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| Shelburne Farms, The Farm Barn |
Disclosure: Unfortunately I am not related to a single
person in this blog post. … sigh… This
is unfortunate because they are all millionaires!
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| Shelburne Farms, the Inn was the former family mansion |
We recently visited Vermont, and spent the day at the Shelburne
Museum and the evening at the Shelburne Farms Inn where we had a lovely dinner
of local foods from the farm and nearby farmers in the area. The Shelburne Farms was the estate of Dr. William Seward
Webb and his wife, Lila Vanderbilt. It was
on 3,800 acres along the shores of Lake Champlain just south of Burlington,
Vermont. They constructed a model farm
and estate between 1880 and 1905, with some help from Frederick Olmsted. In 1969, one of the grandchildren, Derick Webb,
and his own children decided to create a non-profit to preserve the farm for
the future. It was in danger of being sold off in parcels for redevelopment. Today you can visit the
farm, stay or dine at the Inn (the former mansion), or participate in many
activities on the grounds. It is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit educational
organization and National Historic Landmark.
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| At the Inn, family photos from the Webbs and Vanderbilts decorate the library |
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| I love that the Webb family had the 1900 census on their bookshelf! |
The daughter-in-law of Dr. Webb and Lila was Electra
Havemeyer Webb. She was an art
collector, and lived on Park Avenue in Manhattan with a collection of
Impressionist paintings in the winter, and in a Vermont farmhouse filled with
antique collections in the summer. In
1947 she created the Shelburne Museum, south of the Farm. She began to “collect” buildings to move
there to house her collections. Today
you can visit the museum and view her fine art and folk art.
The museum is one of my favorites in New England, full of folk art, and “collections of collections” ranging from stuffed trophy animals, farm tools, winter sleighs, weather vanes (of course!), toys, porcelains and household items from all over New England. The collections are housed in restored homes and other buildings moved on site. These include unusual barns, general stores, a school house, a jail house, a light house, a train station and a variety of other structures. The Webb private train car, that used to bring the family from Manhattan to Vermont in luxury, is installed nearby the Ticonderoga, a ferry that plied Lake Champlain 100 years ago.
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| This is one of two horse shoe shaped barns at the Shelburne Museum, which houses a large collection of circus memorabilia |
Lila’s brother, George Washington Vanderbilt (1862 – 1914) created
the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina with the assistance of Frederick Law
Olmsted. The grounds are extensive, and
reach from downtown Asheville to the top of Mount Mitchell. It was originally 125,000 acres, and in 1914
85,000 were sold to the federal government to form Pisgah National Forest. The estate today sits on 8,000 acres and is
owned by the Biltmore Company. It is
open to the public as a historic house, Biltmore Farms, and Biltmore
Winery. The grounds include 75 acres of
formal gardens and a 213 room hotel.
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The Webb Family Genealogy:
William Seward Webb, son of James Watson Webb and Laura
Virginia Cram, grandson of Samuel Blachley Webb, aide to Generals Putnam and
Washington, born 31 January 1851, died 29 October 1926; married in 1883 to
Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt, known as Lila, daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt (1821 – 1885) and Maria Louisa Kissam, and
also granddaughter of “The Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 – 1877).
Children:
1. Frederica Webb, b. 1992 married Ralph Pulitzer, married
second Cyril Hamlen James
2. James Watson Webb (1884 – 1960) married Electra Havemeyer
(1893- 1966). Five children: Electra,
Samuel, Lila, James Watson Webb, Jr, and Harry.
Electra Havemeyer Webb founded the Shelburne Museum to house her “collection
of collections”
3. William Seward Webb married Gertrude Gaynor
4. Vanderbilt Webb married Aileen Osborn
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For the truly curious:
Electra Havemeyer Webb’s papers are stored at the Frick
Collection, chiefly materials about the Shelburne Museum (correspondence,
reports, speeches, articles, clippings, financial papers and scrapbooks).
Shelburne Farms http://www.shelburnefarms.org/
Shelburne Farms: The Spirit of the Agricultural Estate, by
Shelburne Farms, 2011
Shelburne Museum http://shelburnemuseum.org/
Biltmore Estate, North Carolina www.biltmore.com
For a peek at the Vanderbilt family tree, check this
Wikipedia article:
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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Beautiful grounds, and famous names. There is even a carousel. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteNo need to wish you were related to millionaires. Having an interesting and comfortable life, with love all around, is surely worth many millions. : ))