Carpets from the Collection of W. Parsons Todd
Walking into Macculloch Hall in 1950, after it was purchased by our museum’s founder W. Parsons Todd, you would discover a house of ornamental intrigue. Looking up, a large Vanderbilt-owned chandelier might catch your eye. Perhaps, looking down, you would be intrigued by a myriad of colorful, antique Oriental carpets…
Read MorePotatoes Past and Present
During summer 2018 MHHM grew potatoes in the nineteenth-century kitchen garden. Though this was the first time the museum grew potatoes in the garden, the potato has a long and esteemed history at Macculloch Hall. The first documented potato planting at Macculloch Hall was recorded by George Macculloch in 1829,…
Read MoreThe White Cliffs and Macculloch Hall
Remember the song The White Cliffs of Dover? This was a beloved American pop song heard everywhere during and after World War II, even into the nineteen-fifties. Did you know that the song was inspired by The White Cliffs, a novel-in-verse published in nineteen forty? That story was written by…
Read MoreThe Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909
107th Anniversary of Hudson-Fulton Earlier this month the 107th anniversary of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 passed, without public notice. That spectacular two-week celebration took place in New York Harbor upon the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the river that would be named after him. The celebration also…
Read MoreLafayette’s Visit: Eyewitness to History
September is the birthday month of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution who in 1780 brought news to General Washington in Morristown that the French fleet was sailing to help the colonists. Forty-five years later on Bastille Day, July 14, 1825, Lafayette returned to Morristown…
Read MoreHenry William Miller, Civil War Naval Hero
On June 10, 1857 two young Midshipmen graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Henry William Miller (1836-1909), grandson of George Perrot Macculloch and Henry Davis Todd (1838-1907), uncle of W. Parsons Todd (1877-1976), the founder of Macculloch Hall Historical Museum. After graduation, they were both assigned to the USS…
Read MoreJ.P. Morgan Sends Grandma a Birthday Gift
Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller’s Birthday It’s May 20, 1878, and the family has gathered at the “Old House” to celebrate Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller’s seventy-fourth birthday. Mary was the daughter of George and Louisa Macculloch. This photo was taken on the front porch of Macculloch Hall to mark this annual…
Read MorePoetry at Macculloch Hall
Poetry Month at Macculloch Hall April was Poetry Month at Macculloch Hall, even though our twenty-year-old series of poetry readings, Poets in the Garden, traditionally takes place in late summer: “Sweet is the breeze when vernal Zephyrs play,” wrote founder, George P. Macculloch, in 1815, in a thank you note…
Read MoreAre Women People?
Alice Duer Miller and Women’s Rights In 1915 in an essay in the Saturday Evening Post, former President William Howard Taft wrote, “The longer the extension of the franchise to women waits, the better they will be prepared for it.” In response, Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942) wrote the following in…
Read MoreAlice Duer Miller and Hollywood
Watching the Oscar Awards can make one think back to movies made during Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” If you have seen the 1935 Jerome Kern movie musical Roberta starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, you may have noticed the story line credit Alice Duer Miller (1874-1942) taken from her novel Gowns…
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