A SLIGHTLY MYSTERIOUS WOMAN IN WHITE

Helen Gamwell Budd, c. 1920 [Photo courtesy of The Trustees archives]

The official history of Notchview accords pride of place to Col. Arthur Budd, a much-decorated veteran of World War I (he even has a street named after him in France) who is credited with acquiring and uniting the many parcels of Windsor land that eventually became the Budd estate, aka Notchview.

 Less well-known is the soft-focus figure of Helen Gamwell Ely Budd, described in accounts from Notchview staff and others as a chatty woman always dressed in white outfits that she sewed herself. She seems not to have merited much attention.

 But in fact, the grand outlines of Helenscourt, a central piece in the Notchview property puzzle, were created with her money and her drive to create an elegant home reflecting her taste for European domestic architecture and landscaping. She and Budd had not even met when she oversaw the creation of Helenscourt from the old Norman Miner Homestead.

 She was a college-educated career woman before women in the U.S. had the right to vote. And she sacrificed deeply in World War I, losing her only son, 1st Lieutenant William Ely, in 1918…a tragedy that led to her meeting Budd, who accompanied the body back to Rochester where he met Helen. They married in 1920, after the war.

 Born Helen Gamwell, she attended Smith College, graduating in 1887. She trained as a registered nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, and rose to the role of superintendent of Rochester City Hospital. Here she met her first husband, Dr. William Ely, head of the hospital medical staff – a Civil War veteran, who was at Antietam as a surgeon in the Union Army. After the war he became a noted expert on tuberculosis.

 In 1909, Helen bought the Norman Miner property in Windsor. Dr. Ely died in 1912. It was as a widow that Helen undertook the renovations in Windsor, though she was mostly living in London. Helen and Arthur Budd spent a lot of time in Europe after their marriage but made their home at Notchview after Arthur’s retirement in 1932. She died there in 1958 at the age of 93.

 I am left wondering why she wore white. Was it the white of a nurses’ uniform (which became common in the late 1800s)? Or was it the white of the suffragettes, who finally won women the right to vote in 1920, the year the Budds were married? Further research indicated…stay tuned!

— Susan Phillips, co-editor Friends of Windsor with assistance from Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

FUN FACT: FROM CHEESE TO GRAVEL!

Windsor has a long history of multiple industries, such as farming, raising sheep and poultry, sugaring, and dairying. Cheese-making was one of the many activities Windsor had going on in the 19th century. The Windsor Cheese Factory (c. 1811-1910), located where Windsor’s Highway Department now stands, made cheese that sold for between seven-and-a-half to eight cents a pound. — Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

This poster of the Windsor Cheese Factory, archived in the Windsor Historical Museum, was made by the late Olive Volsky in 1977. An index card taped to the poster says: The Windsor Cheese Company once stood where the town garage is now. In the colder months, dancing was held upstairs. Oyster suppers were put on by Marsh Curtis downstairs. [The following list refers to numbered items in the image itself.] 

1) zinc-lined door
2) dressing table
3) aging shelves
4) large wooden vats
5) large box stove
6) rope & pulley

STEWARD HOMESTEAD: FROM HOME TO MUSEUM

The Steward Homestead, in 1975, being moved to its current location as Windsor’s “new” historical museum [Photo from Bernie Drew's “A History of Notchview,” published in 1986]

Windsor’s small but mighty museum did not serve as such throughout its long history. In fact, it was not always at its current location on Route 9 in the center of town!

 Originally known as the Steward House, the home was located on the southwest corner of the Savoy Hollow Road and Shaw Road junction, just west of the Notchview property. The property was assembled in the early 1850s. However, there are deed records indicating that the surrounding property was lived on since the late 1700s.

Windsor’s Historical Museum today [Photo by Rachel Niswander, April 2019]

 In 1860, Henry LeRoy Steward purchased the property for $300. He was the one to build the house, with a deed noting there were several additional buildings on the land.

