Exploring Historic Grandma Moses Country

You may remember a day-trip my sweet husband and I took to Bennington (VT) last fall. One of our stops was the Bennington Museum, which contains the largest number of Grandma Moses paintings of any single institution in the country.

Well, a few weeks ago we found ourselves in Grandma Moses territory–Hoosick Falls (NY) and Eagle Bridge (NY), where she lived and where her delightful folk art was discovered in 1938 at the incredible age of 78.

We decided to hunt down a few Grandma Moses landmarks. I thought you all might like a peek. Did I mention we traveled to the area because of a town-wide garage sale? You know me…I like to kill two birds with one stone whenever I can.

The first landmark we located was a 30′ x 50′ mural, painted on the side of a Route 22 building in Hoosick Falls. Originally painted in 1983 by three artists, one artist, Roger Wheeden, repainted it in 1993. Pretty amazing, don’t you think? It’s based on a Grandma Moses original, Wagon Repair Shop.

Next, we tracked down Grandma Moses’ grave site at the Maple Grove New Cemetery, just outside of Hoosick Falls on Main Street. She rests up on a hill, overlooking her beloved Hoosick Valley. The round emblems indicate that she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Right near the headstone, we found this marker, which reads, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, Grandma Moses, Her primitive paintings inspired the spirit and preserved the scene of a vanishing countryside.

From the cemetery, we determined to find her home in Eagle Bridge, where she painted and where she ultimately died in 1961 at the age of 101. After driving from Hoosick Falls to Eagle Bridge on Route 22 for about five miles, one takes a left onto Grandma Moses Road. We found her homestead down the road a bit and on the right.

Purchased in 1905, the homestead is known as Mt. Nebo. Grandma Moses and her husband Thomas had married in 1887, honeymooned in the south, and stayed to raise their children in Virginia. But after twenty years, they and their five living children, moved back to the area.  In the Bible, Moses catches a glimpse of the Promised Land from the heights of, none other than, Mt. Nebo.