Hildene

 

Hildene, in the mountains above Manchester, Vermont, was the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, the eldest child of Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln. Robert discovered Manchester as an adult and chose to make it his second home. It includes over 400 acres, a good amount of it devoted to farming. It is run by a nonprofit today and continues to be an active farm. The house is in classic Georgian Revival. The portico in front is about the same size or larger than the log cabin Robert's father grew up in. The house has 24 rooms. Its last owner, Abe Lincoln's great-granddaughter Peggy Beckwith, was a Renaissance woman -- artist, pilot, farmer, and about ten other things. She sounds like the model for the character Rose in "Titanic." She took care of the house largely on her own. It eventually found its way into a nonprofit formed to preserve the estate.

The farm in "The Dene" -- the valley below the house.

Robert Lincoln became wealthy when he succeeded George Pullman as president of the Pullman Car company, after the former's death. Luxury rail cars like the one above kept on the Hildene estate were leased by the ultra-wealthy for moving parties. They were equipped with a kitchen, beds, a dining room, sitting rooms, and servants -- the "Pullman Porters" who were almost exclusively Black and paid worse than minimum wage, if there was one for the time. They eventually unionized and influenced the civil rights movment later in the 20th century.

The stained glass windows in the Pullman car were Tiffany.

A private room in the Pullman car.

President McKinley rode in this Pullman car. He was assassinated in 1901. President Teddy Roosevelt campaigned from the back of the car. I'm throwing my hat in the ring with Bull Moose! Fred 2028!!

From the Pullman car, we walked down to the Goat Dairy. Cheese is still produced here and sold in the gift shop next to the house. This adorable kid came for some petting and ended up three-quarters of the way through the little keyhole. We had to get the goat farmer to come and push "Rose" back in the pen, scolding included.

In the house, as well as at the Pullman car, we had wonderful tours given by volunteers. We heard a story of how Robert tried to have his mother committed to an asylum (briefly successful), for which she resented him the rest of her life. We heard the spectacular pipe organ built into the walls of the main foyer. We learned that Patti LuPone is descended from one of the great opera singers of the early 20th century, and Tom Hanks is a distant descendant of Abe Lincoln's.

A young couple enjoys the view.