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Stillmeadow #7
The Stillmeadow Road
The author shares a year of discovery and adventure spent in her 1690 Connecticut farmhouse
287 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1962
9 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Gladys Taber
89 books130 followersA prolific author whose output includes plays, essays, memoirs and fiction, Gladys Taber (1899 – 1980) is perhaps best recalled for a series of books and columns about her life at Stillmeadow, a 17th-century farmhouse in Southbury, Connecticut.
Born Gladys Bagg on April 12, 1899 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she was the middle child and only one to survive to adulthood. Her parents were Rufus Mather Bagg, who could trace his ancestry back to Cotton Mather, and the former Grace Sibyl Raybold. An older sister, Majel, had died at the age of six months while a younger brother Walter died at 15 months. During her childhood, she moved frequently as her father accepted various teaching posts until they finally settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gladys graduated from Appleton High School and enrolled at Wellesley College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920. She returned to her hometown and earned a master’s in 1921 from Lawrence College, where her father was on faculty. The following year, she married Frank Albion Taber, Jr., giving birth to their daughter on July 7, 1923.
Mrs. Taber taught English at Lawrence College, Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Columbia University, where she did postgraduate studies. She began her literary career with a play, Lady of the Moon (Penn), in 1928, and followed with a book of verse, Lyonesse (Bozart) in 1929. Taber won attention for her first humorous novel, Late Climbs the Sun (Coward, 1934). She went on to write several other novels and short story collections, including Tomorrow May Be Fair ( Coward, 1935), A Star to Steer By (Macrae, 1938) and This Is for Always (Macrae, 1938). In the late 1930s, Taber joined the staff of the Ladies’ Home Journal and began to contribute the column “Diary of Domesticity.”
By this time, she had separated from her husband and was living at Stillmeadow, a farmhouse built in 1690 in Southbury, Connecticut, sharing the house with Eleanor Sanford Mayer, a childhood friend who was often mistakenly identified as her sister. Beginning with Harvest at Stillmeadow (Little, Brown, 1940), Taber wrote a series of books about her simple life in New England that possessed homespun wisdom dolled out with earthy humor and an appreciation for the small things. She published more than 20 books related to Stillmeadow, including several cookbooks.
In 1959, she moved from Ladies’ Home Journal to Family Circle, contributing the “Butternut Wisdom” column until her retirement in 1967. In 1960, her companion, Eleanor, died and Taber decided to abandon life at Stillmeadow. Having spent some summers on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, she decided to relocate to the town of Orleans where she would live out the remainder of her days. While a resident of Orleans, Taber contributed “Still Cove Sketches” to the Cape Cod Oracle . Her final book, published posthumously, was Still Cove Journal (Lippincott, 1981).
Gladys Taber had divorced her husband in 1946 and he later passed away in October 1964. She died on March 11, 1980 in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts at the age of 80.
Born Gladys Bagg on April 12, 1899 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she was the middle child and only one to survive to adulthood. Her parents were Rufus Mather Bagg, who could trace his ancestry back to Cotton Mather, and the former Grace Sibyl Raybold. An older sister, Majel, had died at the age of six months while a younger brother Walter died at 15 months. During her childhood, she moved frequently as her father accepted various teaching posts until they finally settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Gladys graduated from Appleton High School and enrolled at Wellesley College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920. She returned to her hometown and earned a master’s in 1921 from Lawrence College, where her father was on faculty. The following year, she married Frank Albion Taber, Jr., giving birth to their daughter on July 7, 1923.
Mrs. Taber taught English at Lawrence College, Randolph Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and at Columbia University, where she did postgraduate studies. She began her literary career with a play, Lady of the Moon (Penn), in 1928, and followed with a book of verse, Lyonesse (Bozart) in 1929. Taber won attention for her first humorous novel, Late Climbs the Sun (Coward, 1934). She went on to write several other novels and short story collections, including Tomorrow May Be Fair ( Coward, 1935), A Star to Steer By (Macrae, 1938) and This Is for Always (Macrae, 1938). In the late 1930s, Taber joined the staff of the Ladies’ Home Journal and began to contribute the column “Diary of Domesticity.”
