Where Was The Lincoln Memorial Made?

Photo by B. Poole taken at Chesterwood,
Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Several years ago, I wrote a few posts about Daniel Chester French, a Concord, Massachusetts sculptor 

who was commissioned in 1873 by the town to make the bronze Minuteman statue which is displayed near the Old North Bridge. That fact is something I've known for many years, but when the Concord Museum had an exhibit of his works, I became more aware of his work pertaining to the Lincoln Memorial.

I then discovered he summered for 30 years in Stockbridge, Massachusetts at his estate and studio, called Chesterwood, with 120 acres. The good news is, these buildings are open to the public for the price of admission.

The pictures below are of the main house, only a few rooms were shown, the studio, and the few gardens showed evidence of fall because almost all the flowers had gone by. If you have ever seen the Lincoln Memorial, I believe this post might interest you or your children.

Although the entire Lincoln Memorial wasn't made here, the preliminary design work was. That fact, was enough to impress me.

The above is the main entrance to the house, and below is what you see on the opposite side, the fields and Taconic Mountains, shown below.

From the edge of the woods, another view of the house.

Main hallway. I believe we saw three rooms: the dining room, sitting room and private office with Mr. French's original typewriter (all shown below).

Study with Daniel's typewriter shown on the right.

Part of the 2nd floor hallway above, and three bedrooms below.

There were several gardens to enjoy as well as trails in the woods to explore.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a front picture of the studio, probably because I was so taken with the bench by the open door. The picture below is the side entrance with the huge door and the back porch overlooking the property.

The porch with bench was to the left of the entrance door. You are allowed to sit on it and view the meadow and mountain in front (see my 2nd picture).

When you first enter the studio, this is what you see! Notice the huge door as well?

General Charles Devens is on the horse. The statue may look small, but it was quite life-size.

I'm glad the chair is there, it's a good way to get an idea of the size of things.

You are looking at an open drawer with Mr. French's utensils. The window above the table provided an interesting reflection.

Looking toward the house, from the woods.

Daniel Chester French Led Me on a Trail (My post with quite a few of pictures)

Lowell Locks Colored with Light At Night

The sky looked threatening, on September 1, 2016, as the crowd of local residents gathered around Swamp Locks in anticipation for the 7 p.m.  illumination of the locks and its gatehouse on this very, very warm evening. Many of us had cameras, and I knew my simple "aim and shoot" camera probably wouldn't get very good pictures. However, when I compared my pictures with others I saw on-line, I though mine were similar and that is why I finally decided to share the only ones I took.

To read more about this special illumination, please read the article in the Lowell Sun newspaper, called: Lowell lights the locks to illuminate canals' beauty, potential

To see daylight pictures of this area, see my post called, Gotta Love the Name of Swamp Locks, click on the link.

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A Little Genealogy, Beautiful Flowers, Old House, Antiques..Need More?

Tree taken last year, in front
of the House, see last
photo.

As with almost all my blog posts, I try to incorporate a little genealogy, showcase beautiful flowers or scenery, an old house, collectibles, and/or antiques into it. In this post, I finally get to do everything. Fortunately, the Stevens-Coolidge Place in North Andover, MA is rather close to where I live and I've been visiting the property for a good 9-10 years. We go to walk around the grounds, smell the fresh air, and view all the gardens. NOTE: About 5-6 years ago, the landscaping was completely changed, including the parking and directions to get there. As far as I know, everything is the same inside the house.

However, I always wondered what was in the house, and several times when I inquired about it, I was told they didn't have enough volunteers to act as docents. This year, I got a notice that they were having a tour of the house. (I appeared there bright and early on June 21st for the first tour, and it didn't disappoint. I had NO idea it was even furnished! Photos are below. The post will also show the formal rose garden, a perennial garden (this was the best growing season ever), the cutting garden from beginning to end, and a large French garden.

The Stevens-Coolidge Place

139 Andover Street

North Andover, MA 

(A property of The Trustees of Reservations.)

The house as shown from various views from the front, side, and back.

 

The house is called a Place, but I like to call it an Estate since there are 91 acres. Helen Stevens married John Coolidge in 1909 and inherited this property, known as Ashdale Farm in 1914. They lived here in the summer until John Coolidge died in 1936. She remained spending summers here until her death in 1962 and she bequeathed the estate to The Trustees of Reservations, and they changed the name to Stevens-Coolidge Place. Note: Since I have quite a few ancestors and relatives from this area, I hope to do their genealogy to see if there is a connection to mine.

 The Rose Garden

The photo above was obtained from:

 https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:b8516144v

This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND).

Early spring, not much is in bloom, but the lilacs are!

The Perennial Garden photos are below.

I usually go three times during mid-late spring. The first flowers that I go nuts over are the oriental poppies and purple iris.

Front entrance.

On the first floor we walked through several sitting rooms, a den, and a formal dining room, all filled with family antiques. (I've enlarged the photos, so you can see the items.)

Hallway.

Photo of the couple on Mr. Coolidge's desk, seen below.

A door opens to a patio overlooking the Perennial Garden.

Genealogy on the wall! Mr. John Gardner Coolidge was related to Thomas Jefferson. (Thomas Jefferson was his great-great grandfather). I was the only one who got excited and took the photos. He was also the nephew of Isabella Stewart Gardner.

The Cutting Garden, spring and late summer.

The French Garden

In the Spring there are hundreds of pink and white Peonies.

Below are some late blooming flowers in the French Garden.

Last year, 2015,  photo. Note for April 29, 2022: That beautiful tree and many, many others were removed in 2019-2020 to change the landscape.

Brochure with a map of the property.