Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens - North Andover, MA

When we reserved tickets weeks ago for the preview of the annual Spring BloomFest at the Stevens-Coolidge House and Gardens, we imagined touring the property on a lovely spring day.  Well, Mother Nature didn't quite cooperate.  We still enjoyed a lovely but snowy visit today.

The Stevens-Coolidge House and Gardens is owned and maintained by the Trustees of the Reservations - which today we were told is the oldest land preservation non-profit in Massachusetts, operating since 1891.  The property was the former summer home of Helen Stevens Coolidge and John Gardner Coolidge and has been lovingly renovated over the past few years, with beautiful, newly-planted and restored gardens throughout.  Technically still closed for the season, today's visit was free.  But the property is scheduled for a grand re-opening this week with the Spring BloomFest, which unfortunately is now sold out.  Regular visits will resume thereafter.

Today we took a guided tour of the grounds, which feature multiple gardens, a greenhouse, a manor house, and a newly moved/restored visitor's center.  Work remained ongoing, with the center just about complete, and a number of plants ready to be planted.  The grounds are expected to bloom and grow over the coming years to become even more beautiful.

We had planned to take a "Hike and Seek" adventure on the Stevens-to-Stevens trail, which is designed for little visitors, but we took a rain check today.  As Scott and I learned in Iceland many years ago: "There's no such thing as bad weather; only bad clothing."  As we were admittedly underdressed, today's weather was a bit too raw to continue exploring, but we enjoyed our abbreviated visit nonetheless.  



The new visitor's center, which incorporated wood from the old center:


The manor house:























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