By this time, she had separated from her husband and was living at Stillmeadow, a farmhouse built in 1690 in Southbury, Connecticut, sharing the house with Eleanor Sanford Mayer, a childhood friend who was often mistakenly identified as her sister. Beginning with Harvest at Stillmeadow (Little, Brown, 1940), Taber wrote a series of books about her simple life in New England that possessed homespun wisdom dolled out with earthy humor and an appreciation for the small things. She published more than 20 books related to Stillmeadow, including several cookbooks.
In 1959, she moved from Ladies’ Home Journal to Family Circle, contributing the “Butternut Wisdom” column until her retirement in 1967. In 1960, her companion, Eleanor, died and Taber decided to abandon life at Stillmeadow. Having spent some summers on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, she decided to relocate to the town of Orleans where she would live out the remainder of her days. While a resident of Orleans, Taber contributed “Still Cove Sketches” to the Cape Cod Oracle . Her final book, published posthumously, was Still Cove Journal (Lippincott, 1981).
Gladys Taber had divorced her husband in 1946 and he later passed away in October 1964. She died on March 11, 1980 in Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Massachusetts at the age of 80.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 2, 2024
“As Thanksgiving time comes again, it seems to me it is very sudden. After Thanksgiving it will be winter, and I don’t feel I had enough sweet corn or garden-ripe tomatoes or enough summer or for that matter enough of October’s bright blue weather. I am reminded that I never did order those Christmas cards last August and now it is probably too late.”
I had the most wonderful time spending Thanksgiving with Gladys Taber in her Connecticut farm house. Reading it is like a tonic. These days I fret constantly about the natural world, and it was so good to relish in it with Gladys.
This was written in the 1960’s but I find there is still so much relevant and wise here. She tells the story of her life in the country, month by month through the year, and she made me feel the impact of each of the seasons.
In April: “When I go out with the dogs, I feel a quickening in my spirit too. The season of bloom is upon us, and then the green summer days, and at last the ripeness of autumn, all ordered and unchanged by the world’s dissensions. It is something to count on.”
In June: “The air is so soft you feel you might pick it up in your hand and hold it against your cheek.”
She talks of history and family and neighbors and dogs and cats and recipes and childrearing and literature and writing. There is something here for everyone, I think. She even mentions my family’s favorite meal, Boiled Dinner, that most people I’ve talked to over the years have never heard of:
“ … we like to serve our traditional New England boiled dinner … When the time comes to cook it we place the corned beef in cold water, add ½ clove of garlic and 6 peppercorns, and cook slowly, skimming when necessary … When the meat is done, we take it out and in the stock cook 6 carrots, 3 large yellow turnips cut in quarters, 4 small parsnips, 8 small peeled onions. This simmers fifteen minutes, then 6 medium-sized potatoes are added and a head of cabbage, quartered.”
In the middle of the book, there is a tragedy: the death of her friend Jill who was her partner in this endeavor from the beginning and shared the house with her for many years.
“Where did the years go? Now there is nobody to remember them except me, for the children only remember certain things but not the whole.”
She doesn’t hold back from reprimanding us, when necessary.
“Sometimes I feel we should not be so smug about our nation. We invaded the country which did not belong to us and we almost wiped out those to whom it did belong.” and “I suppose prejudice is the worst sin of mankind. Why do we feel we are superior to anyone not of our race or religion? This is a mystery to me. And if we do, why do we also say we believe in God?”
And even in these troubled times, she gives me hope.
“But in this season it is well to reassert that the hope of mankind rests in faith. As a man thinketh, so he is. Nothing much happens unless you believe in it and believing there is hope for the world is a way to move toward it.”
I had the most wonderful time spending Thanksgiving with Gladys Taber in her Connecticut farm house. Reading it is like a tonic. These days I fret constantly about the natural world, and it was so good to relish in it with Gladys.
