Christmas at the Fells

This week we are touring one of New Hampshire’s historic estates, suffused with the magic of The Christmas season.

Aspet, Cornish NH

New Hampshire is home to many grand estates, often built initially to serve as summer retreats, allowing the wealthy to escape the bustle and summer heat of the cities along the east coast.  In the late 19^th and early 20^th century New Hampshire farms were failing and the state developed a program to encourage the purchase of these properties for the establishment of country retreats for the wealthy inhabitants of the cities.  I have enjoyed exploring Aspet, Saint Gauden’s beautiful artist retreat, in Cornish New Hampshire, and the Castle in the Clouds overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee.  These homes are always much more than simple cabins in the woods and reflect a surprising level of opulence.   Most are now preserved through the efforts of private foundations or the government.  This fall friends brought us to the Fells,  another beautiful example of a New Hampshire retreat, created by statesman and author John Hay.

John Milton Hay

Nicolay, Lincoln, Hay (standing)

 

John Milton Hay was born in 1838.  His life-long career of public service started during the Civil War when he was assistant private secretary to Abraham Lincoln.  He was at Lincoln’s deathbed following his assignation.  Hay was a poet and author, having joined with fellow Lincoln secretary, John Nicolay, to write a definitive biography of our 16^th president.     

John Milton Hay

He was an advisor to president James Garfield and served as Ambassador to Great Britain, and Secretary of State to both William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.  He was instrumental in the securing of the Panama Canal Zone and negotiated the Open-Door Policy, which kept China open to trade with all nations. 

 

In the late 1800s Hay secretly began buying up old farms in New Hampshire for a summer retreat.  The Fells is located on nearly 1,000 acres along the eastern side of Lake Sunapee in Newbury New Hampshire and is named for the Scottish word referring to highland pastures.  The property’s wildlife preserve and an extensive tail system are now managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.   

 

The Estate includes a house which was built 1891 by John Hay and later expanded and refurbished by Hay’s son Clarence, and his wife Alice Appleton Hay.  The house and 84 acres of surrounding gardens are now owned and lovingly managed by a private nonprofit organization.

John Hay died of a stroke at the Fells in 1905 and the property passed to his only surviving son Clarence.  From 1906 through the 1930s Clarence and Alice expanded and remodeled the house. 

 

Rock Garden View to the Lak

 

They developed the grounds, transforming rock strewn sheep pastures into formal gardens.  In 1929 Clarence oversaw the construction of large rock garden facing the open corridor to the lake.  This corridor allows the only view to Lake Sunapee.  Clarence and Alice disliked the disruptive motor boats on the lake and allowed the forest to grow in, obstructing all but this narrow window on the water. 

  

Christmas at the Fells

Susan and I first visited the Fells in November 2016 on the occasion of their  “Annual Christmas at the Fells”.  We couldn’t have picked a better time to see the house in its best light.  During Christmas at the Fells, each room of the estate was decorated for the season by a different designer.  Each room displayed a different flavor of the holiday, but they were all beautifully dressed.  For me, the best part was that photography was allowed throughout the house.  I ran around like a child in a candy shop.  I didn’t feel comfortable dragging a tripod through the house, so I did the best I could with my monopod/cane.  It has been six months since my hip replacement and I no long needed the cane but occasionally it is a useful prop.

   

In the close quarters,  I shot mostly with my 16-35 wide angle lens.  There was bright sun shining through the windows, but I often managed hand-held multiple exposure captures to assemble into HDR images showing the full range of brightness.

 

Even with the elaborate decorations, it was clear that the Hay family maintained the Fells as a quiet haven to rest and recharge from lives filled with action, duty and struggle.  I was entranced as I wandered through this historic home, and felt transported back to the early 20^th century.   

Alice Appleton Hay

Most of the furnishings and decorations were far from the originals, but I could still feel a presence.  This sense of history was enhanced by the personal items that remained, including a captivating portrait of Alice Appleton Hay in the library.  Clarence died in 1967, but Alice continued to summer at the Fells until her death at the age of 92 in 1987.  

Our Fells Tree at Home

 

Every room in the house seemed to have its own Christmas tree and the volunteers at the Fells elaborately decorated their own tree offering it as a prize for a raffle.  This never happens, but we actually won the tree, and it is now proudly in our sunroom.  

