Word: elmwood
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...Elmwood Plantation, ten miles from New Orleans on the Old River Road...
Since Lowell was the first editor of The Atlantic Monthly, a co-founder of The North American Review, minister to Spain, and Ambassador to Great Britain, Elmwood in his day was an intellectual center in Boston, the "Hub of the Universe." Undoubtedly, the Fords will make Elmwood an important part of Harvard, but now that Boston is "the All-America City" instead of the Hub of the Universe it seems unlikely that Elmwood will ever again enjoy the reputation it held under James Russell Lowell...
After Lowell died in 1891, Elmwood remained with his heirs, until 1925 when A. Kingsley Porter, a student of medieval architecture, purchased the house. In the same year Porter became William Door Boardman Professor at Harvard, and held his gradute classes in his private library on the top floor of Elmwood. After Porter's death in 1933, Mrs. Porter kept the door of the house open to students and Faculty friends. Reportedly, she was a generous but demanding hostess who often summoned her young guests to the somber music room and made them give good accountings of themselves. The music...
...Porter's medieval Italian dining room table has been put to use as a mammoth desk for the Dean, and Elmwood's candelabra have been fashioned into lamps for most of the house. The new dining room stands out in Napoleonic splendor. Surely, the historical societies which were so apprehensive last year are delighted with the results of Harvard's restoration...
...official residence of the Dean of the Faculty, Elmwood's future association with the University is assured. The splendid history of the old house is best captured in imagined scenes from the past. One can picture Thomas Oliver sitting on a window seat looking nervously out at the angry crowd on the lawn of his country house; Elbridge Gerry staying up into the late hours, poring over maps by candlelight and contorting electoral districts into weird configurations; James Russell Lowell leading lively discussions in the sitting room, gazing out the window from time to time at the horse chestunt tree...