This was written in the 1960’s but I find there is still so much relevant and wise here. She tells the story of her life in the country, month by month through the year, and she made me feel the impact of each of the seasons.
In April: “When I go out with the dogs, I feel a quickening in my spirit too. The season of bloom is upon us, and then the green summer days, and at last the ripeness of autumn, all ordered and unchanged by the world’s dissensions. It is something to count on.”
In June: “The air is so soft you feel you might pick it up in your hand and hold it against your cheek.”
She talks of history and family and neighbors and dogs and cats and recipes and childrearing and literature and writing. There is something here for everyone, I think. She even mentions my family’s favorite meal, Boiled Dinner, that most people I’ve talked to over the years have never heard of:
“ … we like to serve our traditional New England boiled dinner … When the time comes to cook it we place the corned beef in cold water, add ½ clove of garlic and 6 peppercorns, and cook slowly, skimming when necessary … When the meat is done, we take it out and in the stock cook 6 carrots, 3 large yellow turnips cut in quarters, 4 small parsnips, 8 small peeled onions. This simmers fifteen minutes, then 6 medium-sized potatoes are added and a head of cabbage, quartered.”
In the middle of the book, there is a tragedy: the death of her friend Jill who was her partner in this endeavor from the beginning and shared the house with her for many years.
“Where did the years go? Now there is nobody to remember them except me, for the children only remember certain things but not the whole.”
She doesn’t hold back from reprimanding us, when necessary.
“Sometimes I feel we should not be so smug about our nation. We invaded the country which did not belong to us and we almost wiped out those to whom it did belong.” and “I suppose prejudice is the worst sin of mankind. Why do we feel we are superior to anyone not of our race or religion? This is a mystery to me. And if we do, why do we also say we believe in God?”
And even in these troubled times, she gives me hope.
“But in this season it is well to reassert that the hope of mankind rests in faith. As a man thinketh, so he is. Nothing much happens unless you believe in it and believing there is hope for the world is a way to move toward it.”
June 10, 2020
Another nostalgic and comforting calendar year read of Stillmeadow. What a beautiful part of their lives was spent in this old home.
February 16, 2019
This book is very like a conversation with an old friend, shared tidbits from life and daily things that somehow turn out not to be so mundane, but are instead interesting and somehow important in that they are part of what shapes us. The writing is conversational, homey & comforting, down-to-earth and yet so very lovely.
April 9, 2020
Great book to read if you need a little peace, quiet, and comfort. It had a real comforting effect on me (in a good way). It gave me the feeling of "going home again".
May 28, 2016
This is the story of how Gladys and friend "Jill" found and were able to buy their "home place", Stillmeadow Farm. The "history" is fanciful, completely ignoring the husbands with whom they bought the property. I assumed that perhaps both women's husbands had been killed in WWII, since the timeline for buying Stillmeadow occurred not long after that war ended. This was not the case, as I discovered after a little online research. Taber and her husband divorced in 1956, for example.
Aside from not "spoiling a good story with facts," (as my husband is fond of saying, I enjoyed Taber's excursions into country life, with its many permutations, from being snowed in to New England town meetings, reflecting on spiritual life to the realities of dog breeding, and the way weather affects an old house. Taber always endures through the dark clouds and arrives in the light to see the rainbows.
Someone once told me that I write like Taber, so, of course I had to read her books, well at least this one. I don't know if it's true that my writing sounds like hers, but I would be honored to think it was.
Aside from not "spoiling a good story with facts," (as my husband is fond of saying, I enjoyed Taber's excursions into country life, with its many permutations, from being snowed in to New England town meetings, reflecting on spiritual life to the realities of dog breeding, and the way weather affects an old house. Taber always endures through the dark clouds and arrives in the light to see the rainbows.
Someone once told me that I write like Taber, so, of course I had to read her books, well at least this one. I don't know if it's true that my writing sounds like hers, but I would be honored to think it was.
