Heritage Museums and Gardens

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Heritage Museums and Gardens (100 acres), formerly the Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, is located at 67 Grove Street, Sandwich, Massachusetts. The public garden, with its nationally significant collection of rhododendrons hybridized by Charles Dexter, over 1,000 varieties of daylilies and extensive hosta collection, is complemented by three gallery buildings containing a world-class collection of American automobiles, American folk art and a working 1919 carousel and rare carousel figures.

Contents

The museum's grounds were once the estate of noted rhododendron hybridizer Charles O. Dexter, where between 1921 and 1943 Dexter developed between 5,000 and 10,000 seedlings annually. He planted many on the site. In 1969, Josiah K. Lilly III (1916–1995) and his wife established Heritage Plantation of Sandwich on the property.

Attractions

The gardens and grounds

The gardens' principal interest is its collection of thousands of rhododendrons, which now include 125 of the 145 known Dexter cultivars. Their typical bloom time is from Memorial Day Weekend to mid-June. This collection has been painstakingly recovered since 1972, as Dexter's own named cultivars had been scattered without records. Each cultivar had to be recollected from gardens and nurseries up and down the East Coast. The site was prepared in 1972, and by the summer of 1977 it included over 300 plants representing nearly 100 cultivars, with an additional 25 cultivars as small plants in the nursery. All are now mature plantings.

Other items of horticultural interest include holly, daylily, herb, hosta, and heather gardens, as well as more than a thousand varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers, many labeled.

The grounds also include the Old East Mill, a windmill built in Orleans, Massachusetts in 1800 and extensively restored in 1999–2000. Visitors may view its interior on special days. In 2002 a labyrinth was added to the grounds, designed by Marty Cain, one of the best-known labyrinth designers in North America. The Hart Family Maze Garden was established on the grounds in 2005, and a Cape Cod Hydrangea garden was added in the fall of 2008. For children and families, Hidden Hollow was added in 2010. It is a Certified Outdoor Nature Classroom where children and families can rediscover the joy of being outside together.

In 2015, an adventure park was added on the grounds, after much opposition from neighbors. [1]

Heritage Museums & Gardens owns an original 1908 Looff Carousel made at Loof's factory in Riverside, Rhode Island. [2] The carousel was originally made for an amusement park in Meridian, Mississippi. [2] The carousel changed hands a few times starting in the 1950s, and was purchased by Heritage Museums & Gardens founder Josiah Lilly in 1968. [2] A special building was constructed for the carousel, which was opened to the public in 1972. [2] [3]

The museum celebrated the 110th birthday of the carousel in September 2018 with a ceremony attended by two of Charles Looff’s descendants. [3]

Taft's 1909 White Steam Car at the Automobile Museum at Heritage Museums and Gardens Taft's 1909 White Steam Car at Lilly Automobile Gallery.jpg
Taft's 1909 White Steam Car at the Automobile Museum at Heritage Museums and Gardens

William Howard Taft's automobile

In 1909, president William Howard Taft converted the White House stables into a garage and purchased four automobiles, including a White Motor Company Steam Car Model M. [4] This $4,000 car was one of the last steam cars produced and proved a favorite of the President who used bursts of steam against "pesky" press photographers. [4] The 40 hp (30 kW) White Model M 7-seat tourer generated favorable press for the newly formed White Motor Company. [5] [6] Taft's White Model M is currently housed in the collection at the J.K. Lilly III Automobile Museum at Heritage Museums and Gardens. [7]

Related Research Articles

The White Motor Company was an American automobile, truck, bus and agricultural tractor manufacturer from 1900 until 1980. The company also produced bicycles, roller skates, automatic lathes, and sewing machines. Before World War II, the company was based in Cleveland, Ohio. White Diesel Engine Division in Springfield, Ohio, manufactured diesel engine generators, which powered U.S. military equipment and infrastructure, namely Army Nike and Air Force Bomarc launch complexes, and other guided missile installations and proving grounds, sections of SAGE and DEW Line stations, radars, Combat Direction Centers and other ground facilities of the U.S. aerospace defense ring, such as the Texas Towers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylily</span> Genus of flowering plants

A daylily, day lily or ditch-lily is a flowering plant in the genus Hemerocallis, a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, native to Asia. Despite the common name, it is not, in fact, a lily, nor does it specifically grow in ditches. Gardening enthusiasts and horticulturists have long bred Hemerocallis species for their attractive flowers; a select few species of the genus have edible petals, while some are extremely toxic. Thousands of cultivars have been registered by the American Daylily Society, the only internationally recognized registrant according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).. The plants are perennial, bulbous plants, whose common name alludes to its flowers, which typically last about a day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carousel</span> Type of amusement ride

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<i>Hosta</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae

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Klehm Arboretum & Botanic Garden is a nonprofit arboretum and botanical garden located at 2715 South Main Street, Rockford, Illinois.

Charles Owen Dexter (1862–1943) was an American rhododendron hybridizer. Using the Chinese species Rhododendron fortunei, he produced hybrids characterized by dense foliage, large stature and flowers of superior size and color, many of which were also fragrant. Notable examples of his work include Scintillation, Betty Hume, Parker's Pink, GiGi, Mrs. W.R. Coe, Wheatley and Westbury.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Looff Carousel</span> Carousel

Looff Carousels are carousels built by Charles I. D. Looff (1852–1918) a master carver and builder of hand-carved carousels and amusement rides in America. Looff, whose factory was based in Riverside, Rhode Island, is credited with making about forty carousels between 1876 and 1916, only about ten of which survive.

James Marion Shull (1872–1948) was an American botanist known for his iris and daylily cultivars and botanical illustrations.

Diana Grenfell was a British gardener and horticultural writer who was a world expert on hostas, a genus of ornamental plants.

References

  1. ↑ Brennan, George (13 May 2015). "Heritage adventure park in Sandwich opening Saturday". Cape Cod Times . Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "1908 Charles Looff Carousel". Heritage Museums and Gardens. Archived from the original on 8 September 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Heritage's Charles Looff 1908 Carousel Turns 110". Heritage Museums and Gardens. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  4. 1 2 Freeman, David W. (January 1993). "Cars of the Presidents". Popular Mechanics. 170 (1): 36–37. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "White Motor Company". The Washington Post. 24 February 1909.
  6. ↑ Hoke, Donald R. "President Taft's White Steam Car". www.virtualsteamcarmuseum.org. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "1909 White Steamer - Heritage Museums & Gardens". Heritage Museums & Gardens. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

41°44′51.76″N70°30′19.97″W / 41.7477111°N 70.5055472°W / 41.7477111; -70.5055472

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