Millay Arts

In 1925, Edna St. Vincent Millay bought Steepletop, a house with a blueberry farm in Austerlitz, NY, named after a pink, conical wildflower that grows there.[1] With her husband, Millay built a barn from a Sears Roebuck kit, and then a writing cabin, and a tennis court.

After the poet's death in 1950, her sister Norma Millay Ellis moved to Steepletop. In 1973, she founded The Millay Colony, which was established as a nonprofit organization.[2] Norma Millay Ellis donated the barn and surrounding acreage to The Millay Colony. The barn was subsequently renovated to provide accommodations and studio space for four resident artists.

In the mid-1990s, The Millay Colony commissioned architectural firm Michael Singer Studio, in consultation with an advisory committee of six artists with disabilities, to design an additional building for the Colony using the principles of universal access and environmentally friendly design.[3]

This 3,550 square foot building currently houses The Millay Colony's offices and public rooms, and provides accommodations and studio space.

The house and gardens are a National Historic Landmark.

[4][5][6]

• "Millay Farm Becoming an Arts Colony," The New York Times, February 20, 1974.
• "Norma Millay Ellis, 92; Arts Colony Founder," The New York Times, May 16, 1986.
• "An Artists' Retreat Is Extending Its Welcome," The New York Times, October 3, 1996.
• Millay Colony for the Arts, about, tour. June 30, 2008.
• Where Big Books Are Born: Danez Smith on the Millay Colony," Poets & Writers, March/April, 2018.

• Website
• Michael Singer Studio, architects

42°19′17.22″N 73°26′28.79″W