, and furniture.
And here’s another marlin table top figure.
Here’s a farm sign warning visitors of livestock in the area.
Recognize these? I also have a set. They’re German glass tulips from the early 1920s. The set includes red, pink, purple and yellow tulips, all with green stems ranging from eight to 12-inches tall. They’re quite rare.
Also at the New Hampshire Antiques Show – handmade antique quilts. People in nearly every part of the world had used padded fabrics for clothing, bedding, and even armor. In fact, the word quilt comes from the Latin word ‘culcita’, meaning stuffed mattress or cushion. With the arrival of the English and Dutch settlers in North America, quilting took on a new life and flourished.
Here is one of a set of 12 English antique creamware plates by Wedgewood from 1872 – a rare pattern with red feathered edges.
Another well-loved pottery maker was Roseville. The Roseville Pottery Company was an American manufacturer in the 19th and 20th centuries – one of the three major art potteries in Ohio at the time. Though the company originally made simple household pieces, the Arts and Crafts–inspired designs rose in popularity and are now sought after by collectors. This is a vintage Roseville creamware pitcher with a green band stripe.
Here is another early Roseville piece – it is about 18-inches in diameter at its widest point and approximately six and a half inches tall. The pitcher is cream color with a one and a quarter-inch orange stripe all the way around.
And who can resist a handsome cast iron dog figure – this one a hunting dog presented by Heller Washam Antiques in Portland, Maine.
After our morning at the New Hampshire Antiques show, we stopped for lunch at the popular Red Arrow Diner in Manchester. Its pledge: “to create, cook and serve, with consistency and a smile, the most palate pleasing diner eats known to mankind.”
The Red Arrow first opened in 1922 – it has kept a lot of its vintage charm ever since.
The popular eatery offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert 24-hours a day, seven-days a week, 365-days a year.
The diner displays “Dinah Doodles” along the wall – showcasing various patron drawings.
Here was Kevin’s lunch – a DinahMoe Burger with two ground beef burgers, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and cheese on a roll with fries.
I had a salad and a BLT.
This is one of the original vintage “Dinah mugs” at the Red Arrow Diner.
And here’s a look into the dessert case – pie pieces were going very fast.
On our way back to Skylands, we crossed this beautiful bridge – the Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge. It spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont.
This is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. There were three bridges previously built on this site—one in 1796, another in 1824 and then another in 1828. The current bridge was originally built in 1866, and rebuilt in 1988. It is approximately 449-feet long and 24-feet wide. I love the sign above – “Walk Your Horses or Pay a Two Dollar Fine.”
The Connecticut River is the longest river in New England, flowing roughly southward for 406-miles through four states. It runs from the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, all the way to the Long Island Sound. It was a beautiful drive home. If you’re ever in this area, I encourage you to take a drive along this gorgeous river.
My long and winding pergola is full of striking orange-colored tiger lily blooms.
This pergola, located on one side of a carriage road near my Tenant House, goes through several transformations during the year. In late spring, a palette of bold purple and white alliums covers the area, followed by the delicate shades of lavender and blue from the flowering clematis vines that wrap around each of the granite posts. Now, hundreds of brightly spotted tiger lilies line the garden bed for all to see - and they are thriving.
Enjoy these photos.
Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow and come back year after year.
Native to China and Japan, these robust flowers add striking beauty to any border. I love how they look with their bright and showy orange colored blooms.
In early spring, this garden is filled with bold green stems of new growth.
By late May, this pergola garden is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers. This palette of colors is a big favorite at the farm – it grows more colorful and vibrant every spring.
In early June, the granite posts are filled with gorgeous clematis flowers.
And then the entire garden goes through another dramatic transformation in summer. Here it is now – bursting with gorgeous orange. This side of my long pergola is one of the first areas I see when I drive into my property. This pergola has thousands of waist-to-shoulder-high lilies.
Tiger lilies are covered with black or deep crimson spots, giving the appearance of the skin of a tiger. They have large, down-facing flowers, each with six recurved petals. Many flowers can be up to five inches in diameter.
Lilies are well-known for having heavily pollinated stamens, which stain. Here, it is easy to see those pollen-filled anthers. When cutting, always remove the anthers to prevent a clothing disaster – just pinch them off with gloved fingers.
The blackish, round “seeds” that develop in the axils of the leaves along the main stem are called bulbils.
The leaves can grow to three inches long and about 3/4-inch wide. They are medium green, narrow, smooth along their margins, and glabrous, clasping the stem at their bases.
There are also a few white lilies in this bed – adding more interest to the long floral display.
And some lighter orange lilies.
And there are still more lilies that have yet to open.
In various spots along the pergola garden are some of the dried alliums which I leave through the season.
In this garden, we also have pops of daylilies. The daylily is a low-maintenance perennial—easy to grow, virtually disease- and pest-free, and able to survive drought, uneven sunlight, and poor soil. The daylily’s botanical name, Hemerocallis, comes from Greek hemera “day” and kallos meaning “beauty”. The name is appropriate, since each flower lasts only one day. Despite their name, daylilies are not “true lilies.” Leaves grow from a crown and the flowers form on leafless stems called “scapes,” which rise above the foliage.
On the granite posts, there are a few lasting clematis flowers. I have always loved clematis, and over the years I have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant. When well-maintained, clematis can bloom profusely from early summer to early fall.
There are a few bell-shaped clematis flowers that are still going strong too. These have slightly fragrant blooms.
Not far from the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous forms and rich color. I have several large specimens on the property. On this afternoon, the clouds were also rolling in – look at the sky. Unfortunately, rain did not follow.
And across the “soccer field,” where my grandson Truman loves to play when he visits, are six matched standard weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. Weeping hornbeams can grow to be about 50-feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40-feet. These are very rare and precious trees and I am so happy they continue to thrive here.
On the other side, across the carriage road – a stand of stately bald cypress trees, now full of gorgeous soft green needle-like foliage.
In front of the tiger lilies is a border of boxwood shrubs I grew from cuttings. They’ve developed and grown into nicely sized specimens. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted on both sides of the pergola.
The entire pergola border and its surrounding gardens, trees, and other specimens provide a spectacular show every summer. Straight ahead is my perennial flower cutting garden – also filled with beautiful lilies this time of year. All the gardens are looking spectacular, but here in Bedford, New York, we’re still waiting for some much needed rain. I hope we get some soon.
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