Woodbury, Connecticut
January 2004
Please view our Woodbury, Connecticut checklist at the end of the article...
Woodbury, Connecticut’s antiques capital, boasts more high-quality dealers per square mile than any other town in the state. American, Asian and European treasures fill colonial homes, gracious mansions and converted barns (plus a grist mill and forge) along Route 6 (aka Main Street). Serious collectors of 18th-century American furniture know that Woodbury has been a destination for museum-quality furnishings—including rare pieces crafted in New England—for about a half-century. Even established businesses relocate here because the critical mass of quality dealers lures buyers seeking uncommon furnishings, decorative accessories and art. The community is also an excellent resource for custom-made reproductions, designers, craftspeople and restoration experts.Typical of the lovely Litchfield Hills region, Woodbury is awash in green, rolling hills and curving streams. Its centerpiece is The Glebe House—a superbly preserved gambrel-roofed colonial home where the first bishop of the American Episcopal Church was consecrated—and the location of the only existing garden designed by famed British garden designer Gertrude Jeykll.
Start your antiquing just across the Woodbury town line on Route 6 at Monique Shay Antiques & Design, 920 Main Street South. Her red barn contains Canadian country specialties, such as armoires, pine refectory tables and ladder-back chairs with typically Canadian woven-rawhide seats. One painted kitchen cupboard dates from the 19th century, another has a glass front and a corner shelf unit is colored “Canadian” green. Appealing accessories include 19th-century French pottery from Normandy. Prices here range from $7,000 to $18,000 for cupboards and $65 to $625 for the pottery.
Eleish van Breems Antiques, 487 Main Street South, shows handsomely inside a 1760 colonial home. The firm’s specialty is high-country Gustavian pieces crafted by 18th- and 19th-century Scandinavian cabinetmakers influenced by the courts of Europe. An example is a pine corner cupboard with neoclassical carvings from 1790 ($21,000). Owners Rhonda Eleish and Edie van Breems also feature folk furniture from the same period; it’s a collection of warm, rustic painted pieces called “Allmoge.”
Paul and Barbara Winsor, owners of Winsor Antiques at No. 289, pride themselves on offering “unusual pieces in good, original condition.” A part of Woodbury’s antiques scene for five years, Winsor has been in business since 1983. The gallery’s focus is on important English and French country furniture from the late 17th to early 19th centuries, including English Windsor chairs and early English pottery. Here you can also find French provincial pieces, such as a 19th-century faux bois–decorated armoire with a long case clock ($9,500) and an ornate clock from Normandy, circa 1840 ($7,500).
At No. 452, Joel J. Einhorn specializes in American clocks, ship paintings and fine furniture from 1750 to 1850. One ship painting, signed by Baltimore marine artist Muhlenfeld and dated 1906, illustrates a workboat called Sprigg Carroll; it is tagged at $18,500. The exceptional pieces include a beautifully proportioned Queen Anne cherry highboy made in Stonington, Connecticut, around 1775 ($24,500); a tiger-maple Chippendale six-drawer chest, circa 1785, from eastern Connecticut ($38,500); a demilune Hepplewhite table ($35,000); and a few examples of faux-bamboo bedroom furniture made in New York City ($9,500 for a large desk; $4,000 for a chair).
At Wayne Pratt Inc. Antiques, No. 346, front rooms welcome visitors with “Americana” accessories, including toys, country signs and copper weathervanes, such as “Mountain Boy” a late 19th-century horse attributed to J.W. Fiske of New York. Traditional American, English and French 18th- and 19th-century furnishings—featuring bowfront, serpentine and block-front designs—await in the back showroom. In addition to a variety of antiques, Pratt offers quality bench-made reproductions.
