The Stephentown Historical Society has created notecard sets illustrating three historic buildings of Stephentown as part of the Town’s celebration of its 225th anniversary. The three designs are reproduced on quality card stock from original artwork. The Vanderbilt House watercolor was painted by Lillian Dette of Stephentown. This 1871 building was a hotel and tavern serving railroad customers traveling between Lebanon Springs and Bennington. It served as the meeting hall for the Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department for over 45 years until its demolition in 1998. The Cranston Mansion is depicted surrounded by autumn splendor in an oil painting by Julie Cranston of Discovery Bay, CA. This 17-room mansion was built around 1850 by Hiram Cranston, keeper of the New York Hotel, and was destroyed by fire in 1933. The only building still standing is the Stephentown Hotel, depicted in a pencil drawing by Richard Fiske of New Lebanon. Built in the fashionable Second Empire style in the 1870s, it also served as a railroad hotel and as a tavern to this day.
The cards are sold in boxes of twelve, four of each design. The cost is $10. They are available in Stephentown at the Heritage Center, the Library, Sykes Store and Split Ends, in Berlin at the Library and Hair Care and in New Lebanon at Angel’s Trumpet. Individual cards are only sold at the Heritage Center and are $1 each. The Heritage Center, on Garfield Road, is open Friday afternoons from 1 to 4 pm.