Hildene I (7/27/2026)

Monday, July 27, 2026

Whale Dance (2019, by Jim Sardonis) in morning fog;
we had seen this sculpture on 8/19/2022

Today our stop was at Hildene in Manchester, VT, the summer home of Robert Lincoln, the only son of Abraham Lincoln to survive to adulthood, and Robert's wife Mary Harlan Lincoln.

This is another museum with reciprocity with our Tyler Arboretum membership.

Hildene (1905, by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge
in Georgian Revival style) with electricity, telephone service,
hot-air heating, and an enunciator system that allowed the
Lincolns to call their staff wherever they might be in the house

Robert's Observatory (1908)

A six-inch Brashear refracting telescope, which
was the 40th wedding anniversary gift from Mary

View of the 'dene' (Old English)/valley with a stream that
is the location of the Hildene Farm, seen from the 'hil'/hill
on which the mansion and observatory are located

In front of the mansion is a brick outline representing
the cabin in Kentucky in which Abraham Lincoln
was born to contrast with the summer home of the
next generation; Robert Lincoln earned his wealth as the
attorney, then president of the Pullman Palace Car Company

Grand stairway with organ pipes on the mezzanine level

The 1908 Aeolian residential player pipe organ
is said to be the 40th wedding anniversary
gift from Robert to Mary

Parlor

Robert Lincoln's Bedroom

Safe in Robert Lincoln's Closet

Robert Lincoln's Bathroom

Robert Lincoln's Library

Portrait of Robert Lincoln at age 78

Robert Lincoln's Secretary's Office

Guest Bedroom

Butler's Pantry

Butler's Pantry wall telephone

Kitchen

Staff Dining Room

Butler's Bedroom; the butler was the only staff
to live on the first floor, the maids lived on the second
floor, and other male staff bunked in the Annex building

Formal Dining Room

Upstairs to the Sitting Room/Music Room

Sitting Room

View of the Formal Garden (1908, by President Lincoln's
granddaughter Jessie Lincoln) that was meant to look like a
stained glass window when viewed from the Sitting Room

Mary Lincoln's Bathroom

Mary Lincoln's Bedroom

The wallpaper and drapes matched in Mary Lincoln's Bedroom

Mary Lincoln's Bedroom

Print of Abraham Lincoln based on a
photograph (1864, by Anthony Berger
at Mathew Brady's DC Studio 

The Council of War (1868, by John Rogers)
depicts General Grant, President Lincoln, 
and Secretary of War Stanton

Abraham Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat

 One of Abraham Lincoln's quotes regarding the Civil War: "While the [second] inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

Grandchildren's Room

Alphabet screen

Linen Closet

Artifacts belonging to Peggy Beckwith
(granddaughter of Robert Lincoln) who was
the last Lincoln to live at Hildene; she had
varied interests including painting, sculpture,
agriculture, and even earned a private
pilot's license to fly her own airplanes

Peggy also participated in sports
and had a leather jacket with
an ermine fur collar

Peggy Lincoln left Hildene to the Church of Christ, Scientist, with the wish that it be maintained as a memorial to the Lincoln family. When the Church exercised their right to sell the property, as outlined in Peggy's will, community members came together and successfully formed The Friends of Hildene LLC to preserve the property.
Next: Hildene II.