Prescott Woodbury Baston was born in 1909 in Arlington,
Massachusetts, a town that is part of greater Boston.
His father was a miniaturist for Olmsted Brothers,
the architectural firm hat designed New York's Central
Park and Cloisters and Boston's Public Gardens. He
designed and created micro miniature models of buildings,
bridges, terraces and anything else that was part
of an architect's plan. Baston attended art school
and later, In 1930, at age 21, Baston worked on miniature
models of the campuses of Exeter and Deerfield Academies.
In 1938, a woman who owned the Shaker Glen House
restaurant in Woburn, MA knew that a young man in
her church had an artistic background. She asked if
he would agree to design a small set of figurines
depicting a Shaker couple. The woman saw them few
weeks later and ordered four dozen to sell and give
away to restaurant guests. That was the beginning
of Sebastian miniatures which today number over 1,000.
The miniatures are hand cast and then hand painted
by artists in Massachusetts Figures include the American
revolution, historic figures, British and American
literary characters, village scenes, occupations,
company commemoratives and transportation.
The Sebastian Miniatures exhibit will be on display
through the end of January 2007.