February 12, 2021
This was a truly delicious book that was published in 1962, written by a very gifted author who apparently has gone out of fashion. My well-read friends and I had never heard of her. She wrote of family, friends, her old house in Connecticut, her dogs and cats, her flowers and trees, her favorite books, food, her love of poets (especially a personal favorite of mine - Keats), her faith, and of appreciating each and every day. Her musings are filled with quite a bit of humor (such as when her dishwasher became too "enthusiastic" and flooded the kitchen). Taber and other authors such as Eliza Calvert Hall should NEVER go out of fashion for they speak to women through the ages and are timeless.
March 27, 2009
Gladys Taber wrote in the mid-twentieth century about country life in New England. Her books are as comforting as hot chocolate by a warm fire. Who doesn't need that right now?
December 7, 2023
Beautiful and comforting book! Gladys Taber never disappoints with her memoirs about life, nature, cooking and family at Stillmeadow in rural Connecticut. I used so many book darts for this book—almost half a tin!
I can never sufficiently express my love for Gladys' writing, loving thoughts and hopeful inspiration. Reading a chapter every month of the year is like receiving a warm hug and wise advice from your most beloved family member. I wish so much that I'd been able to meet her in person.
Although I seem to be reading these books entirely out of order, it doesn't seem to matter. I've now started the first book in her Stillmeadow series (which begins in November), but I'm sure I'll be reading another one at the same time. My life is infinitely better when I have Gladys Taber by my side (literally on my bedside table) all year long.
If you've never read books by this wonderful author, I would start with Country Chronicle or Reveries at Stillmeadow (a tiny Hallmark book). Both of these started me on my Gladys Taber path and I am unbelievably grateful for coming across this suggestion on Bookstagram. I only wish I remember who mentioned her books to me. To that person, I am forever grateful!
I cannot recommend this book (or any Stillmeadow book) by Gladys highly enough. Not exactly life changing, but certainly and fully life affirming! ❤️❤️
I can never sufficiently express my love for Gladys' writing, loving thoughts and hopeful inspiration. Reading a chapter every month of the year is like receiving a warm hug and wise advice from your most beloved family member. I wish so much that I'd been able to meet her in person.
Although I seem to be reading these books entirely out of order, it doesn't seem to matter. I've now started the first book in her Stillmeadow series (which begins in November), but I'm sure I'll be reading another one at the same time. My life is infinitely better when I have Gladys Taber by my side (literally on my bedside table) all year long.
If you've never read books by this wonderful author, I would start with Country Chronicle or Reveries at Stillmeadow (a tiny Hallmark book). Both of these started me on my Gladys Taber path and I am unbelievably grateful for coming across this suggestion on Bookstagram. I only wish I remember who mentioned her books to me. To that person, I am forever grateful!
I cannot recommend this book (or any Stillmeadow book) by Gladys highly enough. Not exactly life changing, but certainly and fully life affirming! ❤️❤️
July 13, 2022
This is a book to savor! It gently takes you by the hand and leads you back into a simpler time. Gladys Taber immerses you in her country life filled with puppies and children, mouthwatering food, a lovely old farmhouse who is a character all it's own and friends and neighbors you would have loved to have known.
Season by season and month to month, her observations and reminiscing stories of her childhood make you laugh, or ponder, and sometimes cry.
I have loved this author since I discovered her when I was a teenager and she never fails to fill my heart with joy.
Season by season and month to month, her observations and reminiscing stories of her childhood make you laugh, or ponder, and sometimes cry.
I have loved this author since I discovered her when I was a teenager and she never fails to fill my heart with joy.
June 20, 2025
THE Stillmeadow Road books bring me such joy in my retirement years. Installment number seven talks a lot about her many friendships that she had in life. She shares a full year of adventure in country living and reminisces of a lot of great memories she had through life. This book does bring some sorrow, for her house partner passes away in this volume.
October 18, 2022
With simple, lovely descriptions of her life and home, Gladys Taber transports me to a place I long to be but never knew.
Read this book. Read any of her books. You’ll want to take that trip, too.
