Rockwell in Arlington
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE ARTIST’S PIVOTAL YEARS IN SOUTHERN VERMONT
July 1, 2021 // By Benjamin Lerner
When Norman Rockwell first came to Arlington, Vermont, in the autumn of 1938, he was a conflicted and world-weary artist searching for a restful escape from his hectic and fast-paced life in New Rochelle. This city in southeastern New York was a pricey and luxurious suburban sanctuary for famous writers and artists—including Rockwell, who resided there with his wife, Mary, and their three young children, Jarvis, Thomas, and Peter.
THE ARTIST IN ARLINGTON Norman Rockwell spent 14 years in Vermont. Here, he is in his Arlington studio. @NORMAN ROCKWELL FAMILY AGENCY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Rockwell had long cemented his position as the most successful and well-known commercial illustrator in the world, but he still felt frustrated with the quality of his work and stymied by his surroundings. “New Rochelle was an active arts community, but the social scene became a distraction for Rockwell, who sought more peaceful surroundings,” notes Stephanie Plunkett, Deputy Director and Chief Curator for the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. “Rockwell’s move to Vermont brought fresh perspectives and a greater sense of authenticity to his art, which was inspired by observation.”
Rockwell’s interest in southern Vermont was initially piqued when his friend Fred Hildebrandt, an avid fisherman, first suggested that they journey to the beautiful and verdant valleys of West Arlington to go trout fishing on the Battenkill River. Although Rockwell was far from an accomplished angler, their visits to the region planted a significant seed in his mind. Shortly after, Norman and Mary Rockwell began to comb through southern Vermont real estate brochures. From there, their interest in a summer property in the Green Mountain State continued to progressively build.
After making the decision to spend some time away from New Rochelle and invest in a summertime vacation property up north, Norman and Mary Rockwell left their children at home and spent a weekend together in Bennington. While the Rockwells were there, local realtors showed them a number of properties, none of which appealed to them. Ultimately, they found that the social scene in Bennington was, at the time, all too reminiscent of New Rochelle.
They headed north from Bennington to Arlington to spend the night at the Colonial Inn (now The Arlington Inn). While strolling down Main Street before suppertime, Norman began to notice the vivid colors of the autumn leaves as he pensively puffed on his briar pipe. After stopping in at the local general store, he and Mary leisurely ambled back towards the inn and enjoyed a restorative and peaceful night together. Upon waking, they spoke with the inn’s owner, “Happy” Bottom, who suggested that they explore some nearby properties.
Norman and Mary journeyed down to West Arlington with a local realtor named Burt Immen and his wife Dot, and immediately fell in love with a charming 60-acre farm property on River Road. (Years later, Burt and Dot’s daughter Mary Immen would serve as a model in Rockwell’s famous A Scout is Helpful illustration, which was featured in the Boy Scouts of America calendar.) After touring the grounds of the West Arlington farmhouse and returning to the Colonial Inn, the Rockwells purchased the property the next day. They then hired a local builder by the name of Walt Squires to convert one of the smaller outbuildings into a studio. According to Plunkett, it was there that Rockwell would complete some of his most well-known works, many of which are on display at the Stockbridge museum today.
“One of the things that Rockwell found in Vermont was an entirely new retinue of friends and neighbors, who served as models for his work,” says Plunkett.
“This was another ‘first’ for the artist,” adds playwright/producer Eileen Bluestone Sherman, whose musical about Rockwell has appeared at both the Southern Vermont Arts Center and New York’s famed Lincoln Center. “In New Rochelle, he engaged professional models, but in Arlington, he turned to local kids and neighbors, all who grew to adore both Norman and Mary.”
ROCKWELL & SONS Norman Rockwell working on Willie Gillis in College (1946) in his studio in Arlington, with sons Jarvis and Thomas. @NORMAN ROCKWELL FAMILY AGENCY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Rockwell admired their industriousness and honesty and he appreciated their friendship. Many Arlington models became well-known cover stars in his illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post. Plunkett says that one of Rockwell’s favorite models in Arlington was Mary Whalen, whom he referred to as “the best model I ever had.” The Norman Rockwell Museum’s permanent collection boasts iconic illustrations that feature Whalen as the subject, including Girl at Mirror, and the sequential Day in the Life of a Little Girl illustrations.
After establishing themselves as fulltime residents of Arlington in 1939, the Rockwell family wholeheartedly immersed themselves in the Arlington community. Jarvis, Thomas, and Peter enrolled at local schools, and Norman and Mary became members of local organizations, attended school board meetings, and were frequently seen at dances at the Arlington Grange.
Although Rockwell may have relocated to Arlington to escape the glitzy bustle of New Rochelle, he nevertheless found a thriving community of artists, writers, poets and composers in southern Vermont, including the poet Robert Frost; the composer Carl Ruggles; fine artists Reginald Marsh, Lea Ehrich and Rockwell Kent; author and influencer Dorothy Canfield Fisher; and fellow illustrators Don Trachte, Gene Pelham, Mead Schaeffer, George Hughes, and John Atherton. Plunkett elaborates: “Schaeffer, Atherton, Hughes, and Rockwell were all very well-known Saturday Evening Post illustrators. They spent time together and commented upon each other’s work, shared models and drew upon each other for inspiration. The artistic bond that they shared was an important highlight of Rockwell’s time in Arlington.”
