Not in DC White House Visit

We took a recent road trip to the White House without leaving New England. 
Our destination was Wilmington, VT where we stayed at a large white house that was formerly a private summer mansion. (The photo was taken during our visit after an overnight snow and then freezing temperatures.) 

This very white, elegant-looking White House Inn has been operated as a bed and breakfast lodging since the late 1960s. 

It's was formerly a single-family private residence built in 1915 as a summer "home" for  Martin and Clara Brown and family. Brown grew up in Jacksonville, VT and made his fortune in the lumber business. His rags-to-riches story had its ups and downs. We learned about the family from reading about the family in a copy of The Browns in the Green Mountains written by their eldest daughter. (Coincidentally, Martin Brown and I shared a mutual Feb. 3 birth date.)

The Brown home was originally named “Beaver Brook” after a brook on the property. It was designed specifically for entertaining. Martin Brown reportedly had the house built at the insistence of Clara, who claimed their previous home was "unfit for visitors" after a future U.S. president, Calvin Coolidge, had stayed there overnight. (The family history failed to provide any reason for this declaration.)
The Victorian-style mansion is positioned high on a hill and offers extensive views of the Green Mountains. 

The inn is situated back from the main highway, and surrounded by 100+ year old maple trees spread over 25 acres. 

It's also located near the Mt. Snow region and ski slopes are a 15-minute drive. During our visit, we met skiers and snowmobilers who were staying at the inn including a couple who drove from FL to ski in VT. 

The inn has an on-site tavern (shown here). Since the grounds were snow-covered, many snowmobilers "drove in" for drinks and eats. It's also where we spent our evening time chatting with inn guests and enjoying a glass (or two) of wine. 

The inn is an architectural tribute to the craftsmanship of the period. There's 14 fireplaces and 17 guest rooms each with private bath. The inn is furnished with pieces to complement the architecture and period; however, most of the present furnishings were not those owned by the Brown family. Most of those items went to family members. 

The interiors gave us a look back to a bygone era when extravagant summer homes were the norm for many well-to-do folks. These residences were usually referred to as a home, not an estate. Unfortunately, there were no photos showing how the interiors looked when this was a family home. The downstairs sitting room layouts were basically the same we learned but now have modern gas fireplaces and painted walls that replace former wallpapered ones. (The current owner provided this information.)

Despite renovations, there's many original features remain, like hand-crafted molding and woodwork, original light fixtures, a hall clock, and the remnants of an antique call system with original call boxes throughout the inn that are still labelled: Mrs. Brown's sitting room, chauffeur, kitchen, etc.

One of the most original, and quite costly, remaining features is some (but not all) of the "Italian Landscape," wallpaper that was hand-printed by the French firm of Zuber. Years ago, hand-printed wallpaper was indicative of a family's financial status. 

The Zuber & Cie factory in Alsace, France still prints wallpaper, fabric and leather using a traditional woodblock-printing technique. It's the last factory world-wide to use this 18th-century technique for the production of luxury handmade wall coverings.

What's a mansion without a secret staircase? 

Yes, there is one leading from an upstairs hallway closet behind the door on the right in this photo. The stairway is behind a wall hook and the stairs descend to a first floor sitting room.

We didn't go down. Like in a mystery story, the sitting room's staircase entrance is hidden behind a built-in china closet. According to the family history, Mrs. Brown had the secret staircase added after visiting the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA, which also has one.

The basement, which once housed a bowling alley, in later years had a heated swimming pool and an outdoor pool available in summer. Both are no longer there. 

What still remains there is a reportedly haunted bank vault. According to one of the oldest legends about the house, a man who worked in the mansion was caught stealing by Mrs. Brown. 

He was locked in the basement vault as punishment. and, according to folklore, he died in the vault and still haunts the basement. The unlocked vault remains in the basement; despite checking it several times during our stay, we never saw or felt any spirit.

The ghost of Clara Brown is said to haunt the inn and reportedly moves furniture, opens and closes doors, appears and talks to guests. Martin Brown died 15 years before Clara moved into what's Room 9. We read about an occurrence years ago when another Mrs. Brown stayed in that room and reported seeing a woman’s ghost who (reportedly) said, "there's only enough room enough for one Mrs. Brown in this room.” There was no ghost in our room, #11, that we saw or heard during our stay.

The home remained in the family until 1965 when Clara Brown died. The estate was sold then converted into a country inn with several owners in recent years. This White House is currently for sale — listed at $2.8 million and it's not in DC.