Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum
Blithewold Manor Bristol, RI. – Situated along the Narragansett Bay, the Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum is a 33-acre estate. In 1896 the estate was purchased by coal baron Augustus Van Wickle and his Bessie Van Wickle McKee. The Blithewold estate served as the summer retreat from their home in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Bessie was involved in planti ng most of the gardens, structures, and trees on the estate. The Blithewold man sion is a 1908 English style 45-room ma nor. Marjorie Lyon, the daughter of Augustus and Bessie, inherited the Blith ewold estate. Marjorie continued her mother’s preservation of the estate. In 1976, Lyon bequeathed the estate to the general public for educationa l purposes. On November 13, 1911, John DeWolf, Blithewold’s landscape architect, planted one of a dozen sequoia t rees on the estate. Today, this tree is the tallest sequoia tree east of the Rocky Mountains. Today there are more than 10 gardens at the Blithewold estat