Mary Stuart Masterson, an actress, director, producer, and mother of four, wears many hats in her personal life and in Hollywood. Thanks to her father, actor and director Peter Masterson’s daughter had a head start in the field.

However, she revealed to The New York Times in 2017 that when it came to Hollywood, she always had one foot out the door. And, unlike many of her friends, Masterson has moved away from the pace and bustle of city life.

Life in the Countryside by Mary Stuart Masterson

The multi-faceted artist has been living in the country for nearly nine years, having fled the Brooklyn cityscape. However, the actress has been tight-lipped about the location she chose to call home, ostensibly to avoid enthusiastic fans from setting up camp in her doorway.

The sole clue to her current address is that it is a three-hour journey from New York City, which is a large radius to search for a single address.

She and her four children, ages 8 to 11, relocated there with her third husband, actor Jeremy Davidson, and their four children, aged 8 to 11, inspired by the now-common urban fantasy of living off the land.

Masterson improved her education in order to better prepare for her move to the countryside. She discovered she could grow seedlings in a cold frame. She was also capable at dehydrating and canning edibles.

However, she quickly realized that her efforts would not be enough to support her four children and husband.

An Agricultural Bug

At least for Masterson and her family of six, living in the tiny, ramshackle home was more about being part of a community and having that social connection than it was about self-sufficiency.

Despite this, Masterson has been cultivating a variety of vegetables in her backyard, including grapes and spotted trout lettuce. While homegrown vegetables may appeal to city dwellers, children are still children. They would prefer a bowl of borscht to a plate of vegetables.

Masterson has two beehives on her 14-acre home, in keeping with her Idgie Threadgoode persona from Fried Green Tomatoes. Honey is never in short supply for the hubby and the kids.

Mary Stuart Masterson is a firm believer in giving back to the community.

Her commitment to being deeply and actively involved in the fabric of her community was another trait she shared with her much-loved “bee charmer” character.

Masterson has founded four firms in the Hudson Valley, New York, that work together to provide a path for persons who want to work in film and television crew production.

In an interview with Southern Living, she explained

The organization Stockade Works, a soundstage named Up River Studios, and a production firm called Stockade Studios are among her businesses. She and her husband also opened Storyhorse Documentary Theater in Hudson Valley, as if that wasn’t enough.