New England Travel

Lincoln history in Manchester, Vt.

By Legacy User

November 20, 2012

1 minute to read

Abe Lincoln was born in a log cabin but his son built himself a mansion. Robert Todd Lincoln, the president’s only child to survive to adulthood, built the Manchester, Vt. Georgian Revival home, called Hildene, as a seasonal dream home for his wife Mary Harlan Lincoln and their children. – Associated Press
The site is expecting a boost in interest thanks to the new Steven Spielberg movie ‘‘Lincoln,’’ which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the former president and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as his son.
The Hildene staff is looking forward to welcoming more visitors and teaching them about the place where Lincoln descendants lived until 1975, said Paula Maynard, press director and group tour leader.
Maynard says the word combines phrases that mean ‘‘hill and valley with a stream,’’ and that Robert Todd Lincoln apparently had the name in mind from the start of construction in 1903.
A bust of Abarham Lincoln at the mansion.
The kitchen at Hildene.
The tour also includes a look at the Victorian-style master suite, the guest room where President William Howard Taft stayed and an office with an early predecessor to the copying machine.
A view from the garden at the Robert Todd Lincoln mansion Hildene in Manchester, Vt.
The dining room at the Robert Todd Lincoln mansion.
A stove pipe hat and mirror used by Abraham Lincoln.
A luxury Pullman Sunbeam travel train car sits along the winding driveway.
Another view of the interior of the Pullman car.
The front stairway and pipe organ at the mansion.
The parlor, which looks out onto a beautiful east-facing patio and garden with vistas of the Taconic and Green Mountains, could easily be the gathering spot for a modern martini party, book club meeting or holiday meal.
If you go: 1005 Hildene Rd., Manchester, Vt.; www.hildene.org or 800-578-1788, Open daily for self-guided tours 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. except Thanksgiving, Dec. 24, Christmas and Easter. Adults, $16; youths, $5; children under 6, free. Guided tours are an additional $5, but reservations must be made in advance November-May.