Sonnenberg Gardens

Last summer, Scot and I debated having our wedding in upstate New York, near where his parents live by the Finger Lakes. One gorgeous place I found was called Sonnenberg Gardens - thanks to the pictures on their website, I instantly fell in love with idea of an outdoor, tent reception in a garden next to a historic mansion. I mean, really. It's gorgeous. Then I cried a little when I realized we could never afford it. So we nixed that idea, moved on and never saw the place.

Until yesterday!

Scot's parents brought up how close it is to where they live and that I might enjoy not only walking the grounds, but playing around with my camera and taking pictures. Count me in. The four of us spent Tuesday morning and early afternoon exploring the grounds and learning a bit more about Sonnenberg's history - really interesting, actually!

A little background, as per their website:

Perched atop the sun-bathed hill of the estate known as “Sonnenberg” (German for “sunny hill”) is a 40-room Queen Anne-style mansion. New York City bank financier Frederick Ferris Thompson and his wife, Mary Clark Thompson, the daughter of New York State governor Myron Holley Clark, purchased the property in 1863 when it featured just a brick farmhouse on 14 acres.

This house was actually one of 5 summer homes that the Thompson's owned, and it was rumored to be their favorite. They eventually bought more land and expanded the estate to include multiple gardens, a carriage house, aviary, Roman bath, Japanese tea garden, etcetera and so forth. A lot of the work was done by Mary Thompson after her husband Frederick's death in 1899. The aviary alone had it's own peacock house with over $20,000 worth of birds (and that's in early 1900's money!). After Mary's death in 1923, the grounds and mansion were used as quarters for nurses working at the adjacent Veteran's Hospital, and nowadays the entire grounds are in the process of being restored and are open to the public for tours and events (such as weddings).

On to the good stuff!

Initial walk from the greenhouses towards the mansion:

weeping beech tree

Rock garden:

Carriage house:

The Old Fashioned Garden:

I do love me some daisies :)

Out front of the mansion:

Inside:

billiards room

grand foyer and deer head

I was amazed at the intricacy of the bathroom tiles!

bedroom with examples of summer dresses from the 30's, I believe

another view of the grand foyer, from above

the back grounds, from above

Roman Bath:

it has clearly seen better days - this used to serve as their swimming pool

Japanese Tea Garden:

can you spot the frog?

again.. it's a baby, but can you see the frog?

It was a perfect day for pictures, and I'm really thrilled with how some of them turned out! The history behind Sonnenberg is really fascinating, and I would love to go back to see some of the gardens we missed (some of them were undergoing repair and restoration). If you live in the Finger Lakes area.. I would definitely recommend this place for a visit or a wedding venue!

Peace out cub scouts <3