This past weekend my parents visited me & my new apartment for the first time. They helped me put up curtains & replace my toilet seat (very glamorous), & then I took them out to Stockbridge to the Norman Rockwell Museum. The weather was perfect, the Berkshires were greengreengreen, & I took a whole heap of pictures, so I'm going to let them do most of the talking.
This is Norman's studio, a cute little barn-type place.
This was his first studio in Stockbridge, right over the market on Main Street.
After the museum we walked up & down Main St., swooning at the quaintness. My mom really wanted to visit the Red Lion Inn, so we went there for dinner.
Initially I was like, Red Lion Inn, whatever. Old buildings are a dime a dozen up here. But when we got there it blew me away. I mean, it is old. It's been in operation since 1773. But even more than that, there was something eerily familiar about it. Reminders were everywhere: my grandmother's china cabinet, my mother's teapot collection, all those times I watched Anne of Green Gables as a kid. I kept expecting Diana Barry to come stumbling down the stairs, drunk off red currant wine.
There were phone booths wallpapered in Norman Rockwell covers!
They even have the old hotel switchboard. Carson would be impressed.
After dinner we stumbled upon the original Alice's Restaurant. My parents were beside themselves. I was less so.
It's easy to see why Rockwell was so inspired by his adopted hometown--it's cute as a Christmas card, even in the middle of June. I would love to go back in the fall. I bet it rivals Stars Hollow for best Harvest Festival.
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