An original Eric Sloane pen and ink illustration I have yet to locate in any publication in which Eric details the use of iron in William Howe’s covered bridge design. For some time in the first half on the 19th century, inventors, designers and outright schemers fell over themselves tweaking existing plans to claim a better design. Howe must have been one savvy guy – he patented his design in 1840 and, scant two years later, sold the rights to the design to one of his workers for $40,000. That provides some perspective on just how hot the speculative market was for covered bridge construction in mid-19th century America. In 2021 dollars, that $40,000 purchase would be equivalent to approximately $1,257,779. Note the saucy inscription in Sloane’s hand, lower left. Learn more about this most fascinating of American icons at www.weatherhillfarm.com

Ever wonder where the phrase “dead as a doornail” came from? Here is an original pen and ink drawing by Eric Sloane in which the author/artist explains the origins of the phrase in prose and art. Learn more about this most fascinating of American artists at www.weatherhillfarm.com.

Eric Sloane enjoyed showing how he trained his dog “Spooky” to run on a dog mill to power a butter churn. Here Sloane is relaxing a bit at the dedication ceremonies of the Sloane-Stanley Museum and Kent Iron Furnace on Wednesday, May 28, 1969. From Wil Mauch’s newly published “Symbols of American Spirit : 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum”. We will be posting some history of the museum and how it came to be, leading up to the July 2, 2022 celebration to be held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent.

A broadaxe to even symbolically cut down a tree? Eric Sloane should have known better! From left to right: Connecticut State Senator John A. Minetto, Don Davis, CEO of Stanley, Lt. Gov. Attilio R. Frassinelli, and Eric Sloane.
Taken on 7 August 1968 during the groundbreaking ceremony for the soon-to-be-constructed Sloane-Stanley Museum of Kent, Connecticut.

From @wilmauch ‘s newly published “Symbols of American Spirit : 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum”. We will be posting some history of the museum and how it came to be, leading up to the July 2, 2022 celebration to be held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent.

The Green Door, by Eric Sloane, N.A. Last one of these we have at Weather Hill. A scarce print struck in commemoration of the 1976 American Bicentennial, part of the I Remember America collection of paintings by the artist. This collection traveled to the former Soviet Union for exhibition. You can see that Eric was a master of interpreting light, color and shadow as they related to season and time. Not an easy thing to capture so convincingly as he does. As is often the case in paintings by the artist, there is a solidity and developed sense of security in the materials depicted and methods of construction. Eric saw continuity, solidity, a certain vernacular grace and artistry, and peace in much of his rural America. Here is Eric’s description of the piece, recorded in 1976:

“A door opening to outside summer is always a framed greeting. This door, a mate to the painting No. 1, was in the same stone barn and was built of horizontal and vertical slabs of virgin pine, ‘deadened’ together with hand-wrought nails.
‘Dutch doors’ were designed to keep out animals, but the effect of the top half being open and the bottom shut, transforms the door into a window. Like the barns they were attached to, they should be called German rather than Dutch; the man who made this barn and its door was named Ludwig Wiess; his initials and date he arrived from Germany – 1746 – were carved into the other side.”

53 Years ago this month, the Sloane-Stanley Museum opened it’s doors to the public. We will continue to post some history of the museum and how it came to be, leading up to the July 2, 2022 celebration to be held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent.
Eric Hatch, Chairman of the Connecticut Historic Commission, and 5 year old John Hopson Nisbet II, during the dedication ceremony of the Sloane-Stanley Museum (as it was then called) on 28 May 1969. Photo from Wil Mauch’s “Symbols of American Spirit: 50 Years of the Eric Sloane Museum”.

53 Years ago today, Eric Sloane welcomed a large crowd to the dedication ceremonies of (what was then called) The Sloane-Stanley Museum and Kent Iron Furnace on Wednesday, May 28, 1969. We will be posting some history of the museum and how it came to be, leading up to the July 2, 2022 celebration to be held on the grounds of the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent.

Vintage Gallery postcard from Meinhard Galleries of Houston, Texas, featuring the work of Eric Sloane, N.A.