Read this book. Read any of her books. You’ll want to take that trip, too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2023
Gladys Taber was a prolific author of fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, children's books, plays, poetry and more. She has written 59 books plus columns for the Ladies Home Journal and Family Circle magazines! She passed in 1980. The Stillmeadow Series of books is perhaps her most famous works.
The Stillmeadow Road is a journey through one year of life in her 17th century home in Connecticut. Starting in January and working month by month and season to season she shares word pictures of her day-to-day life covering her gardening, cooking, raising children, and showing her beloved cocker spaniel and Irish setter dogs. She talks lovingly of both her old house and the scenery around her home. This book was published in 1962 and contains references to events around that era and her feelings on many topics of the time.
It is a treasure chest of nostalgia written in a conversational and comforting style. Her books are all out of print but can be found if you search hard enough. I was lucky enough to have mine passed down from my grandmother!
The Stillmeadow Road is a journey through one year of life in her 17th century home in Connecticut. Starting in January and working month by month and season to season she shares word pictures of her day-to-day life covering her gardening, cooking, raising children, and showing her beloved cocker spaniel and Irish setter dogs. She talks lovingly of both her old house and the scenery around her home. This book was published in 1962 and contains references to events around that era and her feelings on many topics of the time.
It is a treasure chest of nostalgia written in a conversational and comforting style. Her books are all out of print but can be found if you search hard enough. I was lucky enough to have mine passed down from my grandmother!
June 8, 2021
The Stillmeadow Road is the kind of book I wish I had written. Gladys Tauber lived in Manhattan in the 1920s with her husband and young daughter. Tauber and her friend "Jill" decided to look for a country house where the two families could spend weekends. After several unsuccessful forays, they found and bought Stillmeadow, a house built in 1690 in what was then farming country in Southbury, Connecticut.
Tauber wrote several books about Stillmeadow. This one takes us through a year, although each month is not part of the same year. She writes about blizzards, birds, neighbors, modernizing the house, dogs, (Gladys and Jill raised Cocker spaniels and had one Irish setter, Holly, which Tauber referred to as "the Irish.), her parents and many other subjects.
The book conveys the peace of the country, the rhythms of the seasons and the weather. If you live in the country, her book will strike a chord with you. If you live in a city, you will want to move to the country.
Tauber wrote several books about Stillmeadow. This one takes us through a year, although each month is not part of the same year. She writes about blizzards, birds, neighbors, modernizing the house, dogs, (Gladys and Jill raised Cocker spaniels and had one Irish setter, Holly, which Tauber referred to as "the Irish.), her parents and many other subjects.
The book conveys the peace of the country, the rhythms of the seasons and the weather. If you live in the country, her book will strike a chord with you. If you live in a city, you will want to move to the country.
November 18, 2024
If you’re looking for something eventful and mentally stimulating, the Stillmeadow series are probably not your best bet. If you’re looking for a book that feels like sitting on the sofa, warm cup of coffee in hand, chatting with an old friend, these are your books.
You can enjoy Gladys’ world for the simplicity that it holds through her calendars. I think we all can find a friend in parts of her writings. I thoroughly enjoy them.
You can enjoy Gladys’ world for the simplicity that it holds through her calendars. I think we all can find a friend in parts of her writings. I thoroughly enjoy them.
December 28, 2024
My friend Sarah let me borrow her copy of this book. I had never heard of Gladys Taber before, but I take recommendations from Sarah seriously and this did not let me down: She's interested in the same themes as Madeleine L'Engle's nonfiction, but her writing was more rooted in the things of earth and less philosophical. It's the perfect "it's-winter-let's-curl-up-with-a-good-book" book.
December 16, 2017
I admit willingly that I am a huge Gladys Taber fan. She lived the life she wrote of and had legions of fans throughout America during her days writing articles for ladies magazines. What a lovely simple life that I wish I could duplicate
November 4, 2025
I was wanting to finish this book in December by reading the December chapter but couldn’t help finishing it early. I read most of the chapter by corresponding month which was so cozy. I absolutely loved this book.
October 4, 2017
LOVED it!!!
February 13, 2019
A good, comforting read. I really enjoyed her thoughts on the ideas and problems on the day.
