Wonderful Shelburne, Vermont
Peter and I walked beside Lake Champlain and stayed at the Shelburne Farms Inn http://www.shelburnefarms.org/ , a family estate from the Gilded Age which was handed down to a generation of five Webb descendents who wanted the buildings and land enjoyed by the public, and where today lots of education in land preservation and local farming is done. And guests at the inn are pampered. Breakfasts were a pleasure: the eggs can’t be much fresher, the toast is made with organically grown wheat, and berry jam is homemade. The stunning lake didn’t come out well in this picture of a spot where I wrote. Believe me, it was blue.
A short drive away, we toured the massive Americana collections of Electra Havermeyer Webb, who married into the family that owned the inn, at the nearby Shelburne Museum http://shelburnemuseum.org/. Electra’s mother was a friend of Mary Cassatt, who painted this portrait of them when Electra was a child, and which hangs in one of many buildings.
Much of Mrs. Havermeyer’s art collection, which features more Cassatt, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most of her paintings came from Europe, and she was reportedly aghast at Electra’s collecting, which began with a cigar-store Indian. I have to agree I might worry, too, if my daughter started amassing dozens of glass canes, hundreds of teacups, dolls and dollhouses, trivets, cigar boxes, hat boxes, old buggies and quilts. Housefuls and barnfuls of things. But looking at those marvelous preserved quilts - one with patches smaller than postage stamps, one with embroidered depictions of Charles Dickens’s characters - I felt happy that someone had the sense and taste and funds to preserve things that might have otherwise moldered in attics or sheds. Here’s a picture of just one corner of a general store, with the apothecary beside it as well-stocked.
Electra had no problem with the idea of moving a jail, a schoolhouse, a lighthouse, and the Ticonderoga, a steam ship that might have fallen into disrepair if it hadn’t been hauled two miles onshore. Other buildings saved and moved here include several nineteenth century homes, and “in situ,” a house preserved decked with 1950s books, clothing, and food containers.
One of the coolest buildings holds two carved tributes to circuses. Below is a Mother Goose that’s part of a foot long - that took twenty-five years to make. Walking through is a reminder of the rewards of patience. And maybe a little obsession. Which of course writers must laud.
I’m a fan of Electra, and also the living, breathing, funny, smart Elizabeth Bluemle, author of picture books including How Do You Wokka-Wokka?, and co-owner of Flying Pigs Books http://www.flyingpigbooks.com/.
Elizabeth greeted us warmly - I think three or four hugs were involved - and introduced me to staff member Kelly as “the author of Borrowed Names, that award-winning book.”
“Um, it actually hasn’t won awards.”
“Really? Well, it’s not the season yet. It’s pre-award-winning.”
Here’s a woman who can sell books, not to mention make fast friends. Thanks, Elizabeth!