The Berkshires sculptor who built Lincoln’s chair also built this

French’s summer studio still smells like work

If you’ve ever stood at the Lincoln Memorial and looked up at that seated figure, you’ve already met Daniel Chester French. What you probably don’t know is where he made it.

About 130 miles north of New York City, tucked into the hills outside Stockbridge, Massachusetts, French spent more than 30 summers doing exactly that kind of work. The studio is still there.

The plaster models are still there. And the view that pulled him to the spot in the first place hasn’t changed.

French picked this Berkshires hillside for a reason

French bought the farm in 1896 and built his studio there the following year. The view of Monument Mountain drew him to the site, and once he had it, he didn’t let go.

He spent more than 30 summers working here and called the place his version of heaven.

His studio and summer home now sit on 122 acres designated a National Historic Landmark, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation runs the property today.

The same architect designed this studio and the Lincoln Memorial

Walk into French’s studio and the first thing you notice is the light. Henry Bacon designed the building in 1897, and it went up in 1898.

Bacon would later design the Lincoln Memorial, so the two men had a deep working relationship. The main workroom rises about 30 feet on each side, a tall cube flooded by skylights and wide windows.

On a clear morning, the light comes in from every direction at once.

A railroad track runs right through the studio floor

It sounds strange until you see it. A standard-gauge rail track cuts straight through the studio floor and leads out through a pair of 30-foot doors.

French used it to roll large sculptures outside so he could see them in real daylight. Working under studio light only tells you so much.

Rolling a piece into the sun let him read it from a distance and check it from angles the inside walls never allowed.

Stand next to the plaster Lincoln before it became marble

The studio holds French’s plaster models, including the studies he made for the seated Lincoln.

Standing next to them, you see how a monument that fills a room in Washington started life as something a person could carry.

The plaster pieces lay out his step-by-step method in a way finished bronze and marble never could. You’re not looking at a final product.

You’re looking at the work in progress.

His daughter kept hundreds of pieces from leaving the property

After French died, his daughter worked to pull his casts back from foundries so the collection would stay together. What she assembled may now be the largest single collection by any American sculptor.

Hundreds of works in plaster, marble and bronze cover many styles, periods and sizes. The scope of it only becomes clear once you start walking through the galleries and realize how many things he made.

A 19th-century barn now holds 150 of his rarest pieces

A converted 19th-century barn serves as both gallery and visitor center.

One climate-controlled room displays about 150 objects you rarely see anywhere else, arranged in the order French made them.

The earliest pieces include reliefs of his sisters and the Minute Man he created for Concord, Massachusetts.

Following the sequence from one end of the room to the other, you can watch a sculptor’s thinking evolve across decades.

French’s summer house still has the family’s original furniture

The summer residence carries the same Henry Bacon mark as the studio. Its stucco exterior pulls from Italian villa design but lands somewhere closer to Colonial Revival.

Inside, original antiques and decorative objects stay where the family left them.

Guided tours cover the residence and studio, while the gardens, woodland trails, woodshed and barn galleries are all self-guided.

The house gives you a picture of how French and his family actually lived between work sessions.

French shaped the old farmland into formal English gardens

French wasn’t only a sculptor. He brought the same eye to his land, shaping the old farmland into formal English-style gardens with perennial beds that spread across the grounds.

He designed them for both family use and visual order, so they work as living space as much as landscape. The result is grounds that feel planned without feeling stiff, where art and nature share the same acreage.

He built a woodland trail as a classroom for his daughter

The Woodland Walk runs about half a mile through the eastern woods in a gentle loop.

French designed the path as a classroom of nature for his daughter, and today it’s lined seasonally with sculpture by living artists.

If you want something shorter but more physical, the Ledges Trail climbs about 300 feet through rocky outcrops, caves and forest. Both trails stay on the property, so you never lose the context of the place.

The studio piazza faces Monument Mountain just as French planned

Step out onto the studio piazza and Monument Mountain sits directly in front of you. French chose the building’s orientation around that view, and it shapes the whole feel of the grounds.

Picnic tables near the parking area share the same sightline, so you can sit with it as long as you want. It’s the kind of view a person builds a career around, and French clearly did.

The old rail track still carries French’s marble Andromeda outside

On certain days, staff roll French’s marble Andromeda out through those 30-foot studio doors on the original track, exactly as French would have done. Seeing it happen makes the whole place click into place.

The studio, the models, the track and the light all stop being museum objects and start being a working method. Very few places let you watch how an American monument was made.

Chesterwood is one of them.

Visit Chesterwood in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

You can see French’s studio, residence, gardens and galleries at Chesterwood, located at 4 Williamsville Road in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The site typically opens in late May and runs through October.

Admission runs about $20 for adults, with lower rates for children and National Trust members. Guided tours cover the residence and studio, while the rest of the property is self-guided.

Check the official website for current hours, tour times and any special exhibition dates before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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