It was with great purpose that Richard Bump and Susan Church returned to the Bennington home of their late grandparents. Together the cousins committed to preserving Fonda's Antiques — the family’s 75-year old business.
"We're almost an antique antique shop," said Bump, who bought his aunt’s share of the shop in 1994. In changing his career, he took it back to where it started; his first job, at 12-years old, was helping his grandmother wait on customers. "The antique shop has been part of our lives all the way through," he said.
A year later, his cousin in Ohio proposed a partnership. Church realized that what she most wanted to do made perfect sense: her children were grown and her aunt, Bump's mother, was ready to sell. Moving back to the house where she lived for part of her childhood was an important thing for her to do, she said. "For me this was coming home."
As children, they spent summers and holidays in Bennington; the family also gathered there weekly. "My grandmother was a real matriarch ... She sort of made it impossible for the two daughters to do much of anything else on a Sunday — other than to come here," said Bump with a smile.
On that day, the shop remained open while the family sat down for the afternoon meal. He remembered one Sunday in particular: "My grandmother was out waiting on people and she came marching in and said 'Everybody up! I've sold the table.'"
Walking into Fonda’s Antiques today, it’s not hard to imagine such a scene. The atmosphere is warm and intimate; each space — the dining room, parlors, an enclosed porch — filled with antiques. The barn out back, and a red one-room building next door, are also open to shoppers.
In spite of a cozy, lived-in feeling, the house is no longer occupied; The cousins share responsibility for the shop on a weekly basis; Church lives on the property and Bump in nearby New York.
Running Fonda’s was a way to honor their grandmother, explained Church. There were no remaining Fondas and "the only way to sort of keep the name going was to keep the business going," said Bump.
Fonda’s Antiques opened in 1927, just one of a handful of business ventures their grandparents ran from home. They operated a gas station and hot dog stand in the adjacent one-room building, said Bump. Starting in the ‘30s, they rented out cottages behind the house. There was a period where, on Sundays, they sold Southern fried chicken on the porch to the Williams College set, he said.
But it was Fonda’s Antiques that really took off, eventually becoming the family’s sole business. The gas station and hot dog stand closed to make way for “white elephant†items, known today as “collectibles†or knick knacks.
The shop that started in the barn also grew to include sections of the house — sections strictly off limits to the young cousins during business hours. Ethel Fonda didn’t want her grandchildren dashing through the house disturbing customers, particularly since her shop specialized in 19th Century Bennington pottery and American pressed glass.
She became interested in pottery soon after arriving in Bennington from Yonkers, N.Y. in 1920. “She hated the country,†said Church, adding that the Brooklyn-bred young woman found herself living on a dirt road, with chickens, two toddlers and an outhouse.
Looking to become involved in something indigenous to her new home, she started researching Bennington pottery, said Bump. She met potters and glazers who worked at the pottery before it closed in 1902. She started a collection, he said, "and then she bought too much. So she started to sell. And in 1927 the shingle went up."
She ran Fonda’s Antiques until the early ‘80s, when her two daughters took over. For about ten years, they sold, but did not acquire, antiques; by the time Bump and Church stepped in, there was little in the way of inventory.
They both brought a stock of collections to the business; Bump had always sidelined in antiques, selling at shows and group shops while Church was an avid collector. Though their tastes differed somewhat, they wanted to retain the original spirit of their grandmother’s shop.
At the beginning, his stuff was more high end than the collectibles Church bought, she said. But the antique business was changing, she said.
And, Bump added, “what is considered antique is constantly changing.†Fifteen years ago, he didn’t see pottery pieces from the 1930s, 40s and 50s as legitimate antiques, he said. On the other hand, Church, who lived in Ohio where that work was produced, liked it, she said. Realizing that it was “part and parcel of the American ceramic tradition as it moved west,†Bump came to accept it, he said.
And, most importantly, the merchandise at Fonda’s Antiques would please their grandmother. “The shop has always been pottery and glass. ... We are still that. We’re just now 20th Century as well,†said Bump.
In another example of continued tradition, two women from the Williamstown Theatre Festival dropped by to purchase a suitcase for an upcoming production. Fonda’s Antiques is frequented by local theaters as much today as in their grandmother’s time. Their grandmother used to get upset when she lent things out as props and they weren’t returned or came back ruined, recalled Church.
Asked about their plans for the future, the cousins agreed that they needed more space. They’re always buying new things and most of the house’s nooks and cranies are filled, said Bump. Eventually they’d like to open up the second floor of the barn.
And, as the grandchildren of Ethel and William Fonda, they’re naturally interested in all sorts of things. Bump wants to do more with garden architecture, perhaps filling wonderful old containers with plants, he said. He’d also like to plant heirloom or antique gardens on the ten acre property. Church could plant herbs to sell in interesting old bottles. Then there are the pies she cooks and her paintings. Some day she’d love to create a Fonda’s web site ...
Fonda’s Antiques is on 1518 Route 7 South (Pownal Rd.). It’s open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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North Adams Double Murder Case Continued to March
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The case of a city man charged with killing his parents was continued to March on Monday.
Darius Hazard, 44, was scheduled for a detention hearing on Monday in Northern Berkshire District Court.
Prior to the start of the court's business, the clerk announced that Hazard's case was continued to Monday, March 2.
Hazard is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson in connection with the Nov. 24 fire that claimed the lives of Donald Hazard, 83, and Venture Hazard, 76.
Police say Hazard confessed to the killings and starting the fire and fled the Francis Street home where he lived with his parents.
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