Planning Your Visit

Due to long-term planning and renovation activities, the Historic Park-McCullough House will be open for tours EVERY FRIDAY beginning June 7 for the Summer of 2013.

We are open for special holiday events in November and December and for other community events as announced. Please check our calendar and events pages. We accept reservations for The Carriage Barn, our newly-renovated event site, throughout the year. Group tours, school field trips and private events may be scheduled for the May-December period. During the season, tours may be arranged for groups of 6 or more by appointment.

Visitors are encouraged to visit the beautiful grounds at any time during daylight hours. You can coordinate a tour of our grounds with the adjacent Mile-Around Woods and the Hiland Hall Farms Garden.

At Historic Park-McCullough, you experience the grandeur of the house often described as "one of Vermont's jewels". You also participate in the elegant lifestyle made possible through vast wealth accumulated during the California Gold Rush era and subsequently added to through business dealings in finance, railroads, steamship lines and real estate development.

The thirty-five room house was completed in 1865 for Trenor and Laura Park. Park engaged architect Henry Dudley, of the New York architectural firm, Diaper and Dudley, to design his "summer home", a classic example of French Second Empire style.

Park-McCullough is significant for its collections and archives, accumulated by the succeeding generations of one family who lived in the House for over a century. Few buildings of such important retain as complete a collection of furniture, clothing, decorative arts, fine art that belonged to the original family as well a complete archive of family documents, including all those related to the construction, maintenance and use of the House throughout its history.

The furnishings and decor are nearly unchanged. As you walk in the front door you will find rooms with fourteen-foot ceilings opening onto a gracious central hall with a sweeping staircase. The fine interior details include oak and walnut paneling, parquet floors, and bronze chandeliers (originally supplied with gas from an ingenious gas-making machine). The family appears to have just left the large, airy bedrooms upstairs.

The beautiful grounds feature a playhouse, rose gardens, and a Carriage Barn that houses a fine collection of horse-drawn carriages, buggies, and sleighs.

Also onsite, the visitor will find a charming playhouse. Originally built as a doghouse, the playhouse was constructed by Diaper and Dudley at the same time as the mansion. It features miniature child-sized furniture and a working iron cook-stove.

Park-McCullough was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The entire estate is owned and operated by the non-profit Park-McCullough House Association, Inc. .