Pickety Place

We recently decided to take a trip to Pickety Place in Mason, New Hampshire.  This little red house, built in 1786, is the same house used by Elizabeth Orton Jones to illustrate her version of the children's book "Little Red Riding Hood" in 1948.   It is now a museum, restaurant, gift shop and garden shop selling herbs, seeds, perennial plants and other garden things.  The restaurant features herbs and vegetables from its own garden, and serves children their lunch in a little basket covered with a red checkered napkin- perfectly following the Red Riding Hood theme.  My little daughter loved having lunch at Pickety Place, but could only  see the bedroom whilst peeking between her fingers since the wolf was still sleeping under the coverlet!

The wolf is still hiding in Grannie's bed...

The Red Riding Hood theme is found
 all over the house and gardens of Pickety Place

The cover of the 1940 version of
the Little Golden Book "Little Red Riding Hood"
illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones

I've always loved Jones's books, especially "Big Susan" published in 1947.  This is a story about a doll house and its inhabitants, my favorite toys as a child.  The illustrations remind me of another New Hampshire author, Tasha Tudor.   My favorite books by Tudor were also about dolls, such as "A is for Annabel", first published in 1954.  I remember taking this book out of the library for several weeks in a row before the librarian finally decided I needed a new book, and she introduced me to "Big Susan".

A biography of Elizabeth Orton Jones

 http://libweb.uoregon.edu/ec/exhibits/childrenslit/eojones.html 

A Wikipedia article on Elizabeth Orton Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Orton_Jones

The website for Pickety Place  http://www.pickityplace.com/

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo