Hildene – Lincoln Family Home – Manchester, VT - August 27

Hildene – Lincoln Family Home – Manchester, VT - August 27


We made our last drive to Vermont to visit Hildene which was to visit the Robert Todd Lincoln Family home. 


Hildene, is formed from two old English words, “hil” meaning hill and “dene,” meaning valley with a stream. Robert and wife Mary named their Manchester home based on their views of the Taconic Mountains to the west, Green Mountains to the east and the Battenkill flowing through the great valley of Vermont below, hill and valley with stream.


Robert Todd Lincoln built Hildene as a summer home at the turn of the 20th century. Robert had become president of Pullman Company and he returned to build the Georgian Revival Hildene as his country estate. 

The first thing we did was tour the mansion. 

 the brick line in a square marks the size of Abe Lincoln's home in contrast to Hildene

 Welcome Center & Gift Shop

thousand-pipe 1908 Aeolian organ is still in working order and they let it play a short piece while you toured - yes, it was loud

 where the organ pipes are "hidden"

The dining room was furnished in Queen Anne style. The home remained in the Lincoln family until 1975, thus preserving the original furnishings and memorabilia. The formal gardens on the terrace overlooking the broad valley have been restored from records of original plantings.

 the parlor

 family photos

 Robert's bedroom

 the safe was in his closet

 his office

 his secretary's room

 guest room

 butler's uniform

 butler's room on the main floor - all other servants had rooms upstairs

the staff's kitchen

 Grandchildren's room

maids uniform in the lining closet

 the main kitchen

 Mary's receiving room

 view from the receiving room

 Mary's bedroom

above her bed

One of the rooms was set up as a museum of his father of President Lincoln. The most interesting object was his father’s famous stovepipe hat.

Now, the 412 acre estate, with its Georgian revival mansion and 14 historic buildings includes the home, formal garden and observatory; Welcome Center and The Museum Store in the historic carriage barn; 1903 Pullman car, Sunbeam; a solar powered goat dairy and cheese-making facility and the lower portion of the property, Dene Farm, was recently incorporated into the guest experience. 


Among some of Robert’s accomplishments were:


An appointment as Secretary of War and served from 1881 to 1885 under both Presidents Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Robert later served as Minister to the Court of Saint James’s (U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom) from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison and then returned to private practice as a lawyer.


He was special counsel for the Pullman Palace Car Company under George Pullman and was named as president after Pullman's death in 1897. In 1911, Robert Lincoln became chairman of the board until he stepped down in 1922, but remained on the board for four more years until his death at Hildene in 1926.


When Peggy Beckwith, the last Lincoln descendant to live at Hildene, died in 1975, she left Hildene to the Church of Christ, Scientist - as was her grandmother's wish. The will stipulated that the church maintain Hildene as a memorial to the Lincoln family, but It didn't take long for them to realize they were not in a position to do so and made plans to sell Hildene to developers. When local neighbors and community members learned of the church's plans, they fought to save Hildene and after three years in court finally won the right to purchase Hildene. The non-profit Friends of Hildene raised the money to purchase the estate in 1978 and began the long process of restoring the home and formal garden.


After the self-guided tour, we drove into town for lunch. It was pretty limited for choices and we tried Sam’s Wood Fired Pizza Co. it was OK, but not great. The garlic bread was like a hot dog bun without a lot of garlic and it wasn’t very hot. The Pizza would have been tastier if it had been cooked long enough to melt the cheese a bit and take the chill off the toppings. Ah well, can’t all be winners. 

We drove back to Hildene and walked to where they display the restored Pullman family car. It was how they traveled with friends and family. 

After that we took the mile-long walk to the Dairy Barn. They have a lot of goats and they make goat milk and cheese there. The goats were adorable. On the walk there we came across a flock of Black-throated Blue Warblers. There were a bunch of juveniles and it was nearly impossible to get a good look at them much less decent photos.

 pond on the way

 these dragonflies thought that Greg's shirt was the perfect place to mate

 Black-throated Blue Warbler - female

 Black-throated Blue Warbler

  Black-throated Blue Warbler

 Black-throated Blue Warbler - female

 Dairy Barn

 cheese room

 these are ready to be milked

From there we walked through a meadow to get back to the mansion. 

 immature Song Sparrows

 Great Blue Heron

   Black-throated Blue Warbler

the Hildene Honors award

We checked out the observatory and then strolled the formal gardens. Just beautiful! 

 telescope

From there we went to the cutting garden. 

 potting shed

We bought some wonderful raspberry shortbread cookies with dark chocolate and ate those on the drive home.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ho3i5vZdmB4JCF8L9


Tomorrow, rain is predicted so we are taking a day off. We both need haircuts and I need color.