Christmas Tours at Linden Place Mansion

During this year of 2010, Linden Place Mansion is celebrating its 200th Anniversary.  To mark the end of this important year the mansion will be decorated to the theme "A Trade Winds Christmas" for the holiday season.   

 A committee, under the artistic direction of landscape architect Daniel Wallace from Newton, MA, will showcase an interpretation of the theme "A Trade Winds Christmas" through live plants and creative decorations.

Of the multitude of influences that have impacted the culture of Bristol and Linden Place during the past two centuries, the most important are the town's location on Narragansett Bay, its access to the trade winds and its development as a significant trading port.   During Bristol's history, ships from this town went out over the seas trading home grown produce, rum and cotton cloth and in exchange brought back  molasses, coffee, cotton, silk, fruit, spices and particularly slaves, traded for goods on the coast of Africa.  After the Revolution and into the 1800's, the wealth created by the "Triangle Trade" for Bristolians is reflected in the flamboyantly opulent style of Linden Place which today remains a prominent reminder of that period in the town's history.

In 1834, nearly 25 years after Linden Place was completed, Mr. William Henry D' Wolf enlisted Linden Place architect, Russell Warren, to return and add the lovely Gothic octagonal solarium to the South end of the mansion.  At the time, this type of structure was very trendy in Britain and Europe. In addition, collecting specimen trees and plants to fill these rooms was in vogue.  Linden Place has no written record of what exotic plants might have been seen in the solarium in 1834.  There are, however, records of the different ports and destinations that Bristol ships entered and traded with during this period. The Solarium will be a special focal point this year and will feature tropical plants and decorations that might have been carried into Bristol on the Trade Winds.

Linden Place Mansion and Museum Store will be open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays from Dec 10^th through Dec 30^th. 

For more information regarding holiday events at Linden Place, please consult our website at www.lindenplace.org for further details or call the office at 401-253-0390.