| By Andrienne Clark
Sentinel & Enterprise Staff Writer LANCASTER -- The former Bayard Thayer estate at 679 George Hill Road is not inhabited by a ghost, but it is possessed by something far better: an ageless spirit of renewal readily sensed by all who live or visit it. "Spiritual rejuvenation has always been a theme here," said Roger H. Grose, director of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda School, the current occupant of the estate. The school, a nonprofit institution, offers instruction in health education, including the Transcendental Meditation program. "Transcendental Meditation allows people to refine or expand their awareness. What is crucial is the application of consciousness to all that we do. That source in us needs to be expressive," Grose said. To achieve the desired effect, a person must meditate 20 minutes twice day. "If people meditate, they are much healthier and will use their health insurance half as much as those who don't," Grose said. There is much medical research that supports this, he added. Grose and his wife, Katherine S. Grose, the school's co-director, have lived at the estate for over seven years. For him, it has been like "living in a park," Mr. Grose said. "I love it," Mrs. Grose said. "It is like living in a piece of history." However, the estate's current owner, the Maharishi Global Development Fund, is selling the property. The asking price is $18 million. Once the 217-acre estate is sold the Groses will no longer live there, but they hope to stay in central Massachusetts, Grose said. "We love this area. We have strong friendships here so we will have to wait and see," he said. Anyone who buys the property will be buying a piece of the nation's history. The Thayer estate was built during 1901 and '03 for Bayard Thayer, grandson of the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Thayer, minister of the First Church of Christ in Lancaster from 1793 until his death in 1840, and son of Nathaniel Thayer, a wealthy banker. The Thayer family gave generously to the town, Harvard College and other worthy causes. "This building yields some of its history when you realize how it was used. It was designed for a different era in our history and people lived differently," Mrs. Grose said. Bayard Thayer and his wife, Ruth Thayer, lived in Boston and owned another home in Maine. They spent only a few weeks a year at their Lancaster estate, arriving in May for a brief visit and returning in late summer or early fall for the hunting season. Although their visits were short, the lovely hilltop setting and their beautiful mansion must have been a retreat where they found solace, relaxation and tranquility, Grose said. The tranquil mood is established the moment a person passes through the wrought iron gates at the entrance to the grounds and heads up the long, winding road leading to the mansion. Once at the top, a person is surrounded by lovely vistas. The east entrance overlooks the Bolton Hills, while the imposing west entrance overlooks Mount Wachusett. This entrance is flanked by matching wrought iron gates, ornamented with metal wreaths, lotus flowers and cornucopias. One of the gates frames a view of Mount Wachusett. When the Thayers lived in the mansion, an "allee," a wide greensward, was created by clearing trees to reveal the mountain. From this vantage point the Thayers could look through the gate and see the sunset over the mountain. "The mountain viewed from the lawn is not half as interesting as the mountain framed by the gate," commented Wilhelm Miller in a 1913 article about the estate for the magazine, "Country Life in America." The frame was necessary, Miller said, to give the view dramatic power. The formal gardens were designed by Herbert W.C. Browne, a Boston landscape architect. Although last week the grounds were blanketed with snow from the recent storm, the outlines of some of the gardens were still visible. Grose showed pictures of the gardens as the looked when the Thayers lived at the estate. |
Designed in the classical style, they conveyed
a sense of order and harmony. Yet there was a sense of freedom, too, in
tangles of climbing vines and flourishing shrubs.
Bayard Thayer loved trees. According to Miller, the aristocrat had about 150,000 pines planted on the estate, as well as hemlock, chestnut and mountain laurel. The mansion, designed by architect Guy Lowell, is "small," compared to others of its day. It has 30,000 square feet. The Breakers, the Vanderbilt "cottage" in Newport, R.I., is 120,000 square feet, Grose said. Altogether, there are 23 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, three living rooms, an elegant banquet hall, a full-service commercial kitchen, and even a "cigar room." The west entrance opens into a spacious hall dominated by a curving staircase, with balusters elaborately carved in a floral motif. The east entrance opens into a large foyer paneled in sycamore. On the right is the oak-paneled dining room and on the left is the walnut-paneled library. Off the library is a charming sun room, paneled in pine. The other rooms are painted in soft peach or yellow. The house has several marble fireplaces with decorative carvings. Each has its own little story, Grose said. The carvings on the library fireplace, for example, illustrate Aesop's fable of the crane and the fox. The dining room fireplace is carved with an intricate design of oak leaves, birds, cherubs, fruit motifs, gryphons and other mythical creatures. The estate also includes a elaborate carriage house in the Arts and Crafts style. The Thayers were noted for their carriages, Grose said. Bayard Thayer died in 1916, but his wife continued to vacation at George Hill until her death in 1940. In 1941 the property was sold to a Greek Orthodox seminary. The seminary later sold it to a man and his son who operated the Lancaster Institute, which was dedicated to helping elderly patients find rejuvenation through horticulture. The institute sold it to the Convent of the Cenacle, a Roman Catholic religious order, which owned it for 20 years. Then the Protestant Guild for the Blind bought it. However, the guild lacked the resources to keep it, Grose said. Since 1979, the estate has been a center for Transcendental Meditation programs, Grose said. In 1985 the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Medical Center was established there. Ayur-Veda is an ancient Hindu system of healing and illness prevention. The Maharishi Ayur-Veda School provided the educational component. Recently, however, the medical programs were relocated to the Heavenly Mountain Clinic in Boone, N.C., he said. While the estate was a beautiful setting for the health center, the new building in Boone will be better able to serve clients, Grose said. The center's medical director, Dr. Jay L. Glaser, has opened a private practice in Sterling, where he is seeing patients from the center's outpatient program. Although the estate is to be sold, the Ayur-Veda School is still offering occasional courses for 20 people at a time, Grose said. When the medical center was located at the mansion, six to eight people a week were guests there. Health programs were tailored to the individual's needs. It was not a "mass-production" enterprise, Grose said. While some of the people who came to the center had health problems, many others wanted to learn how to stay healthy and prevent illness. The clientele included movie stars and famous rock musicians. "Some famous people came here," Grose acknowledged. "One of the reasons they came here is we would be private." Therefore, he said, he is not at liberty to reveal their names. "Hopefully, each person who came here felt like a VIP," he said. Throughout its history, the Bayard Thayer estate has always attracted friends, particularly horticulturalists, Grose said. Now, as the estate is about enter a new era in its history, Grose said, "We really hope whoever owns it next cares for it and for its history as much as its predecessors have." |
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