Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site - Cornish, NH

June 15, 2012

In the process of searching for sculpture parks, a friend of mine asked me if I had been to Saint-Gaudens. I had seen the name on the Internet, but really knew nothing about the park or the man. I did a little more research and discovered the  man to be Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a sculptor known primarily for his monuments commemorating Civil War heroes. In his later years he founded the "Cornish Colony", an artistic colony that included notable painters, sculptors, writers, and architects.  The site of the Saint-Gaudens home and the colony would become the Saint-Gaudens National Historic  Site. The site was only an hour's drive from Brattleboro. ... yet, we had lived here for 20 years and had never heard of it, nor visited. We decided to check it out. While in the area, our plan was to cross the river to Windsor, Vermont as well.




Since Saint-Guadens is a national historic site, we inquired about the senor citizen lifetime passes. Eligibility starts at age 62 ... that would be us. For $10, we get an admission pass for most national historic sites in the U.S. for the member and up to 3 guests per entrance. It more than pays for itself on the very first site visited.  The only drawback was the unusual way one had to display the pass while visiting the site.












Let me begin by saying that the Saint-Gaudens site is an incredible place to visit whether you enjoy historic sites or sculpture. The Saint-Gaudens grounds are beautiful. One could easily make a day of wandering the gardens and grounds, picnicking, and relaxing. Anne and I both regretted that we had not packed a picnic for this adventure.

The formal gardens were a favorite for us.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens is known for works such as the grand equestrian monuments to Civil War generals John A. Logan , atop a tumulus in Chicago,  and William Tecumseh Sherman, at the corner of New York's Central Park,  as well as the design of the $20 "double eagle" gold piece, for the US Mint, still considered the most beautiful American coin ever issued and the $10 "Indian Head" gold head, both of which were minted from 1907 until 1933.  One of my favorite pieces was the replica of the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial  sculpture on Boston Common.  However, when the sculpture discovered that I was from the South, things went bad.

We did a brief tour of Aspet, the Saint-Gaudens home.

We visited the Ravine Gallery and talked with the artist in residence.

We said goodbye to Saint-Gaudens and headed to Windsor across the Cornish-Windsor covered bridge.

To our delight, Windsor offered a funky, diner option for lunch. It even had a sassy waitress.

I demonstrated no restraint. Naturally, I had to try the hot dog that was billed as the best in Vermont.  It was not ... but the second meal I had, meatloaf and mashed, was great. 

Lucky for us dessert was free.


















Our last stop for the day was the Nuance Gallery ... the owner knows my neighbor Paul. I discovered that there was a new show in July and decided to try to show a few pieces of my work.  Picked up an application. 

We decided there were more things we wanted to see in Windsor. We would definitely be making another trip here ... hopefully in combination with the next show opening at the gallery.