Sites managed by the National Park service are a bit scare in Vermont and New Hampshire, so we wanted to visit here... well, since it is a National Historic Site.
AND, because Saint-Gaudens is one of those people that you know about, but you kind of don't realize it. As we visited, I realized that I had seen several of his works of art here and there in our travels.
Anyway, Augustus Saint-Gaudens lived and worked here from the 1880s until his death in 1907. You can tour his home here (though none of his art is in the home). We enjoyed our house tour but we really enjoyed walking around the gardens and seeing all of the amazing sculptures.
One work that truly impressed me was a piece recently installed this year at the site called "Standing Lincoln."
You know I love Lincoln, and seeing great works of art inspired by him. This particular casting was made using mold pieces restored from a copy made in 1966! The VERY friendly park rangers here gave me a book about their copy of the 12 foot statue explaining how it was made and how they got it. When Augustus was creating his original, he used a local man who was the same size as Lincoln for a model.
This was one of those parks we visited thinking that it would be nice and pleasant, but we left really impressed. We ended up staying here longer than we anticipated, and we would definitely go back if we were in this neck of the woods.
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