Plants and nurs­eries of SoCal are my usual sub­jects, but I must share this expe­ri­ence I had on my trip .….….

I am so thrilled when I am able to walk in the foot­steps of an his­tor­i­cal fig­ure and see their orig­i­nal fur­nish­ings and art­work. We have been able to see 7 pri­vate his­tor­i­cal homes on this trip and none of them are com­mer­cial­ized in the least . Being ardent fans of all things Lin­coln, it was a fore­gone con­clu­sion that my sis­ter and I would visit Hildene, the home of Robert Todd Lincoln.

Abra­ham Lincoln’s old­est and only sur­viv­ing son, Robert, built his final res­i­dence in the incom­pa­ra­ble set­ting of the White Moun­tains in Man­ches­ter, Ver­mont in 1902 and died there in 1926. Hav­ing been stalked by tragedy for most of his life, this beau­ti­ful home and its gar­dens must have pro­vided a mea­sure of refuge for him. One of the most inter­est­ing things we dis­cov­ered: when the safe was opened in his bed­room after his death, pri­vate papers were found detail­ing his con­cern for the san­ity of his mother, Mary Todd Lin­coln. It was long thought that he was vin­dic­tive in hav­ing her com­mit­ted for insan­ity to an asy­lum. These papers in fact prove that he thought he was doing the right thing.

www​.Hildene​.org

Hildene gar­dens