Donal Lloyd

Snake Mountain Trilogy: a Berkshire Memoir Donal Lloyd

Snake Mountain was in jeopardy. Plans in place to thwart zoning would level it for it's valuable road building rock. Under its shadow, the Kinderhook Creek and a small hamlet were threatened by pollution, noise, dust and a devastating visual impact. Within that hamlet was a large two-story brick former schoolhouse-deserted and deteriorating. Conventional wisdom said, "This is a place to avoid."No, not for a couple in their seventies, an artist and a retired engineer, who had a vision which defied "conventional." They found it by chance, saw an enormous potential, and were bold enough to accept the formidable risks in acquiring and renovating it. And so a process of change was started as they imagined a different future and then deliberately induced change to meet it. The building changed into a beautiful, studio/home later placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. They used the empty upstairs classrooms as art studios for local artists. They participated in the process that removed the threat to Snake Mountain. The artist produced important new work acquired by Boston and New York City collectors. Finally, the author found that the process of changing the building actually changed him.