MaryBeth Baxter

We originally met Mary Beth in the 1990’s at a trade show in Valley Forge PA. As buyers for our retail store, Thurston House, we were searching for framed prints that would appeal to our Kennebunkport customers. Mary Beth’s paintings evoked for us the New England charm we have always cherished. You can imagine how excited we were in 2009, when Mary Beth approached us about the possibility of painting a custom calendar for us. Her first title, Homestead was inspired by everything that Mary Beth loved. As the youngest of four daughters, Mary Beth was raised in a family that was rich in ancestral history and antique collecting. From the earliest roots of her Pennsylvania German family to the shores of Cape Cod, Mary Beth’s work revolved around her love of Colonial History and Americana. Mary Beth lived in one of New England’s oldest homesteads, an original settlement of the Stephen Hopkins family (one of the original families to arrive on the Mayflower) in Brewster, MA. Here she opened up her own gift shop called The Hopkins House Gift Shop. Adjoining her shop was her daughter Heather’s bakery. Both shops have become a destination for seasonal Cape Cod visitors. When once asked where she found inspiration for her artwork, Mary Beth wrote that, “The lives of the Hopkins families and my own Colonial family conjures up for me visions of the sun filtering through the small pane window, fires on the hearth, fishermen coming home with baskets of fresh clams, homespun hung at the window overlooking a fragrant herb garden, bowls of freshly harvested cranberries, bread baking in the beehive oven, all illuminated by bayberry candles. The images place me in a world I love.” ©Mary Beth Baxter, licensed through Linda McDonald, Inc.