After eight years, Steward sold the property, eventually going through several hands until Arthur Budd bought it in 1926 for his Notchview estate. Budd’s employees were the last to live in the house before it was moved to a new location. The Trustees acquired the Notchview property in 1965, and in 1975 they offered the Steward House to the Windsor Historical Commission with the request that it be moved off Notchview’s property. It was moved that same year to its current site and in 1976, the museum opened to the public.

— Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

Benny “Fingers” Kohn: The Epic Evolution of a Windsor Pianist

Anyone who knows anything about the Berkshire music scene knows who Benny Kohn is.  Arguably the best jazz pianist in the Berkshires and beyond, I first met Benny in 2008 when I was given the opportunity to play with a group of local jazz legends. I was immediately taken with his playing.  The man behind the piano is truly spectacular.  His natural talent and keen musical sensibilities grab the listener, his versatility and range unique and impressive.  With ease, Benny drifts from genre to genre, from soloist to accompanist, from pianist to vocalist to bandleader, etc. etc.  Just as spectacular is Benny the person, although he is considerably subtler than Benny Fingers.  Sitting across from me at his dining room table on Hinsdale Road, with jazz playing softly in the background, was the exceedingly polite, dryly funny, always kind and humble person I have come to know over the years. 

Benny grew up with his family on High Street Hill in Windsor.  He first sat in front of a piano at the age of 6, after his parents picked one up at a local thrift shop.  His late father and “great inspiration”, Ed Kohn, was a singer, a songwriter and a recording artist who taught him the basics.  Benny was clearly very gifted and quickly began playing by ear.  He began to take piano lessons and was inspired by teachers Rick Campion and Lori Anderson.  He found that his efforts on the piano really thrived when he was not confined to a “method book approach”. 

Benny attended local schools through high school graduation. He began at Windsor’s Crane Community School (with Mrs. Raymond and Mrs. Morris) and when the school closed in 1990 he continued at Berkshire Trail Elementary (“the kids from the east side went to the Cummington Schools”) then Nessacus and Wahconah.  When Benny was nine years old, the family spent a year in China.  He and his brother attended a Chinese elementary school where there was no English spoken at all.  Both boys attended 1st grade classes, even though Benny would’ve been in the 5th grade and his brother in the 8th in the States.  Ben learned Chinese quickly and began to serve as translator for his parents.  He and his brother were “pretty much fluent” by the time they returned to Windsor.  “It was a completely different lifestyle.  We rode our bikes everywhere and were in a classroom with seventy other students.  There were rarely any disciplinary problems and, if there were, the teachers were allowed to get physical, if need be.  It was intense.”  Benny took just a few piano lessons in China.  “The approach was way too stern for me.”

The family was able to take only a few items to China with them.  Among the things Ben chose to bring were three record albums: a record by Michael Jackson, a Beach Boys record, and one Blues Album by John Mayall.  Benny feels the bluesy elements in his own playing today are a result of listening to that Mayall album so many times during his year in China. 

Back in the States, Benny says that he never participated enthusiastically in the school music program, although he really enjoyed a chorus role in Wahconah’s production of “Grease”.  As a freshman in high school he began to network with older musicians outside of the school.  He and these musicians formed “jam bands”, and this is when he really began to hone his jazz and improvisational skills.  One such band was called “The Becket Boys”.  They would play at the “Becket Barn”, a historic building and a known spot where musicians would gather and play together, informally.

After high school graduation, he auditioned for and was accepted into the music program at Westfield State.  He found this experience challenging because he “totally played by ear” but was required by the school to improve his music reading skills.  When he was given the choice to study jazz or classical piano, he chose jazz, although he would’ve chosen blues if it had been an option.  During these years he was greatly inspired by both the jazz and classical faculty at the school. 

 After leaving Westfield, Benny returned to Windsor and began to build his career in the Berkshires and the rest is Berkshire music legend history.  He routinely performs locally and beyond with a very long list of other musicians and in almost every kind of venue and genre imaginable.  In addition to his busy performance schedule, Benny teaches child and adult students in his home studio and composes and arranges music.  He is also an accomplished singer and you may find him, under the radar, playing the acoustic guitar. 

