Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home is the former summer home of
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician. He was the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company presi ...
and his wife
Mary Harlan Lincoln, located at 1005 Hildene Road in
Manchester Center,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
.
History
Robert Todd Lincoln was the eldest of the four sons of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
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Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
and his wife
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...
, and the only one of them to survive into adulthood. He first visited Manchester Center, Vermont at age 20 in the summer of 1863 when he, his brother
Tad, and their mother stayed at the nearby Equinox House to escape the heat of
Washington, DC
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
.
Hildene remained occupied by descendants of the Lincoln family until 1975, when the next to last descendant of the Lincoln-Harlan family,
Mary Lincoln Beckwith, granddaughter of Robert and Mary and daughter of Jessie and
Warren Wallace Beckwith, died there. In 1978 the non-profit organization,
the Friends of Hildene, purchased the property and began restoration of the house, outbuildings and gardens.
Landscape
The name Hildene is from the old English words meaning "hill" and "valley with stream". Completed in 1905 in the
Georgian Revival
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, Ge ...
style, the house is located on a promontory overlooking the
Battenkill
The Batten Kill, Battenkill, or Battenkill River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 river rising in Vermont that flows into New York (state), New York a ...
Valley. Approximately half of the estate is located at the lower level of the valley and includes meadows and wetlands. A formal garden in the form of a cathedral's stained glass window was planted in 1907. The window pattern is defined by privet hedge and filled with mixed borders of annual and perennial flowering plants providing the multicolored "stained glass." The garden is especially noted for its collection of over 1,000
herbaceous peonies.
In 2008, the Rowland Agricultural Center at Hildene Farm opened to the public with its herd of Nubian goats and cheese-making facility. In the summer of 2011, the restored 1903 wooden Pullman palace car, Sunbeam, made its home at the Manchester estate. The car came off the line during Robert's tenure as president of the
Pullman Company.
Interior
Hildene is furnished almost entirely with Lincoln family furniture and contains artifacts belonging to Robert Todd Lincoln and his parents. In 1908 an
Æolian pipe organ was installed at a cost of $11,500. In 1980 the Friends of Hildene restored the organ.
See also
*
References
*Keelan, Donald, B. ''Robert Todd Lincoln's Hildene and How It Was Saved 1975-1978.'' Keelan Family Foundation: 2001. .
*http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/26/us/last-escendant-of-lincoln-81-years-old-dies-in-virginia.html?scp=4&sq=robert%20todd%20lincoln%20beckwith&st=cse#
External links
Hildene's official website
{{NRHP in Bennington County, Vermont
Houses completed in 1905
Georgian Revival architecture in Vermont
Historic house museums in Vermont
Museums in Bennington County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Manchester, Vermont
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Lincoln family
Biographical museums in Vermont
Houses in Bennington County, Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Bennington County, Vermont
1905 establishments in Vermont
Gilded Age mansions