Before there were Pinterest boards and Instagram reels, there was Martha Stewart. The homemaking icon raised quotidian domestic tasks like cooking and gardening to aspirational levels, feeding a burgeoning need for way of life recommendations through ratings of her own made-from-scratch dishes, elaborately set tablescapes, and pristinely manicured grounds. She became the first American female to develop a billion-dollar business– one based on sharing understanding of the domestic arts, no less. “She was the first individual that saw the marketability of her personal life,” her good friend Lloyd Allen claims in Martha, the 2024 Netflix documentary. “Martha was the very first influencer.”
She honed the homemaking abilities upon which her empire was constructed at a four-acre former tobacco and onion farm dubbed Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut. In the period of nearly thirty years, Martha and her now ex-husband Andy Stewart transformed the run-down area into an estate brimming with fantastical gardens and dreamy ADUs. It was during her time at Turkey Hill that Martha introduced the catering business that led to her first book deal. “Turkey Hill was a dream place for my family and me for several years,” she when composed. “It taught us, it nurtured us, it fed us, and it occupied us in many wonderful and explanatory methods. I would not be who I am today without the vast understanding I acquired there, on that smidgen of paradise.” In 2000, she moved on from that home to a 153-acre farm in upstate New york city, where she now invests the majority of her time.After losing control of her company in the early aughts and serving a five-month stint in prison(for a highly publicized insider-trading-related conviction she maintains was baseless), Martha likewise lost millions of dollars and much of her influence. However, the prototypical domestic goddess restored the majority of her cultural currency over the previous years with aplomb; nowadays, a number of her more youthful fans understand her primarily as a savvy, sassy power gamer on social media, where her 2 million followers tune in day-to-day to get the scoop on her way of life tastes. Her current Netflix documentary spotlighted the cultural tastemaker’s trailblazing tradition, highlighting the reality that Martha’s innovative advancement stays far from total. In 2023, she graced the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, that made her the brand name’s most senior cover model. And after commemorating the release of her 100th book in 2024, the queen of homemaking debuted her 101st this previous spring, a tome on all things gardening in March 2025. Listed below, we’re having a look back at some more intimate minutes of the star in her component: at home.