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 Made famous by Norman Rockwell's Main Street at Christmas Painting in 1967, 7 Arts Antiques and Gift Shop seemed the perfect name for a store in the Berkshires.  After all, the Berkshires were home to a range of artists through the years.  Tourists and customers alike were always asking us, "Where did you get this name of this store? Did Norman Rockwell come up with this name for his painting?  

In truth, the history of its name came from Harriet Sossner' s son Sandy Haver, my father. The name emerged from my father's creativity and his remarkable ability with words. 

My father was a real Madison Avenue advertising man back in the 1960s. Way before the recent TV Series "Mad Men," Sandy found a way to channel his creativity and use his craft of writing in advertising. And he was very good at it.  Very… He would often describe himself as the "master of the 60-second story"… or "The 1-minute novelist...". He found his first job as a copywriter at Ted Bates Advertising and then "move up the creative ladder" to Young and Rubicam, and then Dancer, Fitzgerald, and Sample. He later went to Norman Craig and Kummel until finishing as the Creative Director of Colgate Palmolive.  Some of you may remember such lines like, "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us" or "Come up to the Kool taste, the coolest taste in menthol cigarettes,"… to name a few…but all of these are good stories to tell at a later time.  For now, back to 7 Arts Antiques.

In 1959, my grandmother Harriet and her second husband lived in Great Barrington and ran the Stockbridge Food Market on Main Street. (There was a time that Norman Rockwell painted above that store, still yet another story).  My grandmother had just received her Real Estate License and was thinking about ways to make a few extra dollars on the side. Since the food market had little profits, she started to think about real estate investments to supplement her income.  At the same time, she thought of ways to keep her adult sons close by looking for a joint real estate venture. 

In time, an exciting property came up at a public foreclosure auction.  My grandmother called her two sons and asked them to join her at this auction. Caught up in all the action, they found themselves with the winning bid on an old girl scout camp on Lake Buel. This camp had several seasonal cabins, an old large pine lodge filled with 15 bedrooms, large fireplaces, a commercial kitchen, and plenty of open space used as the camp's dining room and game room. In the dreamer's eye, it was a vision. In reality, it was lots and lots of hard work.

This is where my father's advertising skills came in. Family lore says it was an attempt for both sons and their families to be close to Harriet, the matriarch of the family. Although Sandy and Tom had different professions, Sandy an advertising man and Tom a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology, they both agreed on a vision: a small, personalized summer vacation destination where young people could rent rooms or cabins for the weekend. Remember, this was in 1960- decades before the Air-BnB concept. But first, they needed to get people up from NYC and Boston…

Since coming up to the Berkshires to visit his mother, Harriet, my father realized that the inviting mountains, distinctive colors, and textures of the Berkshire landscape served as a creative canvas. Many historic artists lived and worked in the Berkshires. Artists like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Daniel Chester French, Edith Wharton, Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Dennis, William Cullen Bryant, Norman Rockwell, and so many others who came to perform at Tanglewood, Music Barn/Music Inn, Stockbridge Playhouse, and Jacobs Pillow, etc. 

My family enjoyed Tanglewood and often went to Jacob's Pillow and the Stockbridge Playhouse… and noticed plenty of summer tourists attended.  In thinking about all the arts and artists in the Berkshires, my father looked for a way to capitalize on the arts to market this weekend's guest lodge and cabins.  

And so, my father channeled all his advertising skills and rebranded the old camp as the "7 Arts Guest Lodge", which helped capture the different arts offerings in the Berkshires at that time. This original 1960 brochure states the 7 Arts as Tanglewood, The Music Barn Jazz Festival, the Stockbridge Playhouse, Jacob's Pillow, the Cinema and Arts Festivals.  Interestingly, he included the long-running Great Barrington Fair as a "performing art," too.

As part of this advertising campaign, my father and his brother Tom generated brochures to attract new customers. In truth, the "word-of-mouth" spread amongst close friends and colleagues got them started … In fact, it was one of their "old childhood" friends, Herb Drucker, a creative lawyer from Greenwich Village in NYC, who became unofficial social director. Herbie took it upon himself to convince his friends to join him in weekend parties in the Berkshires. And parties they had! My parents and aunt/uncle were the Inn Keepers and part-time cooks with pasta parties and outdoor BBQs accompanying the frolicking at Lake Buel.  Gin & Tonic infused tennis games and, of course, car rides to Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow, and other arts adventures were followed by late-night parties and "stuff."

Word spread quickly in NYC… Funtimes, great art, a little romance with inexpensive rooms were just the right calling card for the downtown professionals where apartments were small but their "appetites" huge.  The seven arts in the Berkshires were the draw.  Emerging artists and performers from NYC came up, many reserving rooms for multiple weekends to enjoy the evening arts events while relaxing during the days at Lake Buel. A few even asked for "special rates" if they could rent a room for the following summer!

The emerging success of the 7 Arts Guest Lodge provided some unexpected results. First, my parents and aunt/uncle, who worked remarkably hard each summer weekend to provide for the guests, changed the business model from weekend "happenings" to one 1-month to full summer rentals. Several of the weekend guests became full-summer renters for years to come. And second, when my grandmother's second marriage ended, and she no longer ran the Main Street market, she again stepped back and re-invented herself.  As a woman in her 60s, during the 1960's she embarked on a new woman-owned business: an antique and gift shop. And what better place to start this venture was in Stockbridge, a small New England town she came to know so well and loved.  7 Arts Antiques and Gift Shopwas born on Main Street. 

Since my grandmother opened 7 Arts Antiques early in the 1960s, the arts offerings expanded in Berkshire County. As a result, the tourists and second homeowners arrived. Bus tours came to visit the old Norman Rockwell "corner house." Famous artists, performers, and writers walked along Main Street during the summer months- many staying at the famous Red Lion Inn while performing at Tanglewood, Music Inn, or the Stockbridge Playhouse. Fortunate tourists in Stockbridge mid-week had the chance to see Norman Rockwell delivering his Main Street prints to my grandmother at the Antique Shop. 

So many more stories to come!