House Museums

While I love art museums and galleries, aquariums, natural history museums, and almost any place with an Imax theater, I never really thought of myself as a house museum sort of person. That is until recently. It makes sense, though, as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has always been one of my favorite places. That's a house alright.

When I got to thinking about the diversity of house museums, I realized that over the last year or so I've actually been to several. There was Historic Deerfield (a business trip, but I really enjoyed seeing their museum collection as well as a few of the houses), and then Gibson House in Boston, where my friend Catherine once lived on the fourth floor. She was giving a talk on her book, The Pantry. Come to think of it, Whitcomb House where she lived in Hancock, NH, until last year was something of a museum itself, and we enjoyed a wonderful Emily Post tea there just before the house sold.

A visit last fall to Edith Wharton's house, The Mount, in Lenox, MA, was meant to be a birthday pilgrimage to the home of a favorite author, and I had fun day-tripping with my friends Henry and Rosemary. But what would Edith think of that? Here's a link to the Cupcake Chronicles book group blog for more on the fate of Edith's place in the Berkshires. She rather liked Europe better anyway.

Speaking of travel, last spring our little book group visited Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron, OH, and now we are just back from Asheville, NC, where we visited the largest residence in the country, The Biltmore. These pictures are from the splendid gardens there. I'm starting to wonder what's next in general, so I must have the bug. Perhaps this is another sign of middle age!

The architecture of house museums (large and small) is fascinating, and it's interesting to see the ways in which interior design elements are incorporated into various settings. The Biltmore estate has several John Singer Sargent portraits, for example, and I enjoyed seeing them there in the house (though I hope the Vanderbilt's have a lending policy so we can see the paintings in themed exhibitions as well). And then there are the gardens, the fabulous landscape architecture that brings together the artwork and natural beauty of a site with the structures themselves. I think I could become quite a fan of garden tours.

In fact I have a feeling there are many more house and garden visits in the near future. Next up I'd like to visit the Isle of Shoals (ferry boat!) and Celia Thaxter's garden. Smith College and Wellesley both have fabulous greenhouses; I'd like to tour those with my camera and plenty of time to linger. And then there is Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, MA, and of course Saint-Gaudens, which is quite nearby. These are all trips to look forward to as we wait for spring and warmer weather here in New England. So many gardens ahead, including my own.