In the present day, these flourishing grounds are open for visitation through mid-October and again at Christmas, but were once part of a private residence, transformed from dilapidated rural dwelling to Country Place Era estate by the Van Wickle family, who moved to Bristol in 1894. Augustus Van Wickle, a wealthy graduate of nearby Brown University, and his wife, Bessie, became smitten with the property’s landscape, seeing its potential.