May 20, 2019
Really good, surprisingly funny in the last few chapters. Can’t believe I’d missed this one in the twenty-five years I’ve been reading her books.
October 27, 2020
A truly comforting and transporting read. Gladys Taber feels like a kindred spirit.
November 5, 2020
For a relaxing read, the Stillmeadow series is always pleasant
January 19, 2022
What a quaint book, perfect for winter reading Will snatch up her other books if I ever see them.
April 28, 2023
Gladys Taber's "Thoughts on Death" From "Stillmeadow Road" after (____) death
I believe we never lose those we have loved. I believe in God for otherwise, existence is meaningless, a casual happenstance. I believe in the basic goodness of life, and that love is stronger than hate, although often it does not seem so. I believe eventually good overcomes evil, and that we are put on earth for a purpose which has to do with love and with good.
This may be pretty optimistic, but nobody ever accused me of looking on the dark side of life. I believe in living out our span of life in full appreciation of the best of it, and with compassion for all mankind, not just a special segment of it. I do not believe those whose life is cut short have to wait around until the end of the world when Judgment Day within ourselves. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, and the substance of the living. With faith, we may face the fact of death and not be defeated. At least, so I have found it.
October 23, 1984
Heather assumed a minimum of 4/5 stars because she read it five times.
I believe we never lose those we have loved. I believe in God for otherwise, existence is meaningless, a casual happenstance. I believe in the basic goodness of life, and that love is stronger than hate, although often it does not seem so. I believe eventually good overcomes evil, and that we are put on earth for a purpose which has to do with love and with good.
This may be pretty optimistic, but nobody ever accused me of looking on the dark side of life. I believe in living out our span of life in full appreciation of the best of it, and with compassion for all mankind, not just a special segment of it. I do not believe those whose life is cut short have to wait around until the end of the world when Judgment Day within ourselves. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, and the substance of the living. With faith, we may face the fact of death and not be defeated. At least, so I have found it.
October 23, 1984
Heather assumed a minimum of 4/5 stars because she read it five times.
February 6, 2020
Second time reading this book, because I remembered liking it several years ago but not why. I think it's best picked up now and again to read small portions, rather than straight through. It's very slow and is organized only as a collection of musings based on each month of any given year, but it is the perfect book when you want to vicariously escape to the quiet countryside. She talks about rural community, delicious recipes, her dogs and occasionally cats, the weather, and many things associated with the care and upkeep of an old house and its grounds. She also brings up faith and commentary on the state of modern society, which makes me laugh, because it's true: no matter how far back in time you go, people will always have tsk-tsking "oh, young people today!" views.
One thing I did learn this time around, though, is what a surprising number of books she wrote featuring this setting. I had no idea any beyond this one existed, and I am very curious to explore more of this setting.
One thing I did learn this time around, though, is what a surprising number of books she wrote featuring this setting. I had no idea any beyond this one existed, and I am very curious to explore more of this setting.
May 9, 2015
If you love anyone of these author's books, you will then love them all. This style of writing is probably not for everyone. However, I love the simplicity of it. She takes the simple things in life and makes them charming. She has a lot of her own opinions about life and includes some politics. However, that is not what her books are centered around. I mostly love her view of the 4 seasons.
January 22, 2008
I loved her way of taking the reader back to a time when life had a very different pace. The feeling I got from reading this book was one of peace and yearning - a strong desire to be in that place and time. I wanted to know more about her life and the life she shared with her friend.
September 20, 2015
Meditative diary-style book about living in the New England countryside around 1950 or so. Author lovingly describes day to day events, friends, and dogs, weaving in reflections on how to handle life. I found it rather soothing despite the large amount of space devoted to cocker spaniels.
January 17, 2009
I love books about living on a farm, but this one was too disjointed to follow. Each paragraph seems to take place at a different time, and I guess I'm just too linear to get into that.
Read
May 3, 2010I made it about half way. Her musings on country life in the 50s are mildly interesting, but I kept losing the book, so I decided to go for more excitement.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews