In 1793, Theodore Lyman, a wealthy ship merchant who lived in Boston’s elite Beacon Hill neighborhood, wanted to build a country estate that his family could escape to in the summer. He wanted to ensure the family could travel back and forth between the homes easily and all within one day, so he started to…

The late fall & winter have put a damper on my quest to visit all thirty-eight properties owned by Historic New England in a one year time frame, as many of the homes close in October and don’t open again until the spring. So, I’ve been stalking their website to plan out when specific homes…