Visitors are encouraged to allow at least 90 minutes to visit the site and to take a guided tour. A 17-minute orientation film introduces the life and artwork of Saint-Gaudens. The park, except Aspet, also may be toured independently; all artwork has interpretive labels.
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The gardens at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, N.H., give way to a view of the mountains beyond. Invented by Dr. John and Will Kellogg in 1894, it was commercially produced in 1906. Saint-Gaudens corresponded with John Kellogg and was prescribed Corn Flakes as a health food.
Today Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site preserves the home, gardens and studios of the sculptor whose work is displayed in Springfield.
His bronze statue, Deacon Samuel Chapin (also known as The Puritan), originally installed in Stearns Square, is now located near the Springfield Museums. The fountain at Stearns Square featuring a bronze orb and fish, is a Saint-Gaudens work.
Saint-Gaudens, born in Dublin in 1848, created more than 150 works of art, including The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial in Boston. He designed the 1907 Twenty Dollar Gold Piece too.
The Cornish historic site “has the largest collection of his artwork in the world,” said Rick Kendall, park superintendent.
And it’s less than two hours from Springfield.
Describing Saint-Gaudens as a “pioneer in realism,” Kendall said earlier sculptors used a classical or idealized style. Saint-Gaudens “made his mark by being as realistic as possible with attention to detail,” he said. “He was able to capture the movement and the moment and the feeling in bronze. Those that came before him were still working on that when he had mastered it.”
Saint-Gaudens’ home, Aspet, has three rooms of original family furnishings. It was named after Saint-Gaudens' father's birthplace in the Pyrenees of France.
Visitors to the site will see more than 100 of Saint-Gaudens’ artworks in the galleries and on the grounds, from public monuments to portrait reliefs and the gold coins which changed the look of American coinage.
Much of the 190-acre park is wooded, but there are sections of open field and wetlands. There are about 2 ½ miles of hiking trails on the property, which also includes forests, springs, brooks and a pond.
In 1903, Saint-Gaudens served on the federal government's McMillan Commission to beautify and re-design the mall in Washington, D.C.
He died in 1907; his ashes are interred on the grounds of Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.
Visitors are encouraged to allow at least 90 minutes to visit the site and to take a guided tour. A 17-minute orientation film introduces the life and artwork of Saint-Gaudens.
The park, except Aspet, also may be toured independently; all artwork has interpretive labels.