Black Pearl Antiques and Fine Arts, No. 161, is the newest dealer in town. Owners Gerard J. Graci and Richard J. LeBlanc opened their 3,100-square-foot showroom in September 2002 after 12 years of selling period furniture, Asian antiquities and fine arts in Glastonbury, Connecticut. They sell prestigious estate pieces, including American period furniture dating from the mid-18th century. Featured are an American Chippendale cherry lowboy signed “Timothy Loomis,” circa 1760, ($175,000) and a circa-1730 highboy ($165,000), which were purchased from heirs of the original owners, the Brooks Family of Chester, Connecticut. Also of note is J. Frank Waldo’s 1913 Connecticut Impressionist painting, “A Cove of the Thames Connecticut” ($25,500). Also take note of the 15th-century Italian fine art, 18th- and 19th-century sculpture (some from the Paris Salon) and Asian Antiquities.
The highest-quality urban American Federal pieces are well worth the mile detour to David Dunton Antiques on Weekeepeemee Road. (Dunton notes there is no number easily visible, but he is located at Rte. 132 off Rte. 47, the second house on the left.) Since 1974, Dunton has been bringing rare finds to Woodbury from sources spanning from Maine to South Carolina. Examples include a circa-1820 cherry tall case clock signed by John Kennard from Newfields, New Hampshire, ($31,000) and a circa 1810–15 Sheraton canopied bed with fine inlays, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire ($17,000). Also of note are a circa-1790 walnut chest of drawers from Lancaster ($23,000) and a pair of Baltimore consoles that transform into a two-part mahogany dining table ($19,500). Among the appropriate American, English and French accessories of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there’s an eagle-topped, gilt looking glass from 1805 ($21,500) and paintings that date from 1780 to 1930.
If American Federal furniture is your taste, check out Thomas Schwenke Inc. at 50 Main Street North. This gallery has specialized in American furniture from 1785 to 1820 for more than three decades. Currently on the showroom: a rare Chippendale carved-cherrywood secretary desk ($45,000) created in Connecticut between 1780 to 1800; a set of 12 mahogany saber-leg dining chairs ($60,000) created in Boston around 1820 to 1825; and a rare matched pair of George III demilune game tables with cross-banding and satinwood stringing ($55,000). The firm also offers consultation services for collection development, custom furniture and Federal replicas.
G. Sergeant Antiques, No. 88, artfully presents 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century English, Continental and American furnishings and accessories from fine estates. On view are a pair of George III mahogany Chippendale torcheres on tripod bases with carved cabriole legs and scrolled feet ($12,500) and a fine George III walnut lowboy with a quarter paneled top, feather edge inlay and veneered facade with a very desirable surface that dates from the first quarter of the 18th century ($19,500). One Rococo carved pine gilt frame ($8,500) is related to others attributed to John Welsh of Boston. Gary Sergeant, a connoisseur of distinctive period furniture—particularly neoclassical furnishings—has provided the finest period pieces to museums, the trade and private collectors for 30 years.
Charles and Rebekah Clark, No. 35, display impeccable American furnishings from 1810 to 1840 in their grand, restored period home. Outstanding examples include a rare Philadelphia double-pedestal mahogany dining table that tilts when not in use ($60,000) and a circa-1830 mahogany piece with French patters, veneer panels and arches ($33,000).
In 1964, J. David Veselsky opened Mill House Antiques, No. 1068, in a former grist mill overlooking the Nonnewaug River at Woodbury’s northern edge. One of the first antiques shops in town, it boasts a beautiful sculpture garden plus 17 rooms of furnishings displayed in three buildings. Featured items include 18th- and 19th-century English and Scottish tall case clocks ($9,500 to $20,000), formal and country English antiques, and tasteful reproductions. For example, a circa 1790 mahogany and satinwood demilune table with boxwood and ebony inlay costs $10,000; the burled walnut reproduction is $3,250. Veselsky personally selects antiques on buying trips to Europe and works with the English woodworking shops that hand-craft custom reproductions. Most notable are the made-to-order yew wood, mahogany and fruitwood dining room tables ($2,400 to $12,000).
