Stone Village featured in national history magazine

Cover of Early American Life’s issue featuring the Stone Village./ © Photograph by John Ferrarone for Old Sturbridge Village.

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hester is in the national spotlight for the fourth time* in slightly more than a year, this time with a photo-heavy, 6-page article on the Stone Village, running in the December edition of Early American Life. (Click photos to enlarge)

The 42-year-old history magazine covers “everything before 1850 in America,” says its publisher, Tess Rosch, listing architecture, antiques, period style, traditions and history within its mission. Executive editor Jeanmarie Andrews said the magazine’s readership — which numbers more than 35,000 paid — not only includes homeowners who may be lucky enough to own an untouched treasure and those who are hoping “to achieve the look,” but museum professionals and Hollywood set designers who “use the magazine’s artisan directory to create correct period pieces.”

So how did the historic Stone Village come to grace the magazine’s pages? Rosch said she had stumbled upon the Stone Village last winter, returning to the magazine’s home base in Ohio, after “heading from one old house on the back road to another on a back road. We were doing (an article on) a Maine house, a New Hampshire house and a Vermont house. In mountain states, houses tend to stay hidden, like little jewels.”

The photos were shot by contributing editor Winfield Ross, with staff researching and writing the piece.

Ptolemy Edson home.© 2012 Firelands Media Group LLC, Early American Life December 2012, photograph by Winfield Ross

Rosch added that “back roads are especially where there are enclaves of Yankee thrift. (Yankees) tend to make do with what they have and aren’t overly eager to make changes. That’s where Yankee thrift aids conservation.”

Andrews, who has been with the magazine since 1995, said, “We’ve not seen similar types of architecture … It’s fascinating the way they (the buildings) are constructed to make them beautiful but sturdy.”

You can pick up a copy of Early American Life featuring the Stone Village article at Misty Valley Books, 58 The Common, or reserve one by calling the store at 802-875-3400.

*The other stories were: The New York Times piece on the floods; The New York Times piece on the Dollar General controversy; and Chester’s being named one of the 60 Prettiest Painted Places in America.

— By Cynthia Prairie