Tour the Bellamy-Ferriday house and garden in Bethlehem, CT and explore the life of Caroline Ferriday, a 20th-century philanthropist who championed human rights and social justice causes. From Ravensbrück concentration camp, to supporting the civil rights movement in the United States, her work took her around the globe. A visit to the ten-acre site includes a tour of the 18th-century residence built by Reverend Joseph Bellamy, the grounds, and a formal parterre garden with historic roses, peonies, heirloom lilacs, and numerous fragrant trees and shrubs. The novel The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly was inspired by the real events and the heroic acts by Caroline Ferriday.
Following a group lunch, we’ll visit Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT, one of the nation’s few remaining representations of early-20th-century Country Place Estates. Enjoy a guided tour of the historic home and English-inspired garden. Theodate Pope Riddle (b.1867, one of the first licensed female architects in the United States, designed Hill-Stead as her family home in 1901 and transformed it into a museum upon her death in 1946. Her creation and legacy represent a harmonious convergence of heritage, art, and nature. The museum’s impressive collection includes original furnishings and decorative arts, paintings by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, James M. Whistler and Mary Cassatt, as well as Japanese woodblock prints, sculpture, and more. Theodate Pope was equally interested in the surrounding landscape and took special care when designing the gardens taking advantage of the sweeping vistas and valleys.
Guides: Jeanne Fontaine
Wednesday, July 23
Depart: 8:45 am; return: 4 pm
Includes guided tour, lunch, bus travel and driver gratuity.
