Billings Farm and Museum
A Great Vermont Get-Away for the Family!
by Patricia Cummings
photos by James Cummings
In this article, we will discuss the history of the Billings Farm and Museum, information about Frederick Billings, a conservation visionary, and the museum's twentieth exhibition of quilts, in 2006.
Alex Greer, teamster, with Percheron horses, Jim and Joe, one of the two working teams of horses that are available for sleigh rides and wagon rides.
In 1869, Frederick Billings purchased land in Woodstock, Vermont from George Perkins Marsh, a conservationist who wrote a now classic book, Man and Nature. Having just returned from San Francisco where he made a fortune as a lawyer and real estate developer, Billings' intent was to establish a dairy farm. He imported Jersey cows from the Isle of Jersey and started a farm operation in 1871.
The rich milk of the Jersey cow is easily turned into butter. In the 1890s, the farm sold more than five thousand pounds of butter per year, making it in batches that weighed only thirty-five to forty-five pounds. Today, milk is picked up daily at the Billings Farm and it is transported just “up the road a piece” to be processed into the famous Cabot Cheese of Vermont.
The herd won more prizes than any other farm at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The cows have been shown for more than one hundred years! One exceptional cow, named Roseanne, won the title “Best Cow of North America, 1988-89.” Her painted portrait hangs in the barn's trophy room!
Swayed by Marsh's theory that the clear-cutting of trees was beginning to cause climactic changes in Vermont, Billings and his farm manager, George Aitken, whom he appointed in 1884, planted thousands of spruce, pine, and larch trees on Mt. Tom, whose summit overlooks the town of Woodstock. Today, this area is accessible via trails through the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, located across the street from the farm. Billings gained quite a reputation as a land conservator.
Farm Manager's Showcase House Finished in 1890
Billings commissioned a state of the art farmhouse to be built for George Aitken. The Victorian structure consists of three sections: a downstairs creamery for making butter; living quarters for the family; and a farm manager's office with windows with a view to any part of the operation. The office has a custom-built desk for keeping records, an early typewriter, and a precursor to Xerox copy machines, a non-electric, wooden, inked press to replicate receipts.
The house was updated in 1989, and written records were helpful in choosing wallpaper and in duplicating the original room settings. Thirty-five houseplants, of the same varieties that were present in the house in 1890, are grown in the farmhouse today. These include, but are not limited to, a Calla Lily, a Kaffir Lily or Clivia, a Prayer Plant, an African Gardenia, two Orchard Cacti, English Ivy, Hare's Foot Fern, a Jade Plant, an Iron Plant, an Aloe, and four kinds of Scented Geranium: Rose, Peppermint, Citrus, and Apricot. There is a formal parlor, a guest bedroom, and additional bedrooms.
Beautiful reproduction Crazy Quilt pillow sits on a settee in the 1890 farmhouse.
The house includes gas lights and indoor plumbing lines (Billings owned both the local gas company and the aqueduct company). A large cistern located in the interior of the house collects rain water for re-use. In the kitchen area, there are three faucets, “hot,” “cold,” and “soft.” The soft water is good for laundering clothes. An indoor bathroom has the latest amenities available at the time: a tin tub, a flushable commode; and a sink with running hot and cold water, and a lovely, painted, floral, sink bowl insert. A wrapped bar of Ivory Soap sits on the sink, a kind of soap that was indeed available in 1890.
The Farm Life exhibit includes this kitchen scene.
Museum Created in 1983
In 1983, the “old barn” at Billings Farm Museum was set up with “Farm Life Exhibits” that reflect the rich history of Vermont's agricultural practices, from tilling the land, to cutting timber, to producing maple syrup. The old farm implements show how much agriculture has evolved and also how much has remained the same.
The Museum is dedicated to ongoing educational programs for people of all ages. To this end, they create a calendar of events each year. In January and February, there is a more limited schedule. On selected winter weekends, horse-drawn sleigh rides are available. Visitors also can visit the restored farmhouse, tour the dairy barn, and watch an award-winning film by Charles Guggenheim entitled, “A Place in the Land,” the history of the farm's development.
The museum
officially opens for the season on April 28, 2007. There will be a
plowing match featuring draft horses and oxen (May 6). Sheep Shearing
demonstrations will be provided (May 26- 27). Wagon Ride Weekend
features a horse-drawn wagon rides around the farm and alongside the
Otaquechee River that borders the farm. Gala events on July 4 include
recitation of the Declaration of Independence, the making of 1890
flags, spelling bees, farm animal programs, ice cream and butter
making, and more. Children's Day is scheduled for July 14.
The Farm Life exhibit features this exquisite room setting with stencilled walls, and other typical features of the time period it represents.
“Time Travel Tuesdays,” (July 10-August 28) provide visitors the chance to experience what it was like to prepare a meal in a farmhouse kitchen in 1890. July 28 is Cow Appreciation Day with a “Cowledge Bowl”competition, and cow pizzas, among other events.
The 21st juried quilt exhibition will be hung from August 4 to September 23, 2007. The rest of the year, there are many other events scheduled, not the least of which is a Harvest Weekend (September 29-30), A Pumpkin and Apple Celebration, A Family Halloween (October 28), Thanksgiving Weekend (November 23-25), and Christmas at the Farm December Weekends and December 22 to January 1, excluding Christmas Day. Wassail Weekend (December 7-9) offers ornament making, a visit to an authentically decorated Victorian farmhouse, sleigh or wagon rides, and traditional music in the parlor on Saturday, at noon.
The museum is a welcome resource for area residents who home-school their children. One program offers children a way to experience a “Day in the 1890s” through work and role playing. Summer schools and camps have brought hundreds of children to participate in five interactive studies. These programs include: “Trees & Soil,” "Food for Thought: Preparing for the Harvest,” “Winter Preparation and Holidays,” “Making it on Your Own,” and “Water, Water Everywhere.”
A corner of the "General Store" features bolts of fabric, notions, shoes and other textile offerings, in the Farm Life exhibit.
Crops and Farm Animals
Today, the farm raises alfalfa, corn, and soy to feed their animals. Only the “dry”cows graze on the farm's large flat fields, along with a flock of Southdown sheep (both a meat and a fleece sheep), and a pair of steers (an oxen-team in training) named “Harv,”and “Willie.” The dairy barn is climate-controlled because comfortable cows produce more milk. The milk cows are not usually let out of the barn. Cows have one calf each year, and the calves are kept in a “nursery.”
Twentieth Anniversary of Quilt Exhibition
Every year for the past twenty years, a quilt exhibition has been mounted in the old barn. Only quilters who reside in Windsor County, Vermont can enter quilts into this juried show. Large quilts are suspended from brackets on the exposed barn beams, and smaller ones are displayed on panels that are custom-made for each year's entries. Donna Miles, a museum interpreter and quilter, showed us around and said that one reason the show is so unique is that it lasts for seven weeks.
Award-winning quilt, "Forrester's Log Cabin," made by Donna Miles.
In all, fifty-seven quilts were displayed, fourteen of which were quilts made for a challenge issued by the Heart of the Land Quilters' Guild of Windsor. The challenge, entitled, “A Wintry Mix,” required participants to incorporate at least two traditional blocks from the following list: Log Cabin, Snowball, Split Rail Fence, Ohio Star, Flying Geese, Bear's Paw, and Drunkard's Path.
Poster that announces the requirements of the 2006 Quilt Challenge.
Our Favorite Challenge Quilts
"Winter Moon," by Ruth Buchanan is based on a woodblock print created by Mary Azarian, that is on the front cover of the book listed below. Look closely to see all of the shapes she used to re-create the picture, including Drunkard's Path blocks that represent a trail of smoke!
“Winter Moon,” a lovely quilt by Ruth Buchanan of North Pomfret, is based on a woodblock print by Mary Azarian. that appears in a children's book, The Four Seasons of Mary Azarian, by Lilias MacBean Hartby. (See the cover of the book, with a similar image, at the top right hand column of this file.)
The quilter was granted permission to interpret the copyrighted design. The quilt fulfills the requirements of the challenge by using a Ohio Star block on the barn, and Drunkard's Path blocks to simulate an upward spiral of smoke. The yellow window panes are inked, and strands of silver metallic threads are attached along the roof's edge to look like icicles The contrasts of light and dark colors make this a visually striking quilt.
"Winter Friends," by Elizabeth Allen is a charming little quilt that clearly meets the challenge requirements, and then some!
"Winter Friends,” by Elizabeth Allen of Windsor, effectively conveys a “wintry” theme with its red, white, and blue color combination and additional black and white geometric designs. The heavily pieced quilt includes trees, Cardinals, bird houses, stars, and off-set Log Cabin blocks.
The Main Quilt Exhibit
Susan Hall created this stunning "American Eagle Medallion" quilt, after taking a workshop with Jan Snelling McTaggert and Mary K. Ryan. The quilt features many reproduction fabrics.
The following quilts, described below, can be seen in the print version of this article that was published in The Quilter magazine. Back issues are currently available. We wanted to be able to show you quilts that were not already published, and to have included all of the possible photos here, that we might have shared with you, would have made for a file too slow to upload.
Preliminary to assembling a leaf quilt called, “A Journey of Leaves,” Charlotte Croft of E. Barnard, collected a wide variety of leaves during a cross-country trip in September 2001. She planned to present the quilt to her husband on his 65th birthday, as he is a forester. Five years later, the quilt is not quite finished, but she decided to display it before more time passes.
Darsie Riccio of Woodstock put together a seasonal quilt, “Batik Thanksgiving,” by combining motifs from Quilter's Home Fall, Lois Krushina Fletcher's first book, and a turkey pattern designed by Helen C. Thorn of Pinetree Lodge Design of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
Deborah King of Woodstock, hand-pieced and hand-quilted a very colorful wall hanging that she calls, “Rainbow Fans,” a variation of the “Grandmother's Fan” design. Now enjoying her eighth decade of life, it was duly noted that she is the oldest quilter to have entered the show.
"Cyn's View,” by Cynthia Dalrymple of South Royalton, is an eye-catching miniature landscape quilt inspired by a class given by quilt teacher, Jo Diggs, of Portland, Maine.
"An Appliqué Sampler”is a beautifully executed quilt made by Susan Hall of Windsor. She states that the designs are traditional appliqué patterns and that most of them can be found in the book, 101 Appliqué Blocks by Nancy Brenan Daniel. She adds, “The top and bottom borders are a variation of patterns by Robert Callahan for McCall's Quilt Magazine.”
"Ribbons and Stars” was designed by Kathi Moreno of White River Junction using the Electric Quilt computer program to plan the intertwining ribbon borders. The wall hanging features nicely coordinated jewel-tone stars juxtaposed against a subtle, print background.
Roberta Luss of Springfield created a quilt, “The Jockey Cap,” after receiving the gift of a Kaffe Fassett pattern, and some of his designer fabrics. She used the bright, contemporary fabrics to create a medallion style quilt that is hand-quilted with gold metallic thread.
All of the quilts were lovely, as were the friendly museum volunteers and quilters who were demonstrating hand quilting at a quilt frame. Please note that there is a small room that has tables for “short” children to sit and amuse themselves by creating “quilts” with the color shapes provided, while the adults enjoy the show.
"Jacob's Ladder Meets Vermont Farmhouse" is another great quilt made by Ruth Buchanan. The multi-color approach makes the colors seem to dance!
Great Family Fun
Billings Farm and Museum is administered by the Woodstock Foundation, Inc., a charitable, non-profit group, founded by Mary French Rockefeller (the granddaughter of Frederick Billings), and her husband, the late Laurance Spelman Rockefeller. Located on Route 12, just a half mile north of the quaint village of Woodstock, with its artisan shops, antiquarian bookstores, upscale restaurants, early New England homes, and a village green, the farm museum is a nice destination to visit and bring the family. For more information, call the museum at: (802) 457-2355, or visit their website: www.billingsfarm.org
The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park
Across the street from the farm and museum is the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park which the chance to tour a mansion that contains the personal artifacts of previous residents, and some very fine landscape paintings. Twenty miles of trails are available for hiking. These are used exclusively for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter. Special programs are presented and a visitor center has been created in a nineteenth century carriage barn where an exhibit of conservation history and a reading library are available. This is the only national park located in Vermont! For more information, please see: http://www.nps.gov/mabi/
Note: To order a print version of this article, with other quilt photos, previously published in The Quilter magazine, March 2007 issue, please visit the Back Issues section of the magazine's website: www.thequiltermag.com
Additional Articles
"A Journey of Leaves," the story of Charlotte Croft's cross country trip and her collection of leaf images that appear in her quilt. That quilt was on display at the 2006 Billings Farm and Museum Quilt Exhibition.
Billings Farm & Museum 21st Annual Quilt Show in 2007
Billings Farm & Museum Award Winning Quilts 2009
©Copyright 2006-2007. Patricia and James Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications. All rights reserved.
e-mail: pat@quiltersmuse.com