Shelburne Farms: House, Gardens, Farm, and Barns
By Glenn Suokko
With a Foreword by Alec Webb, Afterword by Megan Camp
Rizzoli International Publications, New York
2017
Hardcover, 12 x 9 inches, 288 pages, 340 color photographs
Celebrating the beauty of Vermont’s Shelburne Farms, the late-nineteenth-century model agricultural estate on the shores of Lake Champlain, and today an inspiring National Historic Landmark.
This lavishly illustrated book tells the fascinating story of Shelburne Farms, once a magnificent Gilded Age estate created by America’s leading aristocrats of the day, Eliza “Lila” Vanderbilt and William Seward Webb. Built between 1886 and 1905, the estate’s buildings, designed by architect Robert H. Robertson, include Shelburne House—the Webbs’ stunning Shingle- and Queen Anne–style residence with Lila Webb’s design for a formal Italianate flower garden—and the Farm Barn, Coach Barn, and Breeding Barn. Landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted planned the original 4,000 acres of pasturelands, woodlands, carriage and riding trails, and picturesque settings for the many domestic and farm buildings, which now provide some of the most bucolic views of Vermont’s pastoral landscape and dramatic views of New York’s Adirondack Mountains, directly across Lake Champlain.
Period photographs capture the Webb’s original vision, while new photography by Glenn Suokko showcases the splendid results of the decades-long restoration. Once a private country estate that remained in the same family for close to a century, Shelburne Farms is now a nonprofit organization and sustainable working farm open to the public. The Webbs’ residence, Shelburne House, has been transformed as an inn that showcases many original paintings, furnishings, wall coverings, sculpture, and decorative arts. The farm raises and grows most of the food it serves at its award-winning farm-to-table restaurant. Over twenty recipes created for this book by the Inn’s executive chef complete a captivating glimpse into this enchanting place.