Since this is an article about Christmas at the Fells, I felt compelled to return to Sunapee to capture the house in the snow.  It was a lovely clear winter day.  The house is closed during the winter, but the grounds are always open.  I strolled the ¼ mile road and then circled the house shooting from all angles as I trudged through the knee-deep snow.  On my way back, I stopped at the Gate House office for chat with the staff.  They were extremely helpful and gave me more information about the estate and the family that created this special retreat.  I look forward to returning to the Fells in the spring and summer to see its gardens and walk the trails through the John Hay Wildlife Refuge.

 

The Fells Gate House

For more information about the Fells, check out their website:

Check out more images in my Christmas at the FellsGallery:

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
partridgebrookreflections.com

603-363-8338

Perfect Christmas Tree, A Squirrel Saga

Gazebo in the Rain : 2016

Keene New Hampshire is most notable for two physical attributes.  The first is its wide and vibrant Main Street and the second is its classic Central Square at the head of that street.  The square is complete with a beautiful gazebo, the ubiquitous Civil War Statue and the towering steeple of the historic white church.  For a photographer, Central Square is the exclamation point on this lovely New England town.  For me the square is at its best with the addition of the holiday lighting, including the majestic beauty of a brightly illuminated Christmas tree.

Tree at the Head of the Square

2013 Perfect Central Square

Every year I become excited to see the tree at the head of the square.  The trees are always obtained locally and although they vary in size and in the care given to the lighting, I always try to capture the display to best advantage.  The tree has been my focus in several articles discussing photography of holiday lights, and at its best the combination of the glowing evergreen with the perfect New England setting can be breathtaking.  But this year there was a problem.

• Getting the Most from Christmas Lights Photography
• Christmas Light Photography (NEPG Article)

A Beautiful Tree

2007 Tree with
"Winter Wonderland" Coating

This year’s tree is the best I have seen since the magnificent tree of 2007.  It is tall and full without any major defects or holes.  There has been no snow yet to coat the tree in a “Winter Wonderland” blanket, but everything looked very promising when I first viewed the tree in the daylight.

Holes

Holes

When I came back to view the tree at night, with the full show of the colored lights, I was horrified.  The beautiful tree was missing lights on a major portion of the top.  At its peak, the  brilliant white star was floating above a large patch of empty branches.

I called City Hall to politely inquire about this tragic insult to an otherwise epic tree, but at first I received on answer.  I couldn’t believe that I was the only person to notice the problem.  That night I went into town for my first attempt at shooting the crippled tree.   

 

As if to add further insult, it was raining.  The scene had nearly every dismal condition that ever detracted from holiday light photography.   No snow, black sky, missing lights, and droplets on my lens.  All I could do was try to find angles which took advantage of the colorful reflections.  At Least the reflections didn’t show the gaping hole in the lights.  I had hopes that the lights would eventually be repaired, but, in the meantime, I went home and got to work.

Photoshop to the Rescue

Magic Restored with Photoshop

A perfectly illuminated Christmas tree is magical, and what is even more magical is the ability of Photoshop to rescue a poor tree and promote it to its deserved brilliance.  As it happens it is not especially difficult to add lights to fill the holes in a tree.  I cloned individual and strings of lights with ease.  The challenge was to match the illumination of the surrounding greenery.  I approached the rest of the image in steps.  Since I already planned to throw authenticity out the window, I also used cloning and content-aware fill to remove the street lights, the support wires and a few of the most obvious smears of light from passing vehicles.  I left the fire hydrant as a sad false suggestion of reality. 

The final image did not have the full “Winter Wonderland” magic, but, until the snow flies, it was the best I could do with the conditions.  At least the reflections added a point of special interest.  I thought the image would at least serve as a way of shaming the city about its negligent short changing of the beautiful tree that had given its life for our enjoyment.  Then the phone rang and I realize my mistake.

City to the Rescue

All Natural and the Blue Hour!

The next day I received a call from a lovely person at city hall.  Helen told me that they had noticed the problem and discovered that squirrels had eaten through the wires on several strands of the lights.  She assured me that the fire department would be scaling the tree to add new lights, and later that day it was done.  I didn’t ask who first noticed the problem and therefore I can feel comfortable taking full credit for the repair. As it turned out, all I had to do was wait a day, but it still was a fun exercise to use Photoshop to fill the tree.

I came back the next evening to photograph the fully illuminated tree and was also able to capture the square bathed in the cool blue hour light.  The only thing missing was a fresh coating of snow.  I can wait for nature to provide.  I promise, I will not try to Photoshop in the snow! 

Even I have limits.

 Jeff Newcomer

partridgebrookreflections.com

603-363-8338