Summer was when I spent the most time at Topsmead. In early July everyone pitched in to help with the first cutting of hay. The first cutting is the best, most nutritious hay of the year. Hay was actually the primary crop for Topsmead Farm – even more so than apples. Miss Chase grew hay for her own use at Topsmead, and she rented out several fields for other farmers to grow hay on too. Hay was stored loose in the top of the barn until we got a baler in the early 1950s.

In addition to haying, there were summer tasks such as mowing the grassy area between the roads and the stone walls. The men used a big three foot wide, walk behind Jacobson mower. Then along the sides of the lane from the house down to Underhill they used a regular lawn mower to cut a two-foot-wide boarder.  The lawns around the house were cut by a Locke mower (reel type) that with side attachments could cut about a 6’ swath. My dad (John Orintas) cut the lawn around the main house and around the farm buildings.
 
The gardens always needed attention as different types of produce began to ripen during July.  The apple trees were sprayed with lead arsenate diluted with water as a pesticide. (Note: Widely used this pesticide was finally banned in 1988.) They used a large tank sprayer pulled by a Cletrac, crawler type tractor that moved on a track like a military tank. The workmen donned heavy protective suits, that made them look like fishermen from Gloucester.  They walked through the orchards with spray nozzles spraying all the apple trees.
 
I also have good memories of picking blueberries at a spot off Jefferson Hill Road South. There were high bush berries and low bush berries too. They were delicious, especially when my mother Isabelle would make a pie for Dad, my older brother and me.

Bob Orintas
(interviewed by Jenny Riggs)

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As Spring is slowly unfolding in the Litchfield Hills, it’s nice to think about getting out into the garden. Edith Chase enjoyed her garden at Topsmead. It was located north of the cabin (and later the house we see today) near East Litchfield Road. When on that road you may have noticed an old driveway and small barn that are still visible. The ladies always called that part of the property, “Underhill” presumably because it was downhill from the house.  A small house was built there in 1926 which served as a guest house.
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George Wilson, Miss Chase’s chauffer was the first person to care for the garden. In addition to his driving duties, he was a general handy man, and his wife was the family’s cook. George is pictured here with a cultivator that he used in the large garden. It measured approximately 75 feet by 150 feet and was designed to have four quadrants arranged around a large central grape arbor. White champagne grapes grew on this and four benches underneath gave people a lovely place to sit and enjoy the garden. Turf grass walking paths bisected the garden, framing the different quadrants. The north edge of the garden was planted with flowers so that it always looked pretty. The garden produced every vegetable imaginable: asparagus, beans, lettuce, peas, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, and sweet corn. There were fruit trees also. A small orchard of apple trees grew along the perimeter of the area parallel to the road. Additionally, there were 3 peach trees near the guest house. Purple grapes grew on trellises along the sides of the garden.  
Often when the ladies went to the cabin for the day, they’d simply lunch on vegetables that were in season at the time. Just like many of us hope to do in the coming months. Happy Spring!

​For many of us, March is a wonderful time to escape New England as winter makes its last attempts to chill our bones and spring fights back with thaws and mud!  With the exception of the war years, Edith Chase often traveled to Europe for up to three months in the winter and early spring – leaving in January and returning in late April or early May. These trips typically occurred every other year, with the off years filled with enjoying horse drawn sleigh rides at Topsmead and domestic road trips to points south or west. Pulling from notes his father left him, Bob recalls that 100 years ago in 1922, Miss Edith traveled to Europe leaving by ship out of New York city in late January. It took 9 days to cross the Atlantic landing in England and immediately she went on to Paris. That was a mere stopping point for her destination which was Milan, Italy where she arrived on the second day.

That year, Edith spent two to three weeks in Milan, Florence, Venice, and London visiting art galleries repeatedly, returning to favorite lunch and tea restaurants, taking in operas and concerts, relaxing, and reading. Oh, and she shopped! Hats, scarves, gloves, artwork, glass, antiques, and furniture. With such a leisurely schedule if she felt a little under the weather, she’d spend a day in her room, by the fire, reading and recuperating.
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Upon returning by ship to New York, in 1922 her mother met her as she disembarked. Edith typically spent the night at her sister Katherine’s home at Sutton Square in New York. The family chauffeur drove her home to Connecticut the next morning in the spring sunshine - where Topsmead waited patiently to celebrate her return.

You may recall that Topsmead was built as a summer home, and Edith Chase and her friends Mary & Lucy Burrell, during the 1920s and 1930s lived in their homes on Church St. in Waterbury during the winter months. Did you ever wonder if the ladies used Topsmead in the winter?


Bob Orintas reports that after 1925 when Edith’s new Cotswold cottage was completed, the ladies would occasionally spend time at Topsmead in January and/or February. Sometimes they would stay for as long as a week or two. They often went without a maid; cooking and looking after themselves. They read, knit, and took walks to admire the winter scenery. After August 1927 when the Buell Farm was purchased, Topsmead became a working farm, and Edith had a pleasure horse named Mandy. She and the ladies would take Mandy out for sleigh rides through the Litchfield countryside during winter visits. Bob recalls that sometimes when they drove to Topsmead the car would get stuck in the snow and the farm's tractor was used to pull them out. All part of winter fun!


Initially the house had a coal fired furnace and forced hot air system that kept it fairly comfortable. The big fireplace in the great room most certainly was used, and Bob remembers his dad mentioning candle coal (aka cannel coal) that was burned in the bedroom fireplaces. A quick Google search tells us that candle coal was prized as an excellent fuel that burned with a bright flame, was easily lit, and left virtually no ash. It commanded a premium price as a fuel for use in home fireplaces because it burned longer than wood, and had a clean, bright flame.


It’s lovely to know that even in its infancy, Topsmead was appreciated for its beauty year-round.