Rockwell Museum to open Linwood House for the holidays

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The Norman Rockwell Museum announces the opening of Linwood House, the Victorian-era manor house located on the Museum's grounds, to visitors during the month of December. Festively decorated for the holiday season, guided tours of the first floor of the building will be offered by educational guides dressed in period costume, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. A special collection of Victorian dolls will be included in the seasonal display. Admission to Linwood House is $3 for adults, free for children and Museum members. In 1858 retired New York attorney Charles E. Butler purchased 80 acres and began building a year-round home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The estate property held an inspiring view overlooking the Housatonic River, and in 1859 Linwood, one of the first Berkshire "cottages," was completed. Butler, a member of the prestigious law firm of Butler, Evarts, Southmayd, and Choate, was one of the most highly respected nineteen-century New York lawyers. Linwood House was next door to Butler's partner's estate, Southmayd, and from the front door of Linwood, Mr. Butler could look across the valley and see Naumkeag, the "cottage" of his junior partner, Mr. Choate. Linwood House was built out of unpolished marble (quarried locally in the Berkshires), and its overall design is Hudson River Gothic, a style popularized by the architect Calvert Vaux in his book Villas and Cottages, published in 1857. The estate descended through several generations of the Butler family, each using the property in their own ways: as a working farm, a gentleman's farm and as a peafowl farm. The home eventually became the property of Percy Musgrave, Jr. and his family. Son F. Story Musgrave grew up to become an astronaut and the first physician chosen by NASA for the space program. Percy Musgrave's widow, Josephine Cary Musgrave, eventually sold Linwood House and the 40 acres to the Norman Rockwell Museum in 1983. The Museum later donated four acres of the property to the Laurel Hill Association, the nation's oldest land preservation organization. The Linwood grounds provide a spacious setting for the new Norman Rockwell Museum, which opened its doors on June 12, 1993. Norman Rockwell Museum is open daily. General public admission is $12 for adults, $7 for students, and free for visitors 18 and under (four per adult). KIDS FREE Every Day is a gift to families from Country Curtains and the Red Lion Inn. On Wednesdays from November to May, senior citizens are admitted at half-price. The Museum is open daily, from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., May through October; from November through April, weekday hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekend/holiday hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Gallery tours are available daily, beginning on the hour. Antenna Audio Tour of select paintings from the Museum's permanent Norman Rockwell collection is available. Rockwell's original Stockbridge studio, located on the Museum grounds, is open May through October. For more information, the public is invited to call 413-298-4100, ext. 220. Visit the Museum's Web site at www.nrm.org .
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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