He keeps it interesting. “I am always mixing it up, working with different people, and learning new stuff.” He plans to continue expanding his composing and arranging skills and he would really like to continue to develop in different directions, to improve his classical playing and his sight-reading.  He finds the music of Bach and other classical composers to be beautiful and interesting. 

Benny’s favorite part of being a musician is the people he works with and meets.  “Both the people I play with and the people I play for…there’s always lots of different types of characters, which is always very entertaining!” 

How does he manage the anxiety of performing? Benny has developed a gentle approach to what was once a nerve-wracking tendency to be extremely self-critical. “You need to be able to let things go. Observe it, learn from it, and then let it pass.”

Brilliant, sincere, soulful…just like Benny.

More info about Ben Kohn: www.facebook.com/bennyfingersmusic/

—by Eileen Markland
[An excerpt from this piece is featured in the May 2019 Windsor Now & Then]

CURRENT BEN KOHN PERFORMING GROUPS

*Pittsfield Sister City Jazz Ambassadors - www.facebook.com/PittsfieldSisterCityJazzAmbassadors

*O-Tones - www.facebook.com/theo-tones/Berkshire Jazz Collective with Any Wrba – www.facebook.com/berkshirejazzcollective

*Misty Blues Band – www.mistybluesband.com

*Berkshire Bateria – www.sambaland.com

*Rev Tor Band – www.revtor.com

*Berkshire Big Band with Kyle Murray – www.facebook.com/berkshirebigband

*Rejuvenators – New Orleans Funk and Jazz

*Jazz with Paul Green – www.paulgreenmusic.com

*Samirah Evans – www.samirahevans.com

*Jack Waldheim – www.crazyjanerecords.com

*Wanda Houston – www.wandaworld.biz

NOTCHVIEW FUN FACT: Keeping Order in Helenscourt

Collecting sap at Helenscourt [Photo, c. 1940s, courtesy of the Arthur D. Budd Papers. The Trustees of Reservations, Archives & Research Center]

After Helen Budd and her husband, Arthur Budd, built Helenscourt and came to live there full-time, the estate also became home to employees, some of them housed in former homesteads on the property (such as the one that was later moved to a new location and became the Windsor Historical Museum). They worked at animal care, planting spruce trees, installing stone walls and water systems, general carpentry and maintenance, sugaring, and farming. — Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

FROM NORMAN’S FARMHOUSE TO HELEN’S MANSION

Norman Miner house being remodeled into Helenscourt [Photo, c.1919, courtesy of Gabrielle Drew]

As one of approximately 20 homesteads that eventually made up Notchview’s 3000 acres, the Norman Miner Place began as a farm and became the nucleus of Notchview’s property after Helen Ely Budd bought the property in 1910.

 Norman Miner purchased the farm in 1849 from his father-in-law. Active in Windsor affairs, Norman served as tax collector, town treasurer, and farmer. A descendant of a Revolutionary War captain, Norman was married twice and had six children by his second wife.

 At some point, the original farmhouse burned down. A new structure was raised on the old foundation, using materials taken from the Baptist Society Meeting House nearby after the meeting disbanded in 1860. Fifty years later, the reconstituted Meeting House was enlarged to become Helenscourt, Helen Ely’s mansion.      

While Helenscourt no longer stands, a portion of its grounds that can still be seen today. Helen and Arthur Budd were inspired by the terraced gardens at Versailles and incorporated this aspect into their Helenscourt design. The stone steps can still be seen. — Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator.

Undated aerial view of Helenscourt grounds [Photo from the Arthur D. Budd Papers, The Trustees of Reservations, Archives & Research Center]

The series of steps heading northward up Helenscourt’s Grande Allée are still visible today [Photo by Rachel Niswander, March 2019]

NOTCHVIEW FUN FACT: Shelter Trail Logs

Notchview has several shelters on its property where skiers can take a break, enjoy the view, and spend time with other skiers! The Pierce Shelter (built in memory of Thomas Pierce, son of the late Doug & Nicole Pierce, Windsor residents) and the Trela Shelter ( built in memory of Windsor resident, Fran Trela) are two of them. A new activity for this winter season at these shelters is a trail log! These are for skiers to write down their thoughts, comments, and anything else they would like to share!
—Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