To make the most of your visit to the Connecticut antiques capital, time your excursion for one of the Woodbury Antiques Dealers Association’s tri-annual weekend workshops. The 2004 dates were not yet set at press time, but continue to check www.antiqueswoodbury.com for details.
WOODBURY, CONNECTICUT CHECKLIST
(Area code 203 unless otherwise noted)
► Antiques On The Green
6 Green Circle, North Green
Antiques from the late 17th century to the early 20th century.
263-3045
► Black Pearl Antiques and Fine Arts
161 Main St., South
266-0299
► Charles and Rebekah Clark
35 Main St., North
263-7004
► Country Loft Antiques
557 Main St., South.
18th- and 19th-century French provincial antiques
266-4500
► David Dunton
Rte. 132
263-5355
► David A. Schorsch American Antiques at Hitchcock House Antiques
244 Main St., South
18th- and 19th-century American antiques and folk art.
263-3131
► East Meets West
337 Main St., South.
Fabrics, quilts, weather vanes, painted furniture, folk art, and benches.
263-2626
► Eleish van Breems Antiques
487 Main St., South
263-7030
► Fine Line Art Gallery
586 Main St., South.
266-0110
► B. Bourgeois Antiques
270 Main St., South
French antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries, plus lighting and period and contemporary art. 263-7770
► The Elemental Garden
259 Main St., South
18th-, 19th- and early 20th-century English, French and American antique garden ornaments, furniture and decorative accessories.
263-6500
► G. Sergeant Antiques
88 Main St., North.
266-4177
► Galpin Brook Antiques & Rugs
745 Main St., North
18th- and 19th-century English, French, Continental and Oriental and antique rugs. Museum-quality restoration/cleaning.
263-6658
► Grass Roots Antiques and Reruns
12 Main St., North
Decorative furnishings and accessories from local estates.
263-3983
► Hamrah’s Oriental Rug Company
115 Main St., North
Oriental, Aubusson, Persian and European carpets, and Flemish tapestries.
266-4343
► Jennings & Rohn Antiques
289 Main St., South
English and Continental works of art, lighting and accessories.
263-3775
► Joel J. Einhorn
452 Main St., South
266-9090
► The Liebsons
Rte. 132, 382 Weekeepeemee Rd.
Quality estate furnishings. (by appointment only)
263-7722
► Main Street Antiques
113 Main St., South
Four dealers exhibiting small collectibles, American period furniture, Louisiana artists, American and European furnishings and art.
263-0046
► Martell & Suffin Antiques
289 Main St., South
18th- and 19th-century English and Continental furniture and decorative accessories, and Asian works of art, Chinese porcelain lamps, sconces, mirrors and fine art drawings.
263-1913
► Mill House Antiques
1068 Main St., North
263-3446
► Monique Shay Antiques & Design
920 Main St., South
263-3186
► P.H. Miller Studio/Beaux Arts Gallery
495 Main St., South
Handmade historical picture frames and contemporary art.
263-3939
► Randall Tuttle Fine Art Gallery
742 Main St., South
Late 18th- to early 20th-century American and European paintings.
263-2207
► Thomas Schwenke Inc.
50 Main St., North
266-0303
► Tucker Frey Antiques/Robert S. Walin American Antiques
451 Main St., South
18th- and 19th-century American furniture, paintings, folk art and brass, particularly fireplace equipment.
263-5404
► Wayne Pratt Inc.
346 Main St., South
263-5676
► Winsor Antiques
289 Main St., South
263-7017
► West Country Antiques
Rte. 47
18th- and 19th-century French furniture and decorative accessories
263-5741
► Woodbury Antiques Fine Art
473 Main St., South
18th- to 20th-century American and Continental furnishings, plus paintings, notably those by Prix de Rome winner Eugene Francis Savage and “uniquely American paintings with a French twist.”
266-4753
► Woodbury Guild
4 [319] Main St., South
18th- early 20th-century formal antiques from Europe and America, folk and sporting art, and life-sized limited-edition animal bronzes.
263-4828