Greetings From Shelburne Vermont

If you find yourself in the Burlington Vermont area and would like to treat yourself to a wonderful art, design and Americana experience, we highly recommend Shelburne Museum.  The museum was founded by Electra Havermeyer Webb in 1947 and is one of the most imaginative and original museums housing one of the most interesting collections of art from Impressionistic paintings to folk art and quilts.  When creating the museum, Electra did not only collect exceptional art and decorative objects, she also collected 18th and 19th century structures (and a steamboat) from New York and New England in which to display the pieces.  These include houses, barns, a meeting house, a one-room schoolhouse, a lighthouse, a jail, a general store, a covered bridge and the 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga.  We only had a couple of hours to spend here, but could have spent a couple of days.  In addition to the permanent collection, they currently have two temporary exhibitions which are worth the trip themselves.  One is an Impressionist show, "In a New Light: French Impressionism Arrives in America", with works from Degas, Monet, Cassatt and others.  The second is "All Star Quilts: The John Wilmerding Collection" featuring "Star of Bethlehem" quilts from the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Here are some shots from the afternoon.  The last photo might look familiar to those of you that follow the blog regularly.