At the end of the 19th century, a group of successful artists and professionals built or purchased houses in the small neighbouring towns of Plainfield and Cornish, New Hampshire. New York lawyer Charles Beaman arrived first and eventually persuaded a number of friends to join him. Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens arrived in 1885 followed by a group of artists and writers that included Thomas Dewing, Henry Walker, Charles Platt, Stephen Parrish, his son Maxfield, and others. The social epicentre of the Colony became 'Mastlands', house of the Dr Arthur Nichols family. Prominent visitors from around the world toured the Nichols' gardens and danced in the ballroom at Mastlands. The Cornish Colony thrived into the 1960s, when two dramatic changes occurred: Mastlands was closed in 1963 and Maxfield Parrish died in 1966. The spirit of the Cornish Colony was sorely tried. Eventually, however, Mastlands reopened and was refurbished. In 1998, the house was purchased for use as The Cornish Colony Gallery and Museum by Alma Gilbert, recognised as one of the world's foremost experts in the work and life of Maxfield Parrish. Today the Museum celebrates the history and creativity of members of the Colony. The Cornish Colony Book of Days shares in the renewal of that spirit. Filled with images of works by Colonists Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Parrishes and their friends, the book also combines classic as well as contemporary photographs of Mastlands and its gardens. Together these images evoke an era of idealism, artistic innovation and optimism that inspire our admiration today.