BELLOWS FALLS — The Friends of the Rockingham Library are planning an excursion to Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on Saturday, April 13.
A chartered bus departs the Bellows Falls Waypoint Center at 7 a.m. and returns at 7 p.m., just in time for a dance at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River. The cost is $95 per person and includes a museum tour and round-trip transportation.
There will be time for shopping and lunch in addition to the planned museum tour.
Isabella Stewart Gardner was Boston's renowned patron of the arts who traveled the world collecting artwork in various formats. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 2,500 paintings, textiles, furniture, sculpture, drawings, silver, ceramics, archival collections, and realia.
As a woman in the Victorian era, Boston's elite were scandalized by Gardner's lifestyle of travel, adventure, entertaining, and sporting. Through viewing her collections, attendees will gain insight into the life of a cultural icon and a woman ahead of her time.
The museum itself is modeled on a 15th century Venetian-style palace, with a garden courtyard and a brand new wing of the museum completed in January 2012 featuring an exhibition of works by Anders Zorn.
The Friends of the Rockingham Library is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and enhance the services and programs of the Rockingham Free Public Library.
The bus trip is part of an annual fundraising tradition; last year, the Friends organized a trip to New York City to see the legendary Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.