This season, because the Indy 500 visiting exhibit is the prime attraction, visitors can see only some of his own cars (now in a lower-level storage area in the barn), either behind glass or by reserving a spot on the “Behind the Scenes Antique Automobile Tour.” Lilly himself acquired most of the vehicles, which range from an 1899 Winton Motor Carriage and a 1909 steam car used as the first official presidential automobile to a 1922 Rolls-Royce Phaeton made in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a sleek 1962 Chevrolet Corvette. Lilly also commissioned a version of the round stone barn at Hancock Shaker Village, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, that ordinarily holds about half of the Heritage Museums & Gardens’ collection of 40 antique American automobiles. In developing the site, Lilly worked with architects on building a replica of the Revolutionary War-era “Temple of Virtue,” where George Washington awarded the first Purple Heart to a wounded soldier in upstate New York, that’s now exhibit space for the Wendell Minor show. In Sandwich, the colorful figures decked with painted bridles, saddles, and jewels include two goats, a horse and a deer (with real tail hair and antlers, respectively), along with benches called “chariots” that were intended for women in long skirts, all circling a self-playing band organ. It was made in the Brooklyn factory founded by master carver Charles Looff, a German immigrant who also created the first carousel at Coney Island. Reasoning that the military items might not have wide enough appeal for children and women, Lilly bought that working amusement-park ride with its ornate, hand-carved menagerie in 1971. We have weathervanes, red ware, lots of shop signs, paintings, children’s mugs, a small collection of art glass-and the third-largest collection of Currier and Ives prints.” Rotating selections from that 12,000-object “Heritage Collection” are featured in galleries adjacent to the indoor carousel, built in 1908. “We have over 6,000 pieces representing every uniform worn by soldiers, from the American Revolution to World War II,” Spear says, as well as “the largest, most complete collection of Elmer Crowell carved bird decoys, and everything that was in his whole shop. (also an Eli Lilly and Company executive), who collected antique firearms and military miniatures. Josiah originally developed the museums as a tribute to his father, Josiah Kirby Lilly Jr. The property had been a farm, then a horticulturalist’s enclave, when it was bought in 1967 by Josiah Kirby Lilly III (the great-grandson of chemist Eli Lilly, founder of what’s now the eponymous global pharmaceutical giant). Not far from the summertime bustle of historic Sandwich, where restaurants and cafés and shops cater to crowds, the museums and gardens sit at the quiet end of a residential road. “We’re the place,” Spear adds, “where people tell us their family memories are made.”įrom Heartland, illustrated by Wendell Minor
“We like people to learn together.” On display, too, are classic American cars and artifacts, along with an exhibit on illustrator “Wendell Minor’s America.” There’s also the hugely popular adventure park-ziplines and rope courses winding through treetops- and The Hydrangea Festival (July 6-15), and Family Fun Fridays (July 27-August 17). “We’re an intergenerational place,” says Heritage president and CEO Ellen Spear. This eclectic and dynamic hundred-acre site has been a favorite New England destination since it opened in 1969-and still aims to please a wide array of passions.
Riddle of the day: Where can you find a showroom packed with Indianapolis 500 race cars and a “Hidden Hollow” playground featuring a waterfall and a tree house inspired by medieval churches, along with 800 types of day lilies in bloom and the most comprehensive collection of hydrangeas in the nation?Īnswer: Heritage Museums and Gardens, in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
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