Remembering: Martha in the Early Years

I often wonder what it was like that day when Martha, Andy and little Alexis made the drive from Manhattan to Westport, Connecticut, to look at the old white house at 48 Turkey Hill Road. It was 1972 and Martha had just left her job as a Wall Street stockbroker while Andy's career in publishing began to bloom. The couple wanted to get out of the city, to start something of their own, to refinish and refurbish, to garden and make a fresh start as young homesteaders. Martha could never have known the day they toured that shabby, run-down 1805 farmhouse that it would become the epicenter of one of America's greatest and most-influential businesses, nor that she, in turn, would become the inventor of an entirely new form of American lifestyle.

Below are photographs of Martha and Andy Stewart in the mid- to late-seventies, the days of Martha's catering business. Martha and Andy look so happy together in these simpler times. Looking at old photographs - whether they document the happenings in my own life or the life of another - always makes me feel nostalgic. I wonder what could have been, what wasn't, and often smile at the innocence and optimism that shines out of the muted prints through the joy on the faces of the subjects. And the memories begin to flood in. In these photos of Martha and Andy I can almost hear the sound of Martha's clamour in the kitchen while Andy whistles in the other room. Or the chickens clucking in their Westport garden while they dig new flower beds . Or the phone ringing with an enticing promise. I wanted to share them with you.