For 45 years, Ian Ingersoll has been creating custom cabinetry in the sleepy town of West Cornwall. Up until the pandemic hit, his guild of ten craftsmen were producing pieces for architects and designers of hotels and restaurants throughout the U.S.

One of my favorite jaunts in Litchfield County on a warm sunny day is zipping by the pretty antique houses and big expanses of farmland in Sharon enroute to Paley’s Farm Market. Paley’s is both a garden center and authentic farm market, with oodles of plants, gourmet cheeses, and locally grown produce.

Deidre Houlihan DiCara had spent 29 years as a professional in girl scouting, 23 of those as the executive director of the Girl Scouts of NWCT, until she was approached seven years ago to assume the leadership role at FISH NWCT—Friends in Service to Humanity—in Torrington.

Fifty years ago Sharon Dante followed a dream and started a classical ballet training program that grew into the Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory—an organization that has trained thousands of dancers across the country and abroad, many of whom have gone on to successful careers with some of the premier dance companies in the world.

It is easy to understand why so many horse enthusiasts are enamoured with Arabians. On a visit to Trowbridge’s one day, I met a sweet dapple-grey named Atlanta Blue who had me at hello. He nudged me gently with his soft muzzle and tempted me to linger.

Many novelists begin with a plot, the germ of an idea that develops into a story. Amy Poeppel thinks in terms of dialogue. She will imagine a conversation and then create the characters and the plot.

Elegant. Discreet. Quiet. Generous. Cultured. Curious. These are some of the adjectives that were used to describe Anne Bass by those who knew her. A resident of South Kent for many years Bass died of ovarian cancer this past April.

They say golf and tennis are sports one never ages out of. Throw rowing in there as well. Just check out the Litchfield Hills Rowing Club, founded in 1978 to promote the sport for the residents of the area. Sure, the club boasts a vibrant junior membership, many of whom go on to row in college, some even attaining scholarships. But there are also many adults, or “masters” in sportspeak.

Each year we are excited and surprised by the amazing and fascinating people we discover who contribute to making Litchfield County the unique place that it is. Enjoy this annual list of the Litchfield 25 for 2020.

When Covid-19 swept in, restaurants closed to crowds for the first time since anyone could remember. They could, however, keep their kitchens functioning to feed us. Venturing out for curbside pickup became something of a special mission—a permission slip to tiptoe off property.

Dr. Eric Salk, a 23-year veteran physician in the Emergency Department at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, squeezed in a walk with us this spring during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. Birds obliviously chirp in the background as he relayed the bottom-line difficulty of the new disease: “It’s actually very frustrating for health care workers, because there is so little we can do, except supportive care.”

Covid-19 has taught me something I’ve been trying to learn my entire adult life: We can grow, move on, and experience “new pastures.” We can fight for change but to do so, we must not forget to keep intact the roots of all the freedoms we enjoy, which are often the smaller ones we tend to take for granted.