Editorial: Stockbridge Exceptionalism, American Exceptionalism

September 2025: The weather was exceptional; the location was too, and so was the effort put into protecting our village. For almost three hundred years, we preserved and protected not just Stockbridge beauty and natural resources, but also the communal spirit that creates livability.

In 1736, the original land grant that would be named Stockbridge was 27,000 acres. Today, based on the most recent census data, the total area of the town is 22.7 square miles, or about 14,528 acres. In 1986, a valiant group founded the Land Trust. More than 10% of that land has been preserved. The Stockbridge Land trust can be proud. The founders are gone. It is up to us.

And yet, these are changing times.

They say there is no Stockbridge exceptionalism. That’s wrong. We can see the result of it all around us. The specific exceptionalism was as simple as shared values and a belief that everyone should pitch in.

When Mary Flynn was dying, she tapped the back of my hand with hers and said, “We left one job undone.” She wanted Yokun Ridge preserved. Twelve years later a local boy delivered the dying wish.

We can still do it. “The Times They are A-Changin,” but we do not have to change with them. And we shouldn’t. Why not?

There’s this video of a house out on the Cape sliding into the Atlantic. Locals told them not to build there. They said they wanted to, they could afford to, and nobody could stop them. They built. It played havoc with the house, but it made a great video. Inch by inch in the pouring rain, gaining momentum, the house slid over the edge and directly into the churning ocean waves.

As it disappeared, one local said, “Works out better when they listen to us.”

Listen now — we are running out of time.

We do not need Stockbridge to be a microcosm of the nation’s capital. We want to hire the most able not the most loyal. We don’t want to hire people for an unapproved project and thereby override the power of the legislature. Our legislature is Town Meeting and it is important that the people hold the purse strings. Don’t float figures that will not cover the costs if the project is wanted and inflate the cost if the project is not. Do not pilfer from our neighbors and dine on the pelf. In short, we don’t need empire builders, personal power consolidators; we never have, and don’t see why we would need one now. We don’t leave communal interest at the door and laugh compassion out of the room. We learned to laugh the bully out of the room. We do not silence voices, ridicule dissent, or falsely accuse. That may benefit a few; it will never benefit the majority. We don’t do that stuff and should not suffer those that do.

Carole Owens
Executive Editor