Historical Elegance Millbrook's Red School House
by Noah Fleisher
Northeast - October 2002

If you didn't know where Don Bergeron's Red School House Antiques and Accessories is, tucked just out of the way, off of Route 44, a short distance west of picturesque Millbrook, NY, it would be easy to zip right by and not know you'd even passed it.

For those in the know, however, Red School House is the classy little place on the right hand side of Route 44, just after a rise and a turn in the road,' about a mile outside of the village. It's the impeccable grounds and the finely crafted building on historic land 'that features some of the finest, most elegantly preserved, early American antiques found anywhere in the Northeast, not to mention what is easily one of the most superlative collections of fine art in all of the Hudson Valley.

Entering Red School House is to step into an different world, one elegantly styled with a high-end inventory, inviting perspective buyers to browse leisurely, free from any pressure. It is an atmosphere specifically designed to evoke comfort, while in the same instant inspiring reverence.

Inside the two stories of the gallery a diverse collection of rare and important antiques unwinds with ease. An exquisite 1759 American Queen Anne walnut secretary' sits on one side of a perfectly restored and reupholstered Chippendale sofa. Above the sofa are two singular 1824 portraits' of Mr. and Mrs. William Peterson of Philadelphia, a contented and handsome looking couple obviously prospering in post-Colonial Pennsylvania, painted by Jacob Eichholtz.

Between the Peterson's portraits is a rare carved giltwood 19th-century American bullseye mirror. Bookending the portraits and the sofa is an 18thcentury highboy dresser as significant for its unusual design as for the scarcity of companions to it.

Upstairs, amidst other early American treasures such as' blanket chests, tables and candlesticks, hang two extremely 'rare portraits of William and Mary that once' hung in Philadelphia's Independence Hall.

Everything in Red School House, top to bottom, is arranged just so, placed to maximize the aesthetic beauty of an antique while vividly Clarifying its historical legacy. In fact, after an hour in the gallery, the feeling one gets is that the original owners and creators of the entire inventory have only just slipped out of the room and that you've barely missed meeting them, so specific and tangible is the caliber and the presentation - of Bergeron's reserve.

"You have to make up your mind in your life what you want to be and what you want to do," says a smiling, congenial Bergeron. "I've always believed in quality."

If ever a person embodied the idea that a true antiques dealer is born rather than made, it is Don Bergeron. He is a 13th generation American, able to track his lineage on his mother's side all the way back to the Mayflower. His ancestors were amongst the original settlers of Deerfield, MA.

It occurs to me, watching Bergeron move through these display rooms, pointing out various ethereal rarities, that it's even possible that his own forbearers might have owned some of the items that now sit on his floor. This does not seem to be an idea that has never occurred to Bergeron. He points out that he was raised with acute awareness of his familial history, in a house with an emphasis on fine things and a belief that one's surroundings reflect one's beliefs. He was aware very early in his life of where he wanted to go.

"I used to go with my mother to auctions," he says. "I was 14 years old when I bought my first antique… a small Victorian chest." As an adult, Bergeron embarked on a successful career as an interior designer in western Massachusetts, logging 30 years in the business, developing and fine-tuning his eye for design and becoming a respected member of the American Association of Interior Designers. All the while, Bergeron continued to collect antiques, nourishing his love for them.

In the late 1980s, tiring of the grind, Bergeron decided to devote himself fulltime to his passion for fine furniture and fine art. He came to Millbrook and, literally, setup shop.

"I just got tired of working," he says. "I really wanted a little relaxation, so I decided to come here." Bergeron's light attitude towards the antiques business belies the incredible effort he has put into his business. As one would figure, the act of defining an aesthetic and then going about creating its physical expression is anything but easy. Using his wits, his insight, his contacts and his extraordinary eye, Bergeron' filled Red School House and subsequently created a reputation for himself ("Without it, you have nothing," he says) that has won him an extremely loyal following of discriminating clients; And, while his inventory ranges in price from a few thousand dollars for smaller items well into the tens of thousands for the finest, nothing is presented without Bergeron's express warranty or without a certified pedigree backed up by considerable scholarship.

If it was Bergeron's eye that put him in the upper reaches of American-antiques, it is his devotion to delivering 'the very best to his clients that has kept him there.

Red School House is open only on the weekends, or by appointment, and the rest of his time - nearly six months out of the year, is spent on the road. If Bergeron is not tracking down and acquiring his rarefied stock, he is delivering to customers or consulting clients all across the Northeast asking his help in furnishing their homes.

"We have a clientele that always appreciates the finer things in life," Don says. "We try very hard to present what we think should appear in a client's home. And usually we're right."

While Red School House's reputation has been built on his repeat clients, Bergeron's first time clients are equally as important to him. He makes a point of working with anyone that is interested, of educating beginning collectors, and helping anyone who comes through his doors to figure out what, specifically, they need: Red School House, he says, is not a one-time shop and therein lies its successful secret.

"What I tell beginning collectors is that they need to make a choice about what they want and to have the inspiration to realize that direction," he says. "Everyone aspires to the top, but no one starts out there. Initially, you have buy what you can afford, and then move up from there,"

Donald Bergeron is available for private consultation and will deliver for free anywhere within 150 miles after personally polishing and / or preparing every piece for its new home. In fact, Bergeron insists, that nothing leaves his care unless it completely meets his own very exacting standards of presentation. "We strive to present our antiques' as they were originally," he says. "We want to make sure - first and foremost – that the purchase is right."

Besides the private gallery on Route 44, Red School House for many years has also exhibited at the Millbrook Antiques Mall (MAM) on Franklin Avenue in the village of Millbrook, almost in the middle of Dutchess County, and only a short ride west of the Taconic State Parkway. Bergeron is usually present on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 11 AM.

To visit with Don, and view the gallery of Red School House, call (845) 677-5996.
"I've always felt that the comforts of home are what make life enjoyable and that you have to surround yourself with beautiful things, no matter what they are or what you pay for them… It's the overall experience that's important."

Courtesy of: Northeast - October 2002