Hildene — The Lincoln Family Home

Hildene is the Georgian Revival summer home that Robert Todd Lincoln — son of Abraham Lincoln — built in 1905, and it remains one of the best-preserved and most thoughtfully interpreted historic house museums in New England. The house itself is elegant rather than grand, filled with Lincoln family furniture, art, and memorabilia including the stovepipe hat Abraham Lincoln wore on his inauguration day.

The 412-acre estate includes formal gardens, walking trails through meadows and forest, a working farm, and a restored Pullman railway car (Robert served as president of the Pullman Company). Guided house tours run throughout the day; the grounds are open for self-guided exploration. Allow two to three hours. The views from the main lawn over the Battenkill valley to the Green Mountains are among the finest in Vermont.

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A story
Robert Todd Lincoln — the only one of Abraham Lincoln's four sons to survive to adulthood — built Hildene in 1905 and returned every summer until his death in 1926. He spent his career as a lawyer and corporate executive, deliberately staying out of politics, and was famously present at the assassinations of two other presidents: he was near James Garfield when Garfield was shot in 1881, and near William McKinley when McKinley was shot in 1901. He thereafter refused all presidential invitations, saying he was a jinx.