Thanks for sharing this! I'm very interested in Justine Bayard Cutting Ward and was delighted to learn that she spent a large part of her childhood and young adult life at Westbrook on the South Shore of Long Island in the town of Islip.
After her father passed away, the nearly 700-acre estate was given to the NY State Park Commission in 1936 and has been open to the public for decades, renamed as the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.
It's happily situated on the Connetquot River and boasts a splendid view of the water from the Great Lawn.
I've always thought it would be fun to have a Gregorian chant event in the Carriage House where concerts and recitals are held:
I was thinking, Jgirod, that the contrast between Justine's house in France and her family's estate is quite significant and shows in a way how extraordinary is was for an American woman of her position devoting so much of her time and energy to what was then a relatively obscure cause.
Her family must have thought she had lost her mind when she went off to France to study for so many years at a monastery.
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