A Visit to the Madison-Bouckville Antique Fair

Friends had told us we could furnish our entire house for about the price of a new Apple computer at the Madison-Bouckville antique show in Bouckville, N.Y., about a five hour drive from Brooklyn. So we rented a cargo van in Crown Heights and set off on the road. Similar to Brimfield, the show consists of tents in fields. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful. The pay field ($5) was the best with oodles of fine antiques at great prices. The other fields were a little bit more like a flea market, but there were some great finds there too.  If you are looking for Empire furniture — a big period in New York state history — you will find it here. We saw beautiful original-finish mahogany and curly maple wood dressers for about $450 to $675 and many side tables for $250 to $450. Alas, we only bought one thing, an Eastlake mirror for $150, and spent almost $1,000 on van rental and hotels, but we had a great time. We can’t wait to go back, now that we have a better idea of what we’re doing.