Che Viaggio!: 1984 Blithewold Gardens and Arboretum, RI (5/13/1984)

Sunday, May 13, 1984

Nice sunny day. Kent is in Chicago on business. I walked over to St Mary’s Church on Pine Street to check out Mass times. Saw lots of cherry trees in bloom, as well as dogwoods.

Dogwoods on Sayles Street

Dogwood on Sayles Street

At 11:00 I drove to Bristol, RI to Blithewold Gardens and Arboretum. Bought a ticket for the mansion and grounds for $2.50.

Blithewold ticket

Blithewold guide 1

Blithewold guide 2

Waited on the back terrace with an older woman who introduced herself and her two nephews, Ralph and Richard (middle-aged!). We could look across the lawn to the bay, and across the bay to Greenwich and Warwick.

View from back terrace

The house was the summer cottage of the Van Winkle family, then Mrs. Van Winkle later married a Mr. McKee. The oldest daughter, Marjorie Lyon, lived here until 1976, then bequeathed it to a foundation that now runs the place. This property was purchased so that the family had somewhere to keep their steam yacht. We started the tour at 12:00, and all was pretty much left s when Ms. Lyon died. The ceilings had a lot of carved molding. There was a billiards room, and living room with Tiffany lamps and some European artifacts (Victorian fireplace and a mirror placed so that you could see your reflection if you stand halfway down the lawn, Italian Bible stand, chairs, chests, etc.).. There was a neat little telephone room. Upstairs past the grandfather clock to see a nursery with a doll collection from several countries. A bedroom was full of French inlaid wood furniture. A porch with Newport hammocks for summer sleeping. A child’s bedroom and down the hall past many paintings of Ms. Lyon (as in she painted them of many subjects like Boston to woods, to Rome!) to Ms. Lyon’s very dark and crowded bedroom. All the bathrooms had additional saltwater taps on the bathtub. Several rooms upstairs were used as foundation offices and a wing was locked off for the caretaker. The central hall was open to the second floor, which allows for a very tall Christmas tree to be installed! Downstairs to the very medieval-looking dining room, and an Italian-looking breakfast porch that had imported tiles on the floor. A couple fireplaces had Delft tiles. Some of the furniture was carved from oak on the property (a hope chest in Ms. Lyon’s room and a couple dining room chairs). The steam yacht’s chinaware was on display. Wow!
We were let out the front door, and a large sequoia tree was pointed out, but the bigger one was over in the next garden. The guide kept saying this tree was not meant to grow in the North American climate. That’s exactly where they do grow, but perhaps she meant the northern climate, as in cold?