MONTEREY, Mass. — Join the Monterey Historical Society, Monterey Library and the Bidwell House Museum to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Henry Knox's Noble Trail of Artillery through the Southern Berkshires.
Beginning in December of 1775 from Fort Ticonderoga in New York, twenty five year old Henry Knox led an expedition to move 60 tons of captured British artillery to the Continental army in Boston in order to force the British to evacuate the city. Knox's journey took three months and came through the Berkshires in January of 1776, during the depths of winter, using little more than ox and horse-drawn sledges and manpower.
On Thursday April 16th at 7 p.m., you can attend the final talk in this series about the Knox Trail where Tom Ragusa will discuss how he has traced and marked the route of the old road for 8 miles, and his effort to list the road on the National Register.
This is the longest undisturbed stretch of the historic road in Western Massachusetts. Tom Ragusa has spent almost twenty years researching and documenting the location of the old "Great Road" road through Sandisfield and Otis. This road was used by Henry Knox and countless others through "The Greenwoods."
He retired from Mass. DCR after 42 years, is a long-term member of the Otis Historical Commission, and is one of the authors of the upcoming book, Ye Trodden Path. This talk will be held at the Monterey Library and will also be available to watch on Zoom. To register, head to the Bidwell House Museum website: https://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org/event/ye-trodden-path-2/
The exhibit and programs are sponsored in part by grants from Housatonic Heritage and the Friends of the Monterey Library. Both programs are free and open to the public. Parking for the Monterey Library is limited and visitors can also park in the public lot behind the Monterey Town Hall.
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The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.
Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director.
Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.
The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.
"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.
Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.
"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."
One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.
Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.
"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.
They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.
"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.
The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.
Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.
"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said.
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