In addition to the connections that Rockwell formed with local artists, he also formed strong connections with other local families, such as the Edgerton family, who served as models for many of his illustrations. In fact, it was Jim Edgerton who stood up at a local town meeting and inspired Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech illustration. That series of illustrations, which Rockwell based off of the Four Freedoms proclamation from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s January 1941 Address to Congress, used models from Arlington. Interestingly, although Edgerton inspired the illustration, the iconic Freedom of Speech features Carl Hess, the owner of a local gas station, not Edgerton.
Before the Four Freedoms illustrations were successively published in four issues of The Saturday Evening Post in February and March of 1943, Rockwell framed the paintings and hung them at the Arlington Grange. As local residents gathered, there was a palpable feeling of reverent awe as they took in the powerful illustrations. After being published in The Saturday Evening Post, the paintings became the highlight of a sixteen-city touring exhibition that was sponsored by The Saturday Evening Post and the U.S. Treasury. The exhibitions bolstered sales of war bonds by over $132 million, which provided the American Government with a much-needed influx of cash at a critical point in the war.
Today, the Four Freedoms paintings are on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum, a mere 70 miles from where they were painted, in a spacious room at the heart of the main exhibition hall. In the center of the room, Carl Hess’s instantly-recognizable suede jacket from Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech rests in a glass case, bringing an air of rustic reality to the poignant and moving display.
At the same time that Rockwell was catapulted to new levels of international superstardom from the release of the Four Freedoms painting series, tragedy struck when his studio in Arlington burned down in the spring of 1943. Multiple original paintings were destroyed, as were numerous sketches, props, records, and reference books. In the advent of the fire, several Arlington residents showed up with a new set of smoking pipes for Rockwell, which he viewed as a symbolic gesture of affection. Although Rockwell was initially devastated by the loss of his studio and recent artistic projects, he realized that the fire had given him another opportunity to start anew and rededicate himself to his craft.
Rockwell then relocated to his second residence in West Arlington, which stood on the West Arlington Green across the Battenkill River from Route 313. The Edgerton family lived 50 feet away from the Rockwell family in a twin house near the banks of the Battenkill, and the friendship between the families grew stronger with every passing year that the Rockwell family spent in West Arlington. Rockwell ended up crafting some of the most popular and memorable pieces from his Arlington years at his second residence, including a large-scale charcoal study for The Gossips, which is currently on display as part of the permanent collection at the Norman Rockwell Museum.
After 14 years in Arlington, the Rockwells moved to the Berkshires in 1953. At the time, Mary struggled with depression and alcoholism and was being treated at the prestigious Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge for her mental health. Rockwell continued to paint for two decades after moving to Stockbridge and used his platform as an international artist to advocate for social justice and civil rights. Today, his legacy continues to strongly reverberate in the Arlington community.
In 2019, the site of his second residence and studio in Arlington was acquired by Kevin and Sue Harter, who re-invented the property as a luxurious—yet relaxed—destination inn. They named it “Rockwell’s Retreat” and opened their doors to the public in 2020.
Although the rustically refined inn is by no means a shrine to Rockwell, the Harters put a great deal of effort into restoring the studio where Rockwell once painted many of his local subjects.
“We wanted to put the studio back together as best as we could, and we wanted to make it look just like it was when he was here,” says Kevin Harter, who adds that he and Sue looked at old photos as references and consulted with Rockwell’s former models. Several of the artifacts scattered throughout the studio carry special historical significance, such as a deer head supplied by Buddy Edgerton (Jim Edgerton’s son) and a painting palette that belonged to Arthur Jones, another well-known artist who lived in southern Vermont.
In the same way that Rockwell found a welcoming home in Arlington when he came here with his family in 1939, the Harters have found a similarly warm welcome in southern Vermont today. They have established fruitful business partnerships with local merchants and tradespeople, and also formed their own connections with Rockwell’s family and friends.
ROCKWELL’S RETREAT In 2019, the site of Norman Rockwell’s residence and studio in Arlington, Vermont, was acquired by Kevin and Sue Harter, above with their three dogs, who re-invented the property as a luxurious—yet relaxed—destination inn and named it “Rockwell’s Retreat,”.
“Before we opened the inn to the public, I was draining the pipes in the small studio’s crawl space when a car pulled up outside,” says Harter. “I went down to see who it was, and a man introduced himself to me as Buddy Edgerton. He was there with his son, Jim. He was somewhat taken aback when I didn’t immediately recognize his name, given his extraordinarily close relationship with the Rockwell family. We started talking about the memories that he had from the time that Rockwell spent in Arlington, and we ended up forming a wonderful connection of our own.
He’s been incredibly welcoming since we’ve first come here. It’s been great to see how supportive and receptive the local community has been. Norman Rockwell’s son, Jarvis, has also been wonderfully welcoming. When I first showed Jarvis around the inn after the majority of our renovations were complete, he said that he truly loved what we had done with the place. It feels good knowing that we’re able to carry on the Rockwell legacy in our own way, and I’m grateful to live in such a beautiful place that inspired Rockwell to create some of his most legendary works.”
Norman Rockwell Museum, 9 Glendale Rd.,
Stockbridge, Massachusetts; nrm.org
Rockwell’s Retreat, 3587 River Rd.,
Arlington, Vermont; rockwellsretreat.com