The Friends of Linden Place celebrates their 30th anniversary while the museum they've developed continues to thrive

Posted 11/21/19

When you're 209 years old, chances are you've lived a few lives. That's certainly true for Linden Place, the 1810 Federal mansion that has long anchored the center of downtown Bristol. Commissioned …

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The Friends of Linden Place celebrates their 30th anniversary while the museum they've developed continues to thrive

Posted

When you're 209 years old, chances are you've lived a few lives. That's certainly true for Linden Place, the 1810 Federal mansion that has long anchored the center of downtown Bristol. Commissioned by George DeWolf,  Russell Warren built the mansion at a cost of $60,000. Fifteen years later and bankrupt, DeWolf (who dragged the fortunes of many Bristolians down with his) fled with his family to Cuba. Upon hearing the news, the house was looted of many of its treasures.

The next 40 years saw the addition of two wings and an octagonal sun room, but the house also suffered from some neglect and served, for a time, as a boardinghouse.

In 1865, Edward Colt purchased the house for Theodora DeWolf Colt, George's daughter, who was only 5 when her father fled Bristol. She would restore her former childhood home and leave it to her son, industrialist Samuel P. Colt. His ownership was a golden age for Linden Place, and the 100th birthday party he threw for the house was reported to be "the most brilliant social affair in the annals of the history of Bristol..."

Linden Place would become a bit of a Hollywood outpost, with the marriage of Ethel Barrymore and Russell G. Colt, Samuel's son. Ethel would routinely host her equally-famous brothers John and Lionel, in her Bristol home.

During most of the 20th century, following Samuel's 1921 death, the house was held in trust by Samuel Colt's bank, Industrial National (which eventually became Fleet.)

1n 1986, the death of Samuel's second-to-last surviving grandchild left the home in the hands of his remaining grandchild, Elizabeth Colt Stansfield. An octogenarian who lived in Arizona, Ms. Stansfield had little use for an old — and very large — home in Rhode Island. But she was keen to see the family property in good hands. The Friends of Linden Place formed in response, and, with the help of a state bond which passed in the fall of 1988, was able to purchase the property for $1.5 million in 1989. After some restoration, the first floor of the mansion was opened for tours in 1990.

Vol. 1, No. 1 of the Friends of Linden Place newsletter features a Bristol Phoenix photo of the late Gertie Pardee, then-president of the Friends, holding the deed to the mansion. While many of the people who were instrumental to the acquisition of the property are gone, many others are still around and involved with the property, now billed as a mansion, museum, and sculpture garden, including Joan Roth, Mary Millard, and Bob Arruda. The late Ros Bosworth, another key member of the Friends, is memorialized with his own garden at the east end of the campus.

For the past 30 years, and through a series of staff changes, the Friends have worked to build the museum into a local cultural resource, while maintaining the physical structure of the buildings and protecting them from the ravages of time. Events in the early days included a benefit auction, a holiday-themed model train exhibit, and musical performance including Edwin "Frenchy" Chauvin, Bristol's singing barber. Offerings over the years have expanded to include more music, arts and culinary evens, lectures and book signings, a children's arts camp, and annual signature events including Burger Bash and Derby Day, as well as the hosting a July 4th party from one of the most enviable vantage points on the parade route.

Christmas at Linden Place has expanded to include a month-long schedule of events in the spectacularly-decorated mansion, including tours, fireside concerts, a free family fun day and a visit with Santa.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Susan Battle, and thanks to the generous support of members and donors, Linden Place has made a series of dramatic renovations in recent years, including a complete restoration of its wrought-iron fence, restoration of all the mansion's windows, and the repair and replacement of the roof balustrade. A major gutter project was just completed, and 2020 will kick off with a long-overdue project: replacing the antiquated knob-and-tube electrical system throughout the mansion. Linden Place recently hired a full-time caretaker, Mark Baker. Mr. Baker is the first full-time caretaker under the Friends' ownership, and his oversight is already proving to be a major asset.

Donations, fundraisers, and private events — Linden Place is perennially rated one of the best wedding venues in the state by bridal sites and publications — are the key to the museum's sustainability moving forward. But for house museums across the country, sustainability can be an ongoing struggle. Historic and architectural resources can be financially burdensome, particularly given that fact that every community has at least one, and some, like Bristol, have several. According to the National Council on Public History, there are some 13,000 house museums in the U.S., and more than 65 percent of them have no paid staff. That puts Linden Place in a more secure position than most, as their staff of 4, which in addition to Ms. Battle and Mr. Baker includes Special Events Administrator Kelly Gaudet and Museum Administrator Joseph Velleca, look to the future, continuing to innovate new ways to attract visitors and stay relevant.
For more information on Linden Place, its history and programming, visit Lindenplace.org.

Linden Place, Friends of Linden Place

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