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Highfield Hall

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zabelle
zabelle
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
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Highfield Hall

  • December 3, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by zabelle from Portland, Connecticut
Highfield Hall

Before the Vanderbilt's and the Belmont's had built summer cottages in Newport the Beebe Family had built their summer homes in Falmouth. The family built two houses, Highfield and Tanglewood. The Boston firm of Peabody and Stearns is thought to have been the architects of Highfield and they designed the house in the transitional Stick Queen Anne style. Some features of this style include interpenetrating roof planes with bold panelled brick chimneys and wrap around porches. Highfield has these in abundance.

The last Beebe family member died in the 1920's and the houses went through many owners and incarnations before being abandoned. Tanglewood fell to the wrecking ball and Highfield came close to suffering the same fate before being saved by a dedicated group of locals who wanted to preserve the historic home.

Celebrating the Holidays at Highfield opens the house up to the public for three weekends from November 24th through December 10th. Admission is $10 for adults, children are free.

There are 6 rooms and the upper hallway decorated for viewing. They were quite beautiful. The rooms were decorated with hundreds of creches. These were from around the world and from some pretty unusual places as well. The boys were totally fascinated. Creches from Mexico, Germany, Poland and many other countries were presented. They were made of a variety of materials, some rich and elaborate , some quite plain. Some were big, some were small and all were beautifully presented. One was from Woolworths, needless to say one of the simple ones, which we found quite fun.

There was coffee, cider, cookies, and candies offered along the way. We were all so full from breakfast that we didn’t have any. Some of the rooms had Christmas trees and one of them was a patriotic tree all red white and blue. On one mantle was a collection of Russian stacking dolls. In the grand hall was a table that asked the question "Do you remember" and yes indeed we did, it was covered with holiday decorations from the 40's and 50's and we of course remembered many of them from our childhood.

Even the kitchen had creches on the counter and in the cabinets. If you get the chance visit the restrooms, they are quite impressive. Throughout the house there was art on the walls and it is for sale. A portion of the sale price will go to benefit Highfield Hall.

After our visit we decided to take a walk in the woods. There are a lot of former riding trails that offer excellent opportunities for little boys to pick up large sticks and run through the forest without hurting anyone. They were very well behaved inside the house so we wanted to let them run off some energy.

From journal Black Friday on the Cape

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