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Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) became the minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn in 1847, preaching sermons and writing books that gained him wide renown. He was an important collector of Inness's work, owning at least seven paintings at the time of his death. Lecturing on art in 1865, Beecher conveyed his deep appreciation of Inness's paintings as "steeped and saturated with feeling." From 1853 to 1857 Beecher summered with his family in a simple farmhouse in Lenox called Blossom Farm, which stood on the hilltop site of today's Cranwell resort. Catharine Sedgwick's letters tell of Beecher's breakfasting with her family at The Hive and preaching at the Church-on-the Hill on Sundays in August. Beecher's invitation to Inness to visit his summer home in Peekskill, New York, indicates their continued friendship after the clergyman's years in Lenox.		Henry Ward Beecher, c. 1853 Engraving by John C. McRae after the painting by Thomas Hicks Courtesy Library of Congress