Hildene, the Robert Todd Lincoln home in Manchester, Vermont

Some more photos we took. The gift shop is in the magnificent stables. The left some of the stalls up and you can enter them - they have them set up for gifts. I would sure love these at my farm! The view from the gardens is amazing and what we see is what they owned. The Lincolns originally owned 392 acres and used it for breeding cattle and kept it running as a farm.

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The Pullman Car Robert really liked was the Mayflower, but they found the Sunbeam in a South Carolina swamp, derelict, used as a hunting camp. Of course it took several million to transport, restore, bring some rails in, etc to get it back to what it was and get it back here.

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I remember visiting Hildene years ago. Beautiful place. Some nice hiking trails around the property if you have time for that sort of thing.

I recall being shown some items that had been signed by Robert's son. Young Abraham was very aware of who his grandfather had been and became quite adept at forging the grandfather's famous A. Lincoln signature. Later historians, coming across papers signed by the grandson, got very excited about having found (they thought) a number of previously-unknown papers signed by the former president, until they realized that they were the grandson's work.
 
Thanks so much for sharing these photos! We visited Hildene back in the 1980s when we were still living in Brattleboro. A beautiful and fascinating place!

R
This as with the Vanderbilt's Biltmore in North Caroline were built before taxes. The one question is what besides being a lawyer what other income earning positions did Robert engage in?
 
This as with the Vanderbilt's Biltmore in North Caroline were built before taxes. The one question is what besides being a lawyer what other income earning positions did Robert engage in?
He was president of the Pullman Car Company, and was a VERY successful lawyer with a large firm in Chicago. In his old age, he was still on the board of directors of the Pullman Car Company - even at his death.
 
These references to Pullman Car reminded me of Horace Porter. During the war, he served as Chief of Ordnance in the Army of the Potomac and later as President Grant's personal secretary in the White House. In the last year of the war he served on General Grant’s staff and later wrote his “must read” memoir of the experience, Campaigning With Grant (1897). After resigning from the Army Porter became vice president of Pullman Car.
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With 8 bathrooms, and a kitchen (yet to be shown; please do!) I began to wonder what the boiler room looked like, and if the water was heated and distributed from a single system. I guess that itself isn't a part of the tour, but I do hope some pictures of the kitchen were taken.
Lubliner.
There wasn't much of a kitchen. I suspect that they may have once had a separate outbuilding that served as a kitchen so not to heat the house up in the summer months when the family was in residence, and it they did, I suspect that may have been the building that is now the public restrooms. Here's what there was of a pantry, and the stove in the room next to it. I'm tossing in what I assume was the servants' staircase as well. Other than a butler's pantry with a maid's uniform in it, there really wasn't anything dealing with the servants, I suppose because Hildene was a magical place that ran itself (wrote the granddaughter of Irish maids, snarkily).


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There wasn't much of a kitchen. I suspect that they may have once had a separate outbuilding that served as a kitchen so not to heat the house up in the summer months when the family was in residence, and it they did, I suspect that may have been the building that is now the public restrooms. Here's what there was of a pantry, and the stove in the room next to it. I'm tossing in what I assume was the servants' staircase as well. Other than a butler's pantry with a maid's uniform in it, there really wasn't anything dealing with the servants, I suppose because Hildene was a magical place that ran itself (wrote the granddaughter of Irish maids, snarkily).


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IDK, that really looks like a kitchen that could feed a large family. I love the stove! I am also surprised to see a floor vent from a central furnace, unless it is just a vent to distribute circulation. I assume that is period correct. Thank you, and the refrigerator, I love that too!
Lubliner.
 
IDK, that really looks like a kitchen that could feed a large family. I love the stove! I am also surprised to see a floor vent from a central furnace, unless it is just a vent to distribute circulation. I assume that is period correct. Thank you, and the refrigerator, I love that too!
Lubliner.
The house wasn't built until 1906, so although it has strong Civil War connections, it's decidedly not Civil War era.
 
IDK, that really looks like a kitchen that could feed a large family. I love the stove! I am also surprised to see a floor vent from a central furnace, unless it is just a vent to distribute circulation. I assume that is period correct. Thank you, and the refrigerator, I love that too!
Lubliner.
The floor vent is not incorrect - one thing the guides were quick to point out is that Hildene was at the forefront of new technology. The house was fully wired, had two telephones, had hot and cold running water, and a heating system (despite being intended as a summer home).
 
The floor vent is not incorrect - one thing the guides were quick to point out is that Hildene was at the forefront of new technology. The house was fully wired, had two telephones, had hot and cold running water, and a heating system (despite being intended as a summer home).
Ya gotta have a heating system so that the pipes don't freeze! I expect there was very likely a care taker on site year round, anyway.
 
My wife and I made a road trip to Maine last week, and largely because of the wonderful photos in this string, we stopped in Manchester, VT for a chance to see Hildene on our way back to Pennsylvania. The home was beautiful and the docents did a great job. I had no idea that Robert Lincoln was a golfing buddy of President and Chief Justice William Taft. Taft apparently visited often and stayed in the Hildene guest room.
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Someone asked about the number servants. As I recall, we were told that there were typically 15 on site when the Lincoln's were in residence, 6 of whom remained as caretakers year round, while the others traveled with the family. I grabbed some photos of the butler's quarters, the butler's uniform, the linen room on the second floor (including the maid's uniform) and the servants day room or dining room, which presents an interesting contrast to the family's dining room.
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At Hildene, even the servants lived better than Robert's grandfather did back in Kentucky and Indiana. One wonders what Thomas Lincoln would have thought of Hildene.

My wife and I were especially interested to see how the organ was integrated into the house on the staircase.
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Thanks for providing the inspiration to stop here for a most enjoyable visit.
 
My wife and I made a road trip to Maine last week, and largely because of the wonderful photos in this string, we stopped in Manchester, VT for a chance to see Hildene on our way back to Pennsylvania. The home was beautiful and the docents did a great job. I had no idea that Robert Lincoln was a golfing buddy of President and Chief Justice William Taft. Taft apparently visited often and stayed in the Hildene guest room.
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Someone asked about the number servants. As I recall, we were told that there were typically 15 on site when the Lincoln's were in residence, 6 of whom remained as caretakers year round, while the others traveled with the family. I grabbed some photos of the butler's quarters, the butler's uniform, the linen room on the second floor (including the maid's uniform) and the servants day room or dining room, which presents an interesting contrast to the family's dining room.
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At Hildene, even the servants lived better than Robert's grandfather did back in Kentucky and Indiana. One wonders what Thomas Lincoln would have thought of Hildene.

My wife and I were especially interested to see how the organ was integrated into the house on the staircase.
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Thanks for providing the inspiration to stop here for a most enjoyable visit.
So glad @Gary Morgan, @NH Civil War Gal, and I inspired your visit!
 
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