And, meanwhile, back on American soil…a brisk, sunny September Sunday heralded the first autumnal historic house tour!Just a short drive from Washington, is the other Montpelier, located in Laurel, Maryland. Built between 1781 and 1785 by Major Thomas Snowden, the house is a picture-perfect five-part Georgian Palladian mansion. While the Snowden holdings once included several thousand acres of land and a view of the Patuxent River, the house still sits on 70 beautiful acres of park land ~ the green rolling hills of which give one the sense of being in the middle of nowhere (despite the fact that one is less than a mile from the highway!). The interiors are most interesting for their simple architectural details, although there are several original pieces of Snowden furniture and porcelain (and some lovely textiles). My favorite part of the tour however, was the lovely little Colonial-style garden, and an original 18th-century summer house which is set in a maze of overgrown old-growth boxwood.
(Anne ~ I have clearly caught your garden obsession!)
Posts
3 comments:
How charming - adore Colonial Revival Gardens! KDM
Lovely Janet! So glad you are sharing the fall tours.
Janet... just reading through your lovely blog, after the Poe post. Montpelier was our family's house... they were the Snowdens. There's a family tree there, and my grandparents are listed on it.
Also, stopped by Westminster Burial Ground today. Found G2 grandfather's grave. It's under the "bridge" between the two buildings.
Post a Comment