When I first moved to Massachusetts, I lived in the town of Milton, which is a well-to-do town south of Boston. One of my favorite places to go was (and still is) Great Blue Hill, where there is an Audubon museum, a small zoo with rescue animals, and lots of trails in the woods. On the way to GBH, I passed this wonderful stone gatehouse, through which you could see the big stone house up on a hill. I fell in love with that gatehouse, and to this day I would love to live in it.





The property is called the Eustis Estate, and is now part of Historic New England. Yesterday, admission was free, so I went with a couple of friends to explore it.



It's a gorgeous house, stone on the outside and wonderful woodwork on the inside. Beautiful furniture, paintings, and stained glass everywhere. There's even a stuffed peacock on one of the fireplace mantels.



The garden out back was just lovely, with lots of flowers, including the most beautiful poppies I think I've ever seen.



I'd love to go back sometime and explore the grounds some more. There's an orchard, lots of big old trees, and paths to follow.



We stopped at the Trailside Museum on the way back, where we got to see a bald eagle taking a bath.



(ETA: click on the pic to see the video)

I also got to see, in person for the first time in my life, a pair of snowy owls. That was a thrill. The pictures didn't come out very well, because they were in a cage and the light was iffy.

It was a very fun excursion, to a place I've wanted to explore for more than thirty years. I didn't sense the ghost rumored to haunt the place, but they did have the top floor blocked off, so who knows?