NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

Day 4 of the coach trip, and the day began with a drive through at the extreme eastern edge of Massachusetts, the Berkshire Mountains, which have been attracting moneyed visitors since the 19th century.

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

Norman Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture.
 A custodianship of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

   The museum's collection includes more than 700 original Rockwell paintings, drawings, and studies. The Rockwell Center for American Visual Studios at the Norman Rockwell Museum is a national research institute dedicated to American illustration art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell

The museum was founded in 1969, and is the most comprehensive of several Rockwell tributes in New England, preserving 574 of his original paintings and drawings.
 Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine for more than four decades. He is also noted for his 64 year relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations. 

What was really interesting going round the museum was seeing how long his career spanned and how diverse his work was, ranging from pure fun....

......to advertising......

.......to social commentary in the 1960s

.......to out-and-out propaganda in the 1930s (The 4 Freedoms, based on Roosevelt's speech to the American nation to remind them of the core values they respected and were fighting in WW2 to preserve).......

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Worship

Freedom from Want

.

Freedom from Fear

We were able to see inside the studio where Rockwell did much of his later work>

The grounds were dotted with sculptures by his son

and gave some glorious views.

STOCKBRIDGE:

On to the lovely small town of Stockbridge for lunch, home of Rockwell but also of James Taylor. It's a tiny place but with some lovely 19th century buildings and a feel of relaxation and tranquility.

BENNINGTON:

Little has happened in Bennington to match the excitement of the days when Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys were based here 200 hundred years ago.It was first settled in 1761 and by the 19th century had become a leading industrial outpost for paper mills, potteries , gristmills and the largest cotton-batting mill in the US. 

Bennington Battle Memorial:

We stopped at this 306 ft. limestone obelisk that commemorates the August 1777 Battle of Bennington, which pitted the New Hampshire Militia, led by John Stark,

 and the Green Mountain Boys, under Seth Warner, against the forces of General Burgoyne. The Revolutionaries unexpectedly won.

The obelisk is guarded by a catamount, a mountain cat.

At the top of the obelisk, reached by a lift, there are some stunning views.