​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.