35th National Conference Returns to the Omni Grove Park Inn Resort PLUS Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms Offers Outdoor Tours

by Bruce Johnson & Kate Nixon

 

Starting Date for Room Reservations for the Grove Park Inn Announced

 

Later this month, those who would like to stay at the Grove Park Inn during the 35th National Arts and Crafts Conference & Shows weekend will get their chance. The Omni Grove Park Inn Hotel and Resort has announced that they will begin taking reservations and special room requests for the 35^th National Arts and Crafts Conference happening February 18th – 20th, 2022.

The reservation line will open at 10:00am (EST) starting on Thursday, June 17. The toll-free number to call is: (800) 438-5800.

Make sure to ask for GROUP reservations and reference the National Arts & Crafts Conference as the group you are making your reservation under.

Your reservation will include your room Friday and Saturday nights, continental breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning, evening social hour before the seminars, use of the sports center, and three days of conference seminars, discussions, tours, demonstrations, and shows.

 

 

The historic Grove Park Inn consists of three sections:  the 1913 Main Inn, the 1984 Sammons Wing (right), and the 1988 Vanderbilt Wing (left). When making your conference reservation, you have the option of requesting a specific section, floor, or room number. All requests will be filled in the order they are received.

Main Inn – Opened on July 12, 1913, the historic Main Inn rooms occupy floors two through six and are accessed through the two elevators located inside the Great Hall fireplaces. These rooms and their windows are smaller than the rooms in the Sammons and Vanderbilt Wings. The Main Inn rooms retain some of their original Arts and Crafts furniture, in addition to modern Arts and Crafts entertainment centers and other furnishings.

Sammons Wing – Opened in 1984, the Sammons Wing rooms are close to the Heritage Ballroom and the meeting rooms where our daily seminars, small group discussions, and workshops are held. The spacious rooms overlooking the golf course and spa are filled with reproduction Arts and Crafts furniture and have been updated regularly.

Vanderbilt Wing – Opened in 1988, the Vanderbilt Wing rooms are close to the Antiques Show and the Contemporary Craftsfirms Shows held in the Grand Ballroom and the adjacent hallways and meeting rooms. Like the Sammons Wing, it has its own parking garage, large windows, spacious rooms, reproduction Arts and Crafts furniture, and views over the valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Please make sure to call the number rather than book online since it is difficult to book a room at the group rate online.

 

 

The Two-Person, Two-Night Arts and Crafts Conference Package is $932. The One-Person, Two-Nights Arts and Crafts Conference Package is $665. Additional nights before or after the Friday (2/18) and Saturday (2/19) nights package are available to us at the discounted price of $152. The number to call is: (800) 438-5800.

For those who can’t wait until February for your next Arts and Crafts experience, we have compiled a trailer containing a preview of some of the 22 events we have planned for August 1-8 during our Arts & Crafts In August: A Virtual Experience. Included in the trailer featured below are exclusive clips of two of the educational seminars that will be released during the virtual week.

For more information and a complete schedule, please go to www.Arts-CraftsConference.com.

 

 

The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms Offers Outdoor Tours Later This Month

 

While the buildings and grounds remain closed in recovering from Tropical Storm Isaias (Click here for more on the storm damage), the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms is pleased to invite visitors back to Craftsman Farms for Reservation-Only Grounds Tours. Beginning Friday, June 18, these tours will be offered on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons throughout the summer and fall.

The guided tour includes the grounds of Craftsman Farms, Gustav Stickley’s country estate, and the landscape nestled, as described in The Craftsman magazine, “deep in the sunny New Jersey hills.”

The Craftsman Farms Grounds Tour travels along the original Craftsman Farms entry road through the historic core of the property and also includes a tour of the landscape as well as the exterior of the Log House, cottages, and rehabilitated garage (now the Education Center).

Sign up here: https://www.stickleymuseum.org/visit/craftsman-farms-tours/

 

According to Executive Director Vonda Givens, the outdoor tour will still reveal the Stickley influence throughout the grounds. “As visitors walk the grounds today, they will see that his stamp on the property remains evident. More than one hundred years after the Stickley family took residence, the summer landscape in the historic core of the property continues to feels like a Craftsman oasis.”

In more than a year since the pandemic forced the doors of the log cabin closed to the public, Craftsman Farms has had their challenges this past year including recovering from storm damage to their Annex. “The question became not simply when could we re-open, but how,” said Givens. “Grounds tours became the answer, and asking visitors to make advance reservations. This combination makes it possible for us to share the property again—Craftsman Farms was meant to be shared—and we look forward to seeing visitors on-site again.”