Cornish colony new hampshire

In the early years of the 20th century, the Cornish Artists??? Colony in Cornish, New Hampshire was one of the more popular places for creative fine art activity in the eastern United States. Between 1895 and 1925, nearly 100 artists, sculptors, writers, designers, and well-known politicians chose Cornish as the area where they wanted to live, either full time or during the summer months. The natural beauty of Cornish was what originally attracted its many settlers. With views across the Connecticut River Valley to Mount Ascutney in Vermont, the idyllic rolling-hill scenery resembled an Italian landscape. Created were countless paintings, sculptures, writings, as well as gardens continue "to plant seeds of inspiration". The name Cornish, although referencing the town in New Hampshire, is more reflective of a state of mind and a sense of beautiful place rather than a solid geographical location. The Colony was in fact spread out over Windsor, Vermont, as well as the villages of Plainfield and Cornish in New Hampshire. Windsor was the mailing address for the entire area and the arrival point of most of the colonists, who usually came from New York City, which was a grueling nine-hour train ride. Members of the colony in some ways epitomized the American Renaissance in their attempts to recreate the ideals of a past golden age. This ???golden age vision??? could describe the sculpture of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the first artist resident of the Colony, and Herbert Adams, as well as paintings by Maxfield Parrish, George de Forest Brush, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Henry O. Walker, Henry B. Fuller and Kenyon Cox. Source: Alma Gilbert Smith, Director of the Cornish Colony Museum