THURSDAY JULY 14 2022
Finally! I have been planning this day for us since January 2020 - and you know what happened next!
Join us for tours of two historic houses that both feature huge and important collections of hooked rugs - Cogswell Grant (1728) in Ipswich, and Beauport (1907) in Gloucester.
Two House Tour $40
Cogswell Grant is a veritable museum of American folk art housed in the colonial era farmhouse that once belonged to Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little. They were great folk art collectors, including hooked rugs. It's like a 'Where's Waldo' trying to spot them all in this jam-packed home filled with early American furniture and art.
Beauport, a couple towns over (25 min driving): perched on a rock ledge overlooking Gloucester Harbor was the retreat of Henry Davis Sleeper, one of American's first interior designers and a collector of hooked rugs, wallpaper, glass - he was a collector of collections. The house is a sprawling Alladin's cave with a lush garden and heartstopping water views.
Your ticket includes guided tours of both properties, with a special emphasis on hooked rugs. We start at the Cogwell Grant for a tour from 1:30-3:00. Then we drive to Beauport Sleeper-McCann house for a tour between 3:30- 5:00.
There is no way on earth I'm leaving the area without eating local seafood so I'm making reserves at The Village Restaurant in Essex. Let me know if you want to join me there after the tours. I'll make a reserve when I know how many we'll be and we can be those irritating separate checks people. I was a waitress, I remember!