Yesterday the HH and I headed to Gloucester, Massachusetts for the first tour of the day at the Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House.
Last summer I stumbled upon the website Historic New England, and after visiting the Cogswells Grant estate on sort of a whim last June, we decided we wanted to become members of Historic New England so we’d be able to tour more houses this summer.
Nearly all of the homes in the Historic New England collection are only open between the months of June – October {some a little earlier, some a little later and a few that are open year round} and for the insanely low price of $65 per household, the HH and I can now spend our date days this summer exploring them. 🙂
The Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Massachusetts was built in 1907, but the inside, well parts of the inside of the home look like it could have built in the 1700’s.
Beauport was built by interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper and within it’s wall are 40 rooms stuffed to the gills with a lifetime collection of amazing folk art and other curiosities.
We, and the four other people in our group were able to walk through a little over half of the rooms during the one hour tour.
Our wonderful guide Hannah, did mention that there is a “3 hour nooks and crannies” tour at one point and let me tell you Bob, I think I need to go back because the HH had to keep nudging from one room to another because I was taking too long looking at things. 😉
Imagine that. Wanting to stop and admire something you are actually interested in. Something you’ve never seen before. Husbands. They’re a strange lot.
I took over 200+ pictures of the home, so whittling those down to fit on the blog was hard.
A cast iron coal burning George Washington stove!
Light it up and watch George glow. I bet you can’t find that at Pottery Barn.
The hooked rugs. I had to step over them. Even with the booties on I couldn’t walk over someones work of art. I know they are just rugs, and they would have been used on the floor, but still I couldn’t do it because in my opinion, they really do belong on a wall.
The tavern room. Or was it the pub room?
The pine kitchen. Just look at that redware trencher on the table!
My husband had to pull me away from this room.
Winter goal:
Make a set of redware dishes for our kitchen table. I’ll probably need to take a pottery class first though.
My second favorite bedroom in the house was filled with early American hooked rugs, a tiger maple dresser, hand painted wallpaper, framed black and white silhouettes and jadeite pieces that were sprinkled about the room.
Put a bird on it. 😉
The perfect spot for a morning cuppa, don’t you think?
And the view from the bedroom window. Breathtaking.
My favorite room in the entire house was called the Indian room. Named for it’s use of Indian red throughout the decorative pieces in the bedroom suite.
Punched tin lanterns… I adore them.
A lovely sun lit reading nook.
The roaring 20’s dining room. The front window is able to drop down for guests to enjoy the sea air while they dine.
A pine hutch filled with Majolica pottery. There were two such hutches in the room.
As well as a collection of wooden ships.
Daaaaarling.
The book room.
The Indian door was built with 3 layers. The top layer was pieced together with thick boards on a diagonal, the second layer was leather {wow!} and the third layer {the back of the door} was pieced together with more boards.
Pretty amazing if you ask me.
And last but not least….
Because the original owner, Henry Davis Sleeper couldn’t help himself to adding on to his home when acquired a new collection of artwork, his neighbor began to get a little nervous and had a 10 foot high {and 1 1/2 foot deep!} stone wall erected to make sure Henry Davis Sleeper wouldn’t encroach on his property.
And if you look closely, you can see just how close the last addition came to the property line {we are talking ONE INCH!!!}.
Wowza!
This property, Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, was simply amazing. And it’s definitively one we are looking forward to going to back to for a closer look.
If you live in New England, and love historic homes as much as we do, I highly recommend getting a membership to Historic New England. A household membership is only $65 and there is a wide range of homes to see from Connecticut to Maine.
Next week we are headed to Rhode Island. 🙂 I’m excited!
Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy the sunshine,
~ Mavis
Connie says
That was simply amazing. I would go 10 times every year to soak in the details. I am thinking you might not be a minimalist. You appreciate all the historic items and they would look great in your home. Would love to see ALL the photos
Betta from daVille says
A membership to Historic New England makes a GREAT present, too!
In September, the Smithsonian organizes (sponsors?) a free museum day to 1,400 museums/house museums around the country. Many of the houses that are part of Historic New England are included as part of this program, if you want to check one out before committing.
Lisa Millar says
What an amazing place! Very much enjoyed seeing it! I’d find it hard to drag myself out of those rooms too!! The book room!!! That green bedroom!!
All divine! Thanks for taking us with you!
Emily Stevens says
I am so excited you are going to Rhode Island! When I started reading your blog years ago I lived in RI, now that you moved east, I moved west! The Newport Mansions are a popular destination, but lesser known and with a much better garden in my opinion is the Blithwold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum. I also think you would be interested in Slater Mill Historic Site especially with your interest in textiles – it’s sort-of the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution and I thought it was extremely fascinating. You should also make sure to visit all of the area known as Federal Hill; it’s Rhode Island’s Little Italy and there are a number of great restaurants and bakeries. Our favorite pizza is in that area it’s called Caserta’s, and the best little bakery, Pastiche. By far the most popular donuts in the state are Allie’s Donuts. They are a little drive out of the city of Providence, but it’s the kind of place that has a line of locals out the door on a Saturday morning, that’s how good it is. I’m so jealous. This is the best time of year to visit RI!
Mavis Butterfield says
Thank you Emily for all your suggestions. 🙂
Holley says
O.M.G.!!!!!!! Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for sharing with us!
renay says
Mavis, what is on the outside of the fireplace? Is it brick? And what is on the hearth? so pretty!
Mavis Butterfield says
Its a brick hearth with and assortment of iron and wooden ladles hanging from the mantel. Pretty neat if you ask me.
Cynthia says
What is an Indian door? I can’t find any Informatlon about them.
Becka says
What a lovely home! Thank you for sharing it with us
joi says
I also adore tin punch..I have a tin punch pendant light over my kitchen sink 🙂 Those walls of windows overlooking the water in that place was the best!!
Linda says
Wow! Thank You! I just love these posts! Such a wonderful home!
Erin Arbulich says
Simply amazing! The antique glass and pottery collections would have stopped me in my tracks too. I would love to see this person some day. Thanks for sharing!!