History in houses: the Butler-McCook house and garden in Hartford, Connecticut

Magazine Antiques, August, 2002 by Beverly Johnson Lucas

The McCook art collection also features many original works of art, including paintings by William R. Wheeler (1839-1893), a Michigan-born artist who moved to Hartford in 1861. Although mostly known for his portraits, Wheeler also painted landscapes, many of which captured his travels to North Conway and the White Mountains in New Hampshire in 1864 and 1869 and to the Hudson River and Lake George in New York in 1865. He also painted Connecticut landscapes, including the Farmington River (see P1. XIII) and Talcott Mountain (see P1. XIV), two of the subjects purchased by the McCooks. Their collection also includes a Wheeler painting of Lake George, possibly to remind them of their honeymoon there. (28)

In 1879, although financially strained, the McCooks purchased their most significant painting, Olevano by Albert Bierstadt, from the J. H. Eckhardt Company in Hartford (see P1. XIII). The original asking price was too expensive, but their counter offer of $315 was accepted. John McCook noted in his diary "to my surprise & regret note from Eckhardt asking me to call. Fear owner of the Bierstadt is disposed to accept a price as low as that mentioned by me. Had hoped the thing was out of my reach." (29) Although secretly hoping his offer would be refused, thus not obligating them to such a great expense, McCook purchased the painting. Olevano depicts the hill country near Rome, which Bierstadt visited in the spring of l857. (30)

Although the McCooks updated their house to meet their physical and decorative needs, they steadfastly preserved its furnishings and extensive family papers. In the end, the family archives include documents from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The rooms in the house contain the same layers of history, with artifacts from each generation coexisting in restored, but not re-created interiors. As an example, a mid-eighteenth-century high chest of drawers, once owned by Daniel Butler's father, Moses, stands next to a sofa purchased by Eliza Butler in anticipation of her wedding in 1837 (see P1. X).

Four of the McCook children never married and continued to live in the Main Street house after the death of their parents. John, a physician, built an addition onto the house to accommodate his medical practice. Anson (1881-1966) was a Hartford lawyer active in politics. Frances assumed the role of housekeeper and was assisted by Lucy (1882