CORNWALL — Area locavores in search of goods and food produced right here in the Northwest Corner have found The Local at 415 Sharon-Goshen Turnpike in West Cornwall, just past the covered bridge.
Libby Mitchell, who oversees The Local, said, “In the beginning we had three farmers and one bread maker.” Now it has more than 124 vendors in the shop.
She explained that The Local began on Dec. 5, 2020, during the pandemic. “The Hughes Memorial Library had made many attempts at community programming at its location at 35 Lower River Road but the lack of water into the building made a two day a week indoor farmer’s market impossible, so the board voted to rent the space at 415 Sharon Goshen Turnpike and The Local was born.” She added, “The library has since bought the building.”
Mitchell went on to say, “I never say no” to someone who wants to sell at the shop. “I don’t curate. The public decides.”
A smattering of items for sale range from pottery by Jane Herold, Pam Church, and the Cornwall Bridge Pottery, to jewelry by Marci Vincitorio, handsewn stuffed animals and book marks by Lauren Kendrick Creations, honey from the local hives of Sharon Valley Honey, maple syrup from Ridgway Farm, herbal teas and herbal remedies from Treasa Pattison, handmade jewelry and felting from Jennifer Hurlburt Markow, two kinds of quiche, one from Pebbles Bakery and one from Amy From Church Farm who also makes organic kabocha pie, original Kentucky Bourbon balls from Eama’s House, greeting cards by various artists, jam from Tea Jams, wooden cutting boards by Brian Saccardi, horses made from corks by Jodi Bogus, and kale salad from Frank Food Company. Vendors come from all over the northwest corner of Connecticut and neighboring regions.
A selection of work from local potters at The Local in West Cornwall.Robin Roraback
Mitchell pointed out Undermountain Weavers of Salisbury who make their products with wool from Birdseye and Tanner Brook Farms, another vendor, as a product that is by a local business from local materials.
The long wooden table in the center of the shop is filled every Friday with pies, salads, raspberry apple oat bars, focaccia bread, quiches, homemade breads, and other edibles and “by the end of the day Saturday, all the food is gone.” She notes this is mostly due to locals, “Tourists who come to see the covered bridge buy different things than the locals. The locals go for the foods.”
When items sell, 90% of the sales go back to the vendors while 10% goes to the running of the building.
Mitchell also oversees The Union next door to The Local. The Union has high-speed internet access, which people can reserve a time to use for free. Upstairs is The Wellness Collective with Yoga classes six days a week in the mornings and evenings.
The Local is open on Fridays from 12 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. when Mitchell is joined by assistant, Joseph Villa Arpi, both ready to help customers.
Proffitt and her husband and business partner, Robert Bristow, are well-known leaders in the art and architecture communities, and their home, studio and workshop in Lakeville; store and office at 16 Main St. in Salisbury; and gallery space in Norfolk are vibrant hubs for arts and design in the region.
Proffitt has been coming to the area since she was a teenager. Originally from Puerto Rico, her family moved to the New York City area in the 1970’s. Her artist and architect father encouraged her interests in art and design and her deep desire to create. At school, she excelled in math and art and soon realized that this was all she wanted to do. “Think logically and then break the mold with creativity,” she said.
Armed with a degree in visual art from Trinity College, she pursued advanced studies at Berkeley and Pratt before receiving a master’s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she met Bristow. Both landed apprenticeships in Boston and were drawn to the arts community in Norfolk centered around the Yale Summer Arts Program. The area quickly became their personal and family anchor.
They started Poesis, a furniture design and manufacturing studio, with a small loan from her mother. They landed a major house project and soon met a hotelier at a party who hired them on the spot to design a hotel in Washington, D.C.
Proffitt said, “I was hooked because it combined everything I wanted to do creatively: design experiences in the broadest sense with all the supporting pieces of the puzzle — furniture, objects, art. My father felt that architecture was the Renaissance profession: It holds the seeds of art, design, engineering and all the other ingredients. For me, it all starts with art.”
A rendering of King Winery, one of Pilar Proffitt’s current interior design projects.Provided
Proffitt is devoted to the area. She and Bristow raised their family in Lakeville. Their daughter Grace, a sculptor, attended Hotchkiss and is pursuing her MFA at University of Pennsylvania. Their daughter Ellis, also a graduate of Hotchkiss and Trinity, is a mathematician and aspiring actress in Los Angeles; and their son Sam attended Salisbury School and is a junior at Trinity, majoring in art history with a minor in architecture. They all are carrying forward the family’s passion for arts, architecture and design.
Proffitt’s interior design work and unique furniture pieces welcome visitors at Hotchkiss’ Art Center, the Scoville Memorial Library, her own wHole hOuse shop in Salisbury and, soon, across the street in the new Jam Food Shop, which is expected to open this fall.
The region’s many museums and galleries include some of Proffitt’s favorites, from Mass MoCA and the Clark to Salisbury’s Geary, Mad Rose in Millerton, Jack Shainman in Kinderhook and Art Omi in Ghent. Proffitt loves the connections and new opportunities brought to the community by the increase in full-time residents, as well as impromptu get-togethers with friends — recently watching a Knicks playoff game at the tavern bar at the White Hart. Moments like that keep her grounded here.
In addition to the White Hart, Proffitt is a fan of area restaurants, including Fern for a quick pasta at the bar; Isabela in Amenia, where Michelin-starred chef Jose Ramirez Ruiz is from Puerto Rico; and Clare de Boer’s Stissing House in Pine Plains.
A perfect day for Proffitt is spent working in her studio overlooking Lake Wononscopomuc, without distractions, rain or shine. It is a quiet and peaceful place that supports her many architecture and design projects. When asked what she would say to a younger version of herself just starting a career, she responded, “Don’t be so shy. As one of my professors told me, ‘Sometimes you just have to crash the party.’ Draw, write, run, play tennis. And travel!”
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
