A large gas fireplace warms the living room on a chilly morning. The simple dark woodwork has been maintained throughout the house. The only addition was a powder room off the center hall, done in earth-tone tile that is repeated in the kitchen and master bath. The Schneiders found both a house ready to move into and a community where they immediately felt at home. Laure is heavily involved in children's activities at the Community Club, founded in 1930.
Every holiday is observed with a parade, a picnic or a celebration.
If there are seven annual activities for children, there must be 20 for adults, including book groups and the oldest continuous theater group in the county, the Village Players. Lately, community involvement in Thornburg has extended beyond the community center. Other residents favor the development, seeing it as a way to reduce taxes in a town without a commercial tax base. Local leaders have asked both sides to be considerate of each others' feelings, a neighborly way to approach a problem. The Thornburg cousins, who lived in the town they built, would no doubt approve.