One of the advantages of living in a former artists’ colony is that these creatives have left their stamp on a number of local houses. One is the famous wood engraver and printer Thomas W. Nason’s custom built home at 282 Joshuatown Road. We know a lot about this house, designed by accomplished local architect Alberta Pfeiffer in 1938, because former owner Charles L. Hatton recently donated original correspondence, photographs, and other materials to our Local History Archives. Among the treasures: a whole series of letters between Pfeiffer and Nason discussing architectural details and progress on the house, such as the acquisition of “some old bricks over in Chester, for 3¢ apiece,” the application of tinted plaster to the walls (to eliminate the need for painting), and the overriding need to keep costs down: “We have gotten along for a good many years with lots of makeshifts about us and would naturally like to go into a new place with everything just right, but we shall be quite contented with a good deal less. We certainly aren’t getting any richer these days.”