Today’s blog is meant to provide a context for understanding Juliette Gordon Low’s two best friends, Abby Lippitt Hunter and Mary Gale Carter Clarke. You will meet these good women in just less than one month, when Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts is published. One thing that is different about my book is the emphasis I place on women’s friendships in Juliette “Daisy” Low’s life, especially her life-long friendship with Abby and Mary. The bond of loving-kindness that held the three together despite distance, time, and radically dissimilar life paths served as a constant source of inspiration for Daisy. The closeness of their friendship and the fun times she shared with them when she was young surely played a role in her decision to commit to Girl Guiding.
I wrote a lot in the book about Abby and Mary, but not as much as I would have liked to. In future, I’ll fill in some of the background information on both women. For today, I thought it would be helpful to look at Abby’s childhood home and the house where Mary lived after her marriage. They are both historic sites, and, like Daisy’s own birthplace and the Low Home, you can go visit them.
These spaces matter because Daisy spent considerable time there. She created memories in those locales, and they drew her back all throughout her life. They shaped her in the way that geography does. Seeing them helps to visualize Daisy’s life and allows a better understanding of her. So, here’s a look at the Lippitt Mansion and Hyde Hall.
The Lippitt Mansion in Providence, Rhode Island, is where Abby Lippitt grew up. Daisy and Mary both visited the Lippitt family and enjoyed tobogganing and ice skating in the winter and clam bakes and boat races in the summer. Daisy loved excursions with Abby’s extensive network of Providence friends and the outings with Abby’s glamorous brother Charles on the campus of Brown University where he was a student.
Abby Lippitt's home in Providence
If you click here, you can see more photos of this lovely home, which looks very much like it did when Daisy visited. If you live near or take a trip to Providence, you can go stand in these rooms and walk through the garden and try to view it through Daisy Low’s eyes. It is more difficult to recapture the sense of Providence at the turn of the twentieth century. It was a bustling, commercial town, proud of its history and still connected to the sea.
Downtown Providence, Rhode Island
Brown University campus
The three girls especially adored hiking and picnicking on nearby Mount Desert Island in Maine. They thought of Mt. Desert as their own special island.
View of Mt. Desert Island
Mt. Desert's rocky shoreline
Abby Lippitt was an athlete and sports enthusiast, and her happiest times were always outdoors. Meanwhile, Mary Carter was a more of a philosopher. Like Daisy, Mary’s religion was a primary source of strength and comfort. Mary loved reading and art, and unlike Abby, the city girl, Mary preferred more a more bucolic existence. Upon her marriage to George Hyde Clarke, she moved into his imposing family home, Hyde Hall.
Hyde Hall, where Mary lived after her marriage
Interior of Hyde Hall
Hyde Hall’s website contains more photos. Click here.
Hyde Hall sits on the shores of Lake Otsego by Cooperstown, New York. Cooperstown was and is a charming town surrounded by the extraordinary natural beauty of New York. It was the home of novelist James Fenimore Cooper, and today boasts the Baseball Hall of Fame and nearby Glimmerglass Opera.
Lake Otsego
Old Cooperstown, 1890
Mary and George Clarke refurbished Hyde Hall and raised a family there. Daisy visited them often and knew Cooperstown well. When she was with them, Daisy worshiped at the church where the Clarkes were married, Christ Episcopal Church. Like Hyde Hall, Christ Church has a long and fascinating history connected to many relatives of Mary Clarke. The chapel, for instance, was a made into a memorial to her sister, Marcia. The loss of a younger sister is one very sad thing that Daisy and Mary had in common.
Christ Episcopal Church, Cooperstown
Next month, when you read Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of the Girl Scouts, you will be able to summon to your mind’s eye these photos of two very important places in Daisy’s life. I hope this will contribute to your reading pleasure.
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Brown University photo from Rhode Island US GenWeb Project.
Hyde Hall photo from http://shermaniablog.blogspot.com. Interior shot from hydehall.org.
Map of Cooperstown from Katherine E. Chaison, “Plot Development, or E. F. Beadle’s Adventures in Building Suburban Homes in Late Nineteenth-Century New York,” New York History, Winter 2007.
Photo of Christ Church by Amy R. Gundrum in her article “Memorializing Mothers: Stained-Glass Windows, Female Empowerment, and Religion in Cooperstown, New York,” New York History, Winter 2007 .
Other photos in the public domain.
Girl Scouting must have run in the Lippitt family. The sponsor of our Wing Scout troop in Warwick was Mary Ann Lippitt, a descendent of Abby’s. She owned Lippitt Aviation and she taught us much about flying. She flew us around the area in her Beechcraft Bonanza plane. This was in the early 60s. She, too, was quite an adventurer. A fun lady to be around.
Lynda–Thanks for writing! The Lippitts were a fascinating family. I have much more to write about them–but because there is new information in my book about the three friends, I am holding off until publication.
Daisy loved to fly–she had a “particular friend” who was quite a pilot, and he and Daisy enjoyed having their love for airplanes and the new air culture in common. How I envy you your flights in that Beechcraft!
It bears noting that the girls became fast friends while at finishing school in Manhattan. Fascinating to know they went to Bar Harbor as well — did they have a friend from school there? Keep up the good work, Stacy! So eager to see the finished book soon.
Alice, you are right, of course–this was a friendship cemented at boarding school. I think that Daisy met a number of Abby’s friends, and of course Daisy had relatives up and down the East Coast. There were many school chums who added to the total of homes to visit on Daisy’s many trips to New England. What a time they must have had!
Thanks for the kind words, and for your comment–
Hi Stacy. Do u know the address of the Charbs in NYC? Also I wonder if Anita Lippitt Clay who grew up with Mom in Savannah is related…her husband Tom was my mother’s first cousin on her McGuire side. Anita is still living and very spry! She and Mom went to Pape School together.
Hi Margaret, I’m exploring my ancestry and talking with my sister. She was just talking about Anita Lippett Clay who was friends with my maternal grandmother, Lula Tucker Taliferro Myers. Have you contacted Anita? My sister thinks that if she is still with us that she might be the only person who could fill in some gaps for the Taliferro side of our family. My maiden middle name was Taliferro too.
Stacy,
I enjoyed reading the advance copy of your book, which you so thoughtfully sent to Hyde Hall. All of us here look forward to any additional information you may be able to provide regarding our favorite member of the trio – Mary Gale.
Larry Smith
Thanks, Larry, for your comment. I have lots to tell about Mary Gale….and as soon as the book launch hoopla calms down, I’ll return to real blogs again! I appreciate the nudge!!
Hi Stacy, I am an intern this semester at the Lippitt House in Providence and I am doing a project on the friendship between Abby and Daisy and on female friendship as a whole. I am starving for more information on their friendship. Is there anything you did not include in the book that you are willing to share with me? Thank you very much!
Rachael
Uh-oh–your question, Rachael, is one of many I have had recently about the three friends. I see from Larry Smith’s (above) as well that I’d better turn to blogging about Mary and Abby.
I’ll see what I can do! Thanks for reading and good luck with your project.