This pastoral 122-acre plot was 'heaven' to its owner Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), the sculptor best known for his great seated statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. French lived in New York City but spent most summers after 1897 here at Chesterwood, his gracious Berkshire estate.
French's more than 100 great public works, mostly monumental, made him a wealthy man. His house and studio are substantially as they were when he lived and worked here, with nearly 500 pieces of sculpture, finished and unfinished, in the barnlike studio. The space and the art have a way of beguiling even those who aren't sculpture enthusiasts.
To get there take MA 138 south 0.75 miles past the Norman Rockwell Museum, go right onto Mohawk Lake Rd and left onto Willow St, which becomes Williamsville Rd.
