Christmas at Historic Houses
LINCOLN - Along with Mount Vernon and Monticello, the Hearthside Homestead is prominently featured in a new book that celebrates famous homes and hearths at Christmas."Christmas at Historic Houses" by Patricia Hart McMillan and Katharine Kaye McMillan will be published in time for Christmas by Schiffer Publishing and includes 30 historic houses across the United States and in England.Lincoln's own Hearthside is spread over five color-filled pages that begin with the much-loved Great Road home in a snowfall. Then it's on to the interior to show off the Victorian wreaths, bright trees, glitzy mantle and sparkling table setting.Additionally, the book captures holiday memories provided by the Mowbray's, the last family to call Hearthside home, as they recall Christmases past, right down to the menu for their traditional Christmas dinner.Hart McMillan is an interior designer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, magazines and newspapers, and online.Kathy Hartley, president of the Friends of the Hearthside, provided the background on Hearthside along with her own childhood memories growing up just down the street from Hearthside.Said McMillan, "Hearthside pulls out all the stops in celebrating Christmas, so it is a wonderful visual part of this book. And, the story of the house is very romantic."When seeking houses for this book, we looked carefully across the nation and in England. Hearthside was outstanding in every way," said McMillan. "Working with Kathy Hartley was great fun because she understood at once what was needed and made sure that we received beautiful images and great information. A page is devoted to Kathy's recollections of Christmases when special Christmas cards were created (by Andrew Mowbray) showing scenes of the house. That article is what makes the Hearthside chapter a must read," she said.In that section, Hartley tells that story of annual Christmas cards that Andrew Mowbray painted each year, all the while keeping the subject a secret until he had printed them up in his commercial shop.Several of the cards are pictured in the book, including Hartley's favorite, a cutaway of Hearthside. "It's "like peering into a dollhouse," Hartley said.Hartley says the authors contacted her two years ago about the project. She supplied photographs and much of the copy. Photographer Ruth A.B. Clegg of Angell Fine Art in Warwick was quick to donate her services."It is such a thrill for us to have Hearthside be recognized and included in this book with the caliber of such magnificent and well known sites such as Mt. Vernon, Monticello, and Colonial Williamsburg," said Hartley."Christmas At Historic Houses" chose houses that range from the two castles and a palace, to mansions, to cottages. Also included is one slave cabin, "decorated with something that money often does not buy -- graceful simplicity," said Hart McMillan. --~The Valley Breeze, Cumberland, RI