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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Stevens-Coolidge Estate -- North Andover, Massachusetts

The Stevens-Coolidge Place (more) of North Andover, Massachusetts is rather close to where I live. My husband and I made our first visit there recently in 2011. The estate grounds, 91 acres, were free and open for all to visit. You can bring a lunch and eat on the grounds. A special treat was seeing the rose garden, of which I limited myself to showing only two rose photos. We can't wait to go back.



Rose Garden and below


From Wikipedia is this description, "The Stevens-Coolidge Place 91 acres, formerly known as Ashdale Farm, is a garden and historic home located at 139 Andover Street in North Andover, Massachusetts. Helen Stevens Coolidge's family first acquired the farm in 1729, and from 1914-1962 it was her summer home with husband John Gardner Coolidge, diplomat, descendant of Thomas Jefferson, and nephew of Isabella Stewart Gardner. It is now a nonprofit museum operated by The Trustees of Reservations.

Between 1914 and 1918, architect Joseph Everett Chandler remodeled two late-Federal period farmhouses to form today's house. Chandler also enhanced the design of the landscape, which eventually included a perennial garden, a kitchen and cut flower garden, a rose garden, a French potager garden with a brick serpentine wall, and a greenhouse complex. The house's collections include Asian artifacts including Chinese porcelain, American furniture, and European decorative arts."