The Red Tavern

Dean and I went back to Longwood Gardens and Winterthur to see the Yuletide decorations, and yes the number of beautiful Christmas trees was staggering.  Also it was 70 degrees, also like a getaway winter vacation.  Got a few new gardening things and new ideas for next year in our garden. And Winterthur is going to show the costumes of Downton Abbey in 2014 so we will return. 

Living in a 300 year old house or should say Tavern is however a challenge. Winterthur is so beautiful but Mr. Francis had a lot of DuPont money to create his American Decorative Arts Museum. So we must be creative and thank you flea markets and Antique Centers!  Found two plate hangers with four holders for large plates.  At home I gathered up my large size Willow Ware and Blue Onion plates and we hung the hangers in the Tap Room!  It looks great.  Dean doesn't want me to go too crazy hanging plates around the place so I started rotating plates. 

My game plan was/is to turn the place into a B & B as a retirement plan.  Dean however may be working another ten years, and I still have one daughter living at home, and one of the bathrooms has to be remodeled.  But a historic house like this is cool.

Comments (0)     

Well as noted before good old Mr. Frances came to Danbury to the Estate auction of antiques.  I contacted Winterthur and they gave me all the information that they had.  Because back then when he purchased items he did keep invoices etc.  But back then they didn't add museum numbers or use a cataloguing system.  And the items at the auction were not all photographed as they are now especially in the digital age.  However the catalogue of the estate auction was published in Antiques, May, 1924.  I got a copy and it is really great to have a large version of the catalogue rather than the Xerox copies we have.

So this is what we know for sure, Mr. Frances purchased;

On June 13 a Four Poster bed painted blue.  On June 18; Candlestand, Barrell, Large Hooked Rug, Cherry Secretary (being restored), Windsor Lovers Seat, Pine Settee, Small Trunk, Piece of Carving. On June 19; two Sconces, Hooked Rug, set of 10 Porringers, tall Candlestick, tin Sconce, Cover. In the catalogue; 7 Candle Stand, 9 Cherry  Secretary Desk, 17 Barrel or Waste Basket, made from small oak keg (see picture), 25 Candle Stand (see picture), 45 Pine Settle hinged seat, 135 Hooked Rug, 202 Coaching Trunk, 207 Windsor Love Seat, 305 Brazier, 305 Brazier wrought iron, 311 Pewter Porringers, graduated sizes, 358 Candle Sconce (see picture), 386 Hooked Rug, 488 Candle Sconce, 527a Carved Cake Mold wood,  557 Hooked Rug, and # unknown Candlestick and Cover.

Whew so state of research so far, and the best we can do at this point,  what we need to do someday is to find and buy similar objects from the catalogue in general for the house.  Thanks for listening!

Comments (0)     

Elizabeth (Betsy) Bonaparte, I love her as one of the early icons of fashion and as a brave American woman.  This summer Dean and I went down to Baltimore and at the Maryland Historical Society there was an exhibition dedicated to Betsy called "A Woman of Two Worlds," the Nomadic Life of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte.  There was a lot of silver, French porcelain, portraits and of course one of the muslin dresses worn by Betsy which she and her family kept as treasures.  The historical society also took care of a lot of her possessions when she traveled in Europe, and they inherited a lot of the Betsy legacy. 

So here is a picture of the muslin dress my friend Allie has created for the Keeler Museum in Ridgefield, where when they were travelling in New England in 1804 and stopped at the tavern for a meal.  They have dedicated a small room in their honor and I thought a muslin dress would be perfect as an accessory.  In the research I did I found a reference in "The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte" by Eugene L. Didier, that after they were married they went to Washington for a while which is when Gilbert Stuart made the famous oil sketches of them.  Next they traveled up through New England and were entertained in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Albany and elsewhere.  Then in April Napoleon made it clear that Jerome was to come back to France without his wife and if he did bring her she would not be allowed to land, if he comes alone he will forgive him the folly of his youth,  They were still in New York City that summer and then the newspapers report on July 9th that the couple departed for an extensive tour of the Eastern States and pursue the customary route to Niagara Falls which finished by August 20th, 1804.  Then they went back to Baltimore in the middle of autumn.  In 1805 they did sail for France in one of Mr. Patterson's own ships.

I know this was a long blog but it was a good year for me and Betsy, and we have dedicated one of the bedrooms to them (Lindsey's room as she is in England).

Reproduction of a dress Allie and I believe Betsy would love to wear. 

Comments (0)     

We have always enjoyed going to historic houses and also viewing the gardens, and this year we managed to go down to Delaware in July and toured Longwood Gardens, the Hagley Museum and Winterthur.  DuPont country.  Longwood gardens is so amazing and inspirational and we want to go back at Christmas, and we also heard that Winterthur really dolls it up too.  Last weekend, labor day, we went back and saw the house and gardens at Nemours and then did the two hour tour at Winterthur. Nemours was a big letdown, over the top glitz and pompous in design.  The two hour tour at Winterthur (which has 175 rooms) was one of the happiest tours of our life.  In contrast to Nemours your could see and feel the love.  Henry Francis DuPont who was already a great gardener, fell in love with American Decorative Arts and Architecture, but he also had a unique vision as a collector.  Rather than mixed together different styles and periods in a room, he decorated his rooms within style, so William and Mary with William and Mary, Windsor chairs all together, Chippendale with Chippendale.  And he arranged his cut flowers without mixing as well, roses, just roses. So here we remembered that the research we started when we got the house put on the Connecticut Registered of Historic Houses, there was a few references to Henry Francis DuPont attending and buying antiques from the Ives collection.  At the 1924 estate auction he called himself Mr. Francis.  Because Ives was such a well known collector of dealer of American antiques it attracted a wide audience form all parts of the country.

Now Dean and I are going to try to put together a list of what objects went where!!

Comments (0)     

Well Dean and I were inspired to do and spend a lot on the garden this year.  We also hired our "firewood gal" to cut down two tall but not beautiful trees by the fence by a neighbor who would appreciate more light on his side and for us to get more light on the new garden we started two years ago.  In two years that wood will be aged and we can use as firewood, which was left nicely cut into pieces.

We also got new wooden window boxes, and wire frames for the Peonies, just like the ones at the Botanical Garden NYC which is always an inspiration all year long.  We discovered that last years Columbine that we potted last year and kept in the enclosed entryway during the winter, bloomed early as if in a hot house.  So we potted some more, even though we do have quite a bit growing wide, but it is such a nice early spring plant.  We also replaced some of the old hanging containers which we have around the barn facing the kitchen.  And invested in Geranium plants since we have lost all our old ones.  There has been a steady bloom on Orchids inside the house and the Christmas Cactus has bloomed.  It may have been the mild winter but I weeded a thousand volunteer seedlings from everywhere and I am still not done.

I also got on Ebay 6 Botanical Magazine hand colored engravings I am going to frame up and hang in one of the bed rooms.  Inspired by a visit to the Hillstead and seeing all the art hanging around the museum.  I use to have more art up on the walls (which since my art dealer and art appraiser days I collect here and there) but one day I felt too cluttered and re-arranged and stored away.

We gave the cats some cat mint from the garden and they were rolling around for at least a half an hour!

Comments (0)