CORNWALL — There are lots of stories about Rumsey Hall, the private school that dominated the village from 1906 to 1949. With the demolition of its most prominent building last fall comes a renewed effort to document its place in history.On Saturday, May 21, the Cornwall Historical Society will host “Rumsey Hall – The Early Days with Lillias Rumsey Sanford.” What will set the presentation apart is the personal aspect. It won’t be a chronology of the school, according to Bill Mac-Leod. He and his sister, Louise Dunn, will share family photos and very old but well-preserved films, as well as their unique perspective as the founder’s great-grandchildren.Neither of them attended the school, and they only spent part of their youth in Cornwall. But Rumsey was always a part of their lives. Among the short films are two of family weddings on the steps of Rumsey Hall. “One is of our parents’ wedding in 1937, in color,” MacLeod said. “It’s in remarkably good shape. My great-grandmother can be seen in that. She would have been 86 or 87 years old then.”They know the Rumsey name goes way back in their family. Sanford started the school in Seneca Falls, N.Y., at her family’s large home. Her father was the wealthy owner of the Rumsey Pump Co. The Rumsey name traces back to James Rumsey, the real inventor of the steam engine.They also know that Sanford’s husband, Leonard, with whom she had one son, was not around much.“I don’t think they got along,” MacLeod said, talking further about Leonard’s exploits on a whaling ship. “He shows up again at some point, and lived at Rumsey, in a room under the back stairs. The boys always made sure that they made a lot of noise coming down those steps.”After the school moved to Washington, Conn., in 1949, the old Bolton Hill Road building was used mostly by children as a playground. “There was a dumbwaiter that went from the kitchen up to the dining room. We used to stuff Louise in there and haul her up and down. Its lucky the rope didn’t break.”MacLeod said every morning, when the school operated, the boys came out into the backyard and were given a cookie each. He knows that it was actually about inspection, but he’s not sure if there was a specific cookie for the purpose.The talk is from 3 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Tea and Rumsey Hall cookies will be served.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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