We moved from Pittsburgh in 2014 to Berks County, PA, in the Eastern part of the state. This was my husband’s original home. His parents bought a 21 acre farm in the 1940’s, and although they did not live on it continually, they kept ownership of it. Jay’s sister married and raised her family in the old stone house. We loved to visit for holidays and often day dreamed about “someday” building a house on the land as well.
We got our chance to do this starting in 2008. After two years of obtaining permits and planning, our house was completed in 2010. We moved Jay’s parents in at that time, but we still lived in Pittsburgh, and spent the next 4 years making the four hour drive to Berks County to take care of the new property every chance we got.
We planned the house from the beginning to have a big art studio and relatively small living space. That turned out to be a wise plan, as we are both artists, and spent much of our time in our studio, looking out over our gardens and fields.
We retired from our day jobs in 2014 and made the big move to Hamburg in Berks County.
Berks is a county in the Eastern portion of Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia. Its population as of 2010 was 411,000, and the county seat is Reading. It was founded in 1752 from parts of Lancaster, Philadelphia and Chester. The name comes from Berkshire County in England, the ancestral home of William Penn. Historically the population was Pennsylvania Dutch, and that influence is still strong culturally.
Since moving here we’ve explored nearly every part of the county. My rural landscapes reflect this new environment. Some of my favorites depict our own land — our five acres of paradise, with a lovely view of Blue Mountain.
This gallery is related to Berks in Stitches, an exploration of the boroughs and townships of the county.