A Fall Afternoon at Hildene with Kids
Emma had a picture in her head of what Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home was. “It’s been on our list for years to come visit, but honestly, the thought of touring a beautiful historic home with curious and handsy toddlers was enough to keep us saying, ‘Next year.’ I’m so glad that our friends brought us on a whim and showed us what we’ve been missing.”
She came on a late-September afternoon with her five-year-old and her almost-two-year-old, alongside a friend whose family has been coming for years, with a four-year-old and a seven-month-old in tow. Four kids under six, one stroller, and a sky with nothing in it but blue. What follows is how that afternoon actually went, from a parent who had never been here before.
It starts before you leave the Welcome Center
The afternoon began where every visit does, at the Oscar V. Johnson Welcome Center. Emma expected to pay and walk through. Instead, the kids stopped.
The Museum Store got them first: stuffed animals, toys, handmade clothing, local food on the shelves. “I wanted to get a touch of everything, too,” she says. Then they found the observation hive, where honey bees from the apiary come and go behind glass, and that was that. “Our kids loved spending as much time as possible there, watching all the little honey bees work.”
Down into the dene
The shuttle took them down the hill toward the dene, leaves falling around the cart and sun coming through the trees. The five-year-old and the four-year-old, best friends, “were just smiling ear to ear.”
Then the families did something we encourage any guest to do on a day like that. They asked to be let off and they walked the rest of the way down.
“It was an easy walk, well maintained, clearly outlined, and there were enough places to stop along the way, including a bench the kids were happy to sit on,” Emma says. Staff passed by in shuttles and on foot, checking in, saying hello, asking if they were having fun.
Here is the part worth repeating for any parent weighing a visit. One child rode in the stroller, which handled the road without trouble. The two older girls ran ahead, crunching leaves, collecting sticks, running up and down the trail. The almost-two-year-old did her best to keep up.
“Unbelievably, the entire walk down, not a single one asked to be held. Not a single one cried. They just played.”
The meadow
The trail keeps kids on a path. The meadow at the bottom does the opposite.
“When we got down to the meadow, the kids just started running. They were almost set free,” Emma says. Pasture, greenhouse, the apiary in the dene, flowers and plants in the gardens, and in every direction, room.
For the adults it was a different kind of moment and a bit surreal. “It’s green, and the early colors of fall foliage are on the mountains in front of you. It felt like you were living the Vermont dream.”
The gardens, then the animals
Before reaching the barn, there were the gardens and greenhouse at Hildene Farm in the dene. Sunflowers and zinnias still standing, wildflowers in the meadow strips between beds, late crops waiting to be harvested next to freshly turned soil where the summer plantings had already come out.
The kids spotted the Randall cattle in the pasture first and waved. Then the four-year-old, who had been to Hildene many times and had appointed herself tour guide for the afternoon, led everyone straight to Peaches.
Peaches is the rescue pig who calls the dene home. She is, in Emma’s words, “humongous,” “very well taken care of,” and “spoiled,” in the best way possible. The families worked out that Peaches is almost exactly the same age as the two oldest girls, which made her an instant favorite. The four-year-old says hi to Peaches every time she comes.
The surprise hit, for Emma, was the ducks. The girls loved to (sometimes overenthusiastically) pursue them, but the ducks were very understanding and agreeable.
From there: the Angora rabbits, which the girls got to pet (“they loved feeling how soft they were”), the donkeys and alpacas, shy at first and then suddenly at the fence once hay appeared, chickens underfoot, and the sheep, which Emma admits were her own favorite to pet. At one point they found a sheep with a monarch butterfly resting on its back, “and it seemed to be enjoying the afternoon just as much as we were.”
The ride back up, and one more stop
The walk down is easy. The climb back is the part parents worry about. They do not need to. A shuttle runs between the dene and the Welcome Center all day, and it took the whole group, stroller included, back up the hill without a problem. “It was a quick and beautifully scenic trip up, and it let the kids relax a little and get their legs under them.”
That turned out to matter, because the afternoon was not over. Behind the home, the Formal Garden was in its late-season glory, dahlias blooming, hedges and beds laid out in a pattern the kids immediately read as a maze. They played tag through it while the adults sat on the grass and looked out at the view.
What the kids talked about afterward
“Both girls talk nonstop about wanting to go and meet more animals, and how they loved being able to run around and play tag in the gardens.”
Two things are already on the list for next time. The goat dairy at Hildene Farm, which they never reached, and the barn cat there named Stormy they have heard about. And the tractor tours, which run the first three weekends of October as an add-on to a day visit.
Asked where the day got hard, Emma has to think. “It really didn’t. We had pretty happy and enthusiastic kids throughout.” Her one note is on her own planning: bring more snacks. The families have already decided to come back in summer with a blanket and a picnic for the gardens.
The verdict
“Not only are we planning on coming back, but we’re already talking about becoming members and kicking ourselves for not becoming members sooner.”
The math is simple from a parent’s side. A Household membership is $125 a year for two adults and their children, and it covers unlimited admission every day Hildene is open, four single-use guest passes, 10% off at The Museum Store, and reduced rates on workshops and programs.
The benefit Emma noticed, though, is the one that matters most for families with young kids. Hildene’s summer day camps fill almost as soon as registration opens, and Household members get early registration and reduced camp rates. “As our girls get older, we’re starting to see that there are activities, camps, and classes available for them,” she says. “Early registration seems like just another wonderful perk.”
She has her eye on a few things for herself, too. Flower arranging, pressed flowers, a girls’ afternoon with the kids, or a date night at one of Hildene’s summer evening events with a cocktail in the Formal Garden.
“Just like the kids, I’m already looking forward to coming back to Hildene from now on.”
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Planning a fall visit with kids
Hildene is open daily from 10 am to 4:30 pm. Admission is $25 for adults, $8 for ages 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Vermont residents pay $12.50 and bring kids 16 and under free with a valid ID at the Welcome Center.
The shuttle between the Welcome Center and the dene is included with admission. Hildene is a pet-free property.
Free with admission: the Into the Woods exploration backpack from The Museum Store, suggested for ages 5 to 10, with tools and activity cards for a self-guided hour or two on the trails at Hildene. Reserve ahead by contacting Stephanie at (802) 367-7960.
