Mulberry Jam

My parents were visiting me this week. I look forward to their visits since they live a day’s drive away and we only see each other a few times each year, much less often than I would like. On this visit we were blessed with warm and sunny autumn days, and we took advantage of the weather to make a trip to the Hillwood Museum, one of my favorite lesser-known Washington attractions.

I’ve lived in the Washington area for long enough that my parents have seen all the better-known sights many times over. There’s not much interest left for monuments or major museums. But Hillwood, the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, is a charming little gem that feels very off-the-beaten track even though it’s in the middle of the busy Connecticut Avenue corridor. Although it’s large enough to spend the better part of a day there, it feels intimate and manageable compared to the enormous and thronged museums down on the mall.

Marjorie Merriweather Post was heiress to the fortune amassed by her father, C.W. Post, the founder of the company that later became General Foods. She came into her money in her late twenties and spent the rest of a long and busy life enjoying it to the hilt. She purchased Hillwood in 1955 with the specific intention that it would eventually become a museum for her collection of French and Russian decorative arts. The mansion sits amid 13 acres of natural woods and beautiful formal gardens, and houses an extensive collection of rare porcelain, French furniture and Russian imperial paintings and jewels.

I knew my Mom would love the place. She has a deep fascination with pre-revolutionary Russia along with a life-long appreciation of gardens. What I didn’t expect was that my Dad would also find it fascinating. He followed our skilled docent guide closely and gently peppered him with questions about the rare materials and history of the wealth of objects displayed in the house. And it is a wealthy collection in more ways than one. Rooms full of precious objects include a large number of jewels and personal items created by the workshops of Faberge, including two of the famous Imperial Easter Eggs. There are silver and silver-gilt chalices from the Russian Orthodox Church which were saved from being melted down by Mrs. Post’s exporting them during the 1930s from Russia. She was especially enamored of rare porcelain from French and Russian courts of the eighteenth century. The brilliant colors and fanciful shapes of these pieces from formal service are as lovely as Easter eggs themselves.

In addition to the permanent collection in the mansion house, the museum sometimes has temporary exhibits that are relevant to the Hillwood’s focus on porcelain and decorative arts. Last year, for example, the Hillwood hosted a special show of elegant porcelain designed by 20th century modernist Eva Zeisel, who began her long career in Russia. (I wrote about that show last fall, see the post here.)

In addition to the treasures of the house and gardens, there is a charming little café on site that is one of my favorite places for lunch in the entire city. The menu is limited and mostly consists of cold salads and sandwiches, but their quality is uniformly excellent and the service has never been less than wonderful. Our waiter on Thursday was charming and thoughtful, splitting a soup dish my parents decided to share into two generous portions without being asked. We sat in the shelter of a quiet courtyard overlooking one of the cutting gardens for the estate, enjoying the warm sun and low humidity of a perfect fall day.

To go you must first call or e-mail for reservations, but I’ve never requested a date and been added to the list. See the museum website at www.hillwoodmuseum.org. Take your mom. She’ll love you for it. Maybe your dad will too!