Butter Bates Homestead

The Butter Bates Homestead, Bates Road (circa 1910?)
Photo by C.W. Thompson, courtesy of Adams Historical Society

Butter Bates Homestead Cellar Hole, on the flats along the northeast side of Bates Rd
[Photo by Patty Crane, March 5, 2019]

The 200-acre Butter Bates Homestead, which is located at Notchview on Bates Rd, past Bates Field on the northeast side, was owned by Herman L. Bates. Bates bought the land from his father, William, for an 1847 price of $2,500. With several owners before and after Herman, this homestead was well used by its various owners.

Herman, originally a resident of Worthington, was known for his butter, hence his nickname of “Butter.” He is also credited with bringing in white flour, a first for the town of Windsor. His cousin was Alfred Bates, who later acquired his property and several other farms within Windsor limits. In addition, Herman’s uncle, William, was a justice of the peace and notarized many deeds for Notchview’s lands during the mid-1800s.

Milk House Sink on grounds of former Butter Bates Homestead (undated)
[Photo from Bernard Drew’s A History of Notchview, published in 1986]

The Homestead’s foundations remain on the Notchview property as a large cellar hole. The Homestead was most likely painted red, thanks to surrounding wood fragments. A barn and creamery foundation can be seen as well.
—Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator.

A Musician in Our Midst

In 2008, my family realized dreams of pine scented breezes, woodland creatures coming to visit, snowshoeing by light of a full moon and spectacular starlit skies. Indeed, it was love at first sight when we found our paradise in Windsor, just past the Peru town line. 

 I was THRILLED to learn that Windsor is actually home to a number of artists and musicians.  I had the pleasure of meeting one such hilltop treasure, Samantha Talora, on a warm summer day in 2013. We had both been hired, she to sing and I to play the violin, for a concert in Lenox.  For me, it was love at first glorious sound. She is remarkably talented, with a crystal clear soprano voice and a gift for story-telling.

I recently had breakfast with Samantha and her husband at their home. Sam and Nick, like my family, moved from Cheshire after finding the home and land they’d always dreamed of in Windsor. We enjoyed fruit, pancakes and a beautiful view of the winter woods while discussing her winding and scenic path to today. 

Sam has been singing as long as she can remember and joined her church choir as soon as she was old enough. It became apparent that St. Mary’s had an especially gifted young singer and she was soon being asked to sing solos. With a laugh, Sam describes falling in love with the microphone and wondering, “Where else can I do this?” She sang in talent shows and her first professional “gig” was singing at a wedding at age 12. Through middle and high school she participated in the school chorus, musical theater productions and Western District and All State choruses. 

In her senior year of high school, Sam had to choose a path. Her mother, “always practical,” wanted her to pursue a course of study that would assure employment with steady income and a stable lifestyle. Her father, “more of an artistic type”, thought she should pursue a career in music performance. Sam describes her choice of the Arts Administration Degree Program at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY as her way of honoring the sage advice of both parents. 

 At Wagner, Sam sang every day and “found her community”. Dr. Roger Wesby, Director of Choral Activities and Vocal Studies, introduced her to different styles of music. Sam particularly enjoyed her participation in his elite vocal ensemble called “Stretto,” an a capella group with tight harmonies. She also participated in Wagner’s Theater Department, Opera Workshop and College Choir, in addition to her studies in business and liberal arts.

Just after the start of her senior year, September 11, 2001 happened. She was on Staten Island, across the New York Harbor, overlooking the NY skyline. One of the memories she has of that time is of singing at many memorial and remembrance ceremonies and seeing, firsthand, how the music brought healing to the community.

Sometime during her sophomore year, Sam began dating Nick, a high school friend. Both returned to the Berkshires after college graduation, got married and Sam again faced major life choices: Stay in the Berkshires or go back to the city? Chase auditions and a career in performance or focus on family? The newlyweds chose to build their home in the Berkshires. 

In 2004 Sam really began to feel pressure to “get a grown up job” and stopped seeing music performance as her path. She did not sing at all again until 2010, and during this period she completely immersed herself in hospitality and event planning. She began with a position in the sales office at Cranwell, which morphed into an event planning role at the resort. Sam soon launched her own successful event planning business and also worked for the Town of Adams and Canyon Ranch during these years. 

The music never really left her, though, and without music Sam didn’t feel complete. She describes her return to singing in 2011 as part of a healing process during a very difficult time.  “There was a lot of loss and change in my life at this point. Music found me, came back to me when I really needed it.“ For the next three years, Sam gradually returned to performing by singing in weddings, at churches and in local theater productions and fundraisers.

On the same day in 2013 that I met Sam at the concert in Lenox, we both met Berkshire native Ron Ramsay, a career singer, pianist and music director who had recently left a Broadway career in New York City to be close to his family. A collaboration between the two vocalists soon followed and, inspired by their shared love of decades of Broadway music, the Great American Songbook, classic standards and contemporary & popular music, the two have been weaving beautiful harmonies ever since. They soon brought in Michael Gillespie, a talented wind specialist and music educator who is Director of Bands for the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. I am also a frequent guest violinist in their shows, which boast a loyal Berkshire following and are still going strong after five years.

Sam treasures her friendship and professional relationship with Ron: “We have had a fantastic five years together. Not only is he a tremendous musician, singer and pianist, he’s been an invaluable mentor and dear friend to me.”

What is most striking about Sam, beyond her kindness and obvious talent, is her deep reverence for her craft. Her greatest musical influences span from Miss Piggy to Frank Sinatra to Eva Cassidy to Pavarotti, from Country to Broadway to Opera to Gospel. Her favorite songs are those that tell a story, familiar songs that touch her audiences deeply and personally. She loves to sing at known venues as well as brand new venues where the unexpected can and always does happen!  She loves the telling of the story. “The process of developing a theme for a show, finding the right songs, analyzing the meaning of each song by dissecting the music and lyrics until I deeply understand the story, and sharing that story with an audience, brings me great satisfaction.”

Samantha admits that it’s not easy to juggle a full time “day job,” personal life AND a busy performance schedule. How does she manage it all? “I don’t sleep a lot and I have a very patient and understanding husband. Balance is always a challenge.”

She continues, “Music has never failed me. It’s always here for healing. Music has pulled me off the ledge more than once. I am just filled with gratitude. Bottom line is that I love it and I’m never going to stop.”

Learn more about Samantha Talora and her upcoming performances at:  www.samandron.com, follow her at https://www.facebook.com/taloraandramsay/ and https://www.instagram.com/sam.and.ron/.

  —by Eileen Markland
[An excerpt from this piece is featured in the March 2019 issue of Windsor Now & Then]

NOTCHVIEW FUN FACT: Budd and His Dogs

Photo from the Arthur D. Budd Papers

After retiring from the Army in 1932, Arthur Budd lived on the property at Notchview until his death in 1965. A career Army man, Budd was well known for his love of dogs (who appeared in many pictures with him), as well as hiking his property barefoot and in a straw hat and short pants, no matter the weather. —Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Community Engagement Coordinator

Windsor Club Cellar Hole

Windsor Club, a social and sporting group, was located in a two-story brick building built around 1824. Activities included weekend hunting, fishing, get-togethers, and summer picnics. The picnics were held at Judge’s Hill fort nearby. A stone fireplace remains there today.

            The house itself was described as a ‘fine old house” with a pretty lawn and locust trees by North Adams’ Henry Kemp, who discussed the Club in a 1960s Progress newsletter. An October 1904 edition of Berkshire Resort Topics mentions the club also had a pavilion, an observation point with stunning views, and “good but simple accommodations”. A July edition of the magazine notes that the Club, per member request, was built in a quiet, exclusive place.

Today, what remains of the club is a stone foundation in the woods on Shaw Road Trail at Notchview (see photo below). A Friends of Windsor historical marker stands in the vicinity of the cellar hole today, next to Notchview’s trails sign. — Rachel Niswander, Terra Corps Intern