The Wealth of Harkness Park

Carol W. Kimball

Harkness Memorial State Park

Kim11-030

Scrapbook

8: Communication Artifact

Documentary Artifact

The Day

New London, CT

04/23/2007

Carol W. Kimball

Edward S. Harkness was born in Cleveland in 1875, son of Stephen V. Harkness and his second wife Anna Richardson. Edward and his wife, Mary Stillman Harkness bought land, which would swell to 243 acres, from Mary's sister, Jessie Taylor, on Great Neck Road on the shore of Long Island Sound for their summer home Eolia (named for the Greek god of winds, Eolus). They employed Yale-trained architect James Gamble Rogers to redesign the interior of the original house and many other projects, including the memorial chapel at Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic. Mary was the daughter of Thomas Stillman, a New York lawyer. Her grandfather, Thomas Greenman, was one of the prosperous shipbuilders whose shipyard occupied the site of today's Mystic Seaport Museum. After Edward died in 1940, Mary bequeathed the estate to Connecticut in 1950 to provide recreational opportunities for Connecticut's citizens with disabilities. Carol Kimball recalls the estate's exhibit of bird paintings by Rex Brasher and the restoration done by the Friends of Harkness Memorial State Park.

Harkness, Edward Stephen
Harkness, Mary Stillman
Harkness, Edward S.
Taylor, Jessie
Rogers, James Gamble
Farrand, Beatrix
Harkness, Stephen V.
Harkness, Anna Richardson
Rockefeller, John D.
Stillman, Thomas
Greenman, Thomas
Brasher, Rex

Harkness Memorial State Park
Eolia
Elm Grove Cemetery
Friends of Harkness Memorial State Park
Mystic Seaport Museum
Connecticut citizens with disabilities