Sparkling Clear Air and Thinner Crowds Make Castle in the Clouds More Attractive Than Ever

Moultonborough, New Hampshire - The Castle in the Clouds is open, ever day, until the end of the season on October 20. The award winning Carriage House Cafe and Terrance, with its fine gourmet food and daily specials, continues to serve meals from 11:30 to 3:30 every day, with bar service until 5 PM, although Cones in the Clouds, the little ice cream shop by Shannon Pond, will be open week-ends only. And it is perfect time to visit. The days are cooler, the views are clearer, the gardens are in their full late season glory, and the crowds are down, even at the very popular Cafe.

The third exhibit of the season, The White Mountain Art of Daniel Santry, will be at the Carriage House art gallery throughOctober 20. It has become a tradition at the Castle to sponsor an exhibit of White Mountain Art at the end of every season. This year it is Daniel Santry's time. And it's about time! Santry, who never achieved the fame he deserved, gives the "starving artist" story several new twists. He grew up in a working class family in Boston, but knew from the time he was quite young that he wanted to be a artist. While he studied with local painters like Benjamin Champney, a well known member of the White Mountain School, he was also drawn to the then new impressionistic style centered in France. Champney encouraged him to continue his studies in Paris and after saving for three years, he headed to France where he sought out Camille Pissaro and asked to be his student. Pissaro said that he did not teach but agreed to let Santry accompany him on his painting trips. After three years with Pissaro, and other French painters, he felt ready to come home.

Returning to Boston he found that despite his expertise, he could not survive from his art--until he saw an ad for an Artist in Residence at the Sunset Hill House in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, in the heart of the White Mountains. For the next 23 years, until his untimely death from Bright's disease at age 57, he lived and painted in the Franconia valley, in the summer staying at the hotel and easily selling his landscape canvases to the summer guests, and off-season living at a remote farm where he worked on paintings that capture the change of seasons and times in the now quiet countryside. There are many stories in this large exhibit; 38 wonderful small stories in the paintings, and Santry's own compelling life story. As with all exhibits at Castle in the Clouds, the Santry exhibit is free with regular Castle admission. The Daniel Santry exhibit is sponsored by Subway Sandwiches of Moultonborough.

Castle in the Clouds is a historic house museum property located on Route 171 in Moultonborough NH. The gate at 455 Old Mountain Road is open daily from 10 AM to 4 PM; buildings close at 5:30. For directions and more information on admissions and events at the Castle visit the web site at www.castleintheclouds.org. For additional information and to make reservations, call 476-5900 x 500.