Le Shopping @ Stissing House

Black Friday. Ugh! What conceivable pleasure can there be in camping outside the entrance to a mall, waiting for the doors to open so you can crunch and scrunch through packed aisles, hoping to save a few dollars on Christmas shopping.

How much better the experience might be in quiet little Pine Plains browsing Le Shopping @ Stissing House. The event, which features more than 20 vendors, opens with a preview benefit Friday from 5 to 8PM and continues Saturday from 11AM to 7PM. Make a reservation for supper at the renowned restaurant and tavern and Christmas shopping becomes more a sensual pleasure than a wrestling match.

The venerable Stissing House is a treat in itself. Built in the 1700s, it incorporates unique historical features, including a rare domed ballroom and original Dutch colonial framing. It has served as an inn, tavern, restaurant and bawdy house and during its more prestigious incarnations was used both by George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to further their political careers. The Marquis de Lafayette also spent his nights there.

After the restoration efforts by its current owners and the help of the community, the Stissing House has regained its former elan.

Le Shopping @ Stissing House will feature fashionable merchandise; glass products from Gilmore Glass; boldly designed pillows by Kay Niederlitz; animated bronze animal sculptures and lovely paintings from Kerry Milliken; fine art photography by Sarah Blodgett; startlingly vivid woodwork by Frank Grusauskas; elegant hats from the Madder Hatters; ornamental elements for home, garden and self from Punch and stylish clothing from Annie Walwyn-Jones.

Stissing House is located at 7801 South Main Street in Pine Plains NY.