The President’s House
There is a good description at
www.presidentshouse.com, but I would
like to add to it from a Mensan viewpoint. The house is more delightful than
the website conveys, and full of surprises: for instance, last year we were
delighted to find it all bedecked, after twilight, with garlands of fairy
(“Christmas”) lights!!
The big, old
house is beautifully decorated with antiques in the turn-or-the-century style, including
a working player piano in the music room with rolls and rolls of music. We plan
to make good use of the player piano at the after-dinner dance on Friday! And
get a load of the grand staircase at left…
Upstairs, the master bedroom
(“Presidential suite”?) is gorgeous, with its own bath complete with candles.
Next to it is an upstairs parlor with a bay window, and across the hall, a
double room with twin beds that we will use this year for sharing. (Sorry, you
can’t get the Pres. Suite this year; Brian and Allan reserved it for 2005
before the 2004 RG was over! You might get the jump on them for 2006…)
A hall runs the length of the
upstairs, connecting the five bedrooms and bath (there is a third bathroom in
the basement). The room I thought had the most charm isn’t even mentioned on
the presidentshouse.com website. It’s the single room, originally the Maid’s
Room, at the opposite end of the hall from the Pres. Suite. Its furnishings are
the most charming in the house, and it has a full-sized bed that could actually
sleep two. It’s a couple of steps lower than the hall, and connected to the
kitchen by a steep stairway – perfect for sneaking down at 3 AM for a bowl of
chili and some lemonade!
Being Mensans, of course we
had to explore thoroughly, and we had a great time looking in the attic. There
is a room up there that would make a great bedroom – I am surprised the college
hasn’t furnished it as one. If the house fills up and someone want to stay
there who doesn’t mind bringing a cot, we could probably put another guest or
two in the attic room.
The screened porch has white
wicker furniture with nicely faded blue chintz cushions – like something out of
Victoria magazine. Brian mentioned more than one screened porch in his
column, and is probably right; I only noticed this one. It’s on the back of the
house, and opens on the wooded hillside that rises steeply behind the house.
The hillside is full of hiking trails, which we didn’t have time to try last
year – this year, perhaps, we will make use of them!