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20 Friday Friday, July 6, 2018 Lifestyle | Feature he “Land of Lincoln” is the state slogan ization has worked to provide a more complete for Illinois, but there’s a Lincoln family view of Lincoln family life. “We have to keep every- Toutpost in the lush mountains of southern thing fresh. The reality of a standalone house mu- Vermont. Abraham Lincoln, who started his po- seum is that if you’ve been there, you’ve been litical career in Illinois, never made it to Vermont, there,” president Seth Bongartz said. but his son Robert Todd Lincoln built his stately summer home Hildene in the Green and Taconic President’s stovepipe hats mountains of Manchester. Robert Todd Lincoln The staff at Hildene has interpreted Lincoln’s was already a wealthy man by the time construc- forward thinking as an invitation to update the tion was completed on the 24-room Georgian property for new guests. The property includes Revival home in 1905. He had served as the Sec- two functioning, modern farms, with dairies where retary of War and ambassador to Great Britain goats and cows produce chevre and tomme cheese. and at the time was president of the Pullman They also run summer camps and students from a Palace Car Company, one of the largest compa- local high school can take courses on agriculture nies in the nation. on the property. In 2011 Hildene added a restored 1903 Pullman car. One of the few wooden frame models remain- ing, the rehabilitation process took four years after the staff located it in South Carolina. That site is on the Vermont African American Heritage Trail, and the staff acknowledges the complicated his- tory of the company. The porters, initially freed slaves and their descendants, were often paid meager wages but over time their tips and expo- Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, is visible from the sure to the nation’s most influential men helped formal garden of the estate in Manchester, Vt. — AP photos form a black middle class. He first visited Manchester when his mother was guides an opportunity to quiz visitors on their Robert Todd Lincoln was the only one of his a guest of Equinox House, a 19th century hotel still function. The bedrooms housed a number of note- siblings to survive into adulthood and carry on the in business today that catered to the wealthy es- worthy guests, including William Howard Taft, a US family name. Despite the fact that Abraham Lincoln caping summer heat on the coasts. Years later he president and Supreme Court justice. was assassinated four decades before the comple- visited the town with Edward Swift Isham, his law Outside the home are equally impressive land- tion of the property, the home does acknowledge In this photo Lincoln family photographs are dis- partner and a native of Vermont. After falling in love scapes. The formal garden just off the back end of the most well-known member of the family. Outside played at Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd with the area, Lincoln purchased over 400 acres of the house is framed by the two mountain ranges the main entrance to the home is an outline of the Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, in Man- land in 1902.The name Hildene, an old English word and views of the valley below. A tram ride takes vis- Kentucky cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born. chester, Vt. In the foreground are photos of Robert, he picked up during his time in London, described itors between the sites. The more adventurous can About the same size as the portico, it illustrates left, and his wife Mary Harlan Lincoln, and at rear are the land itself: “a hill with a valley and a stream.” hike across the property, which includes wetlands how far the family came in a generation. The home Abraham, right, and Mary Todd Lincoln. The home was built on a high point in the land along a stretch of the Batten Kill, a small river also features a rotating exhibit on the Lincolns, overlooking the Batten Kill valley. known world-wide for its elusive trout. Visitors are currently focused on Lincoln’s second inaugural encouraged to make use of Vermont’s seasons. In address. And of course they prominently feature A home for the family winter, they can snowshoe or cross-country ski be- one of the president’s stovepipe hats. — AP The home is kept in a style Lincoln would have tween the sites. recognized. The 1,000-pipe Aeolian organ he built Robert Todd Lincoln died at the home in 1926. for his wife is one of the first things to greet visitors The Lincoln family held onto Hildene for three gen- as its music booms through the halls. Despite the erations until Peggy Lincoln Beckwith’s death in grandeur of the location and size of the home, the 1975. Beckwith did not have any children and the decor is almost modest for the setting, reflecting property was initially donated to the Church of the fact that this was mainly a home for the family. Christ, Scientist. When the home fell into disrepair, He originally fashioned himself as a gentleman a group of Manchester locals formed a nonprofit farmer and the kitchen is stocked with curious to purchase the home and turn it into a museum. gadgets that, while current in his time, give the tour Now in its 40th year, the Friends of Hildene organ- Photo shows goats that are kept at one of the dairies at Hildene. A stovepipe hat that belonged to Abraham Lincoln is displayed at Hildene. Photo shows an interior Photo shows a Pullman Palace Car sitting room at Hildene. Photo provides a view of the Battenkill valley from Hildene. on display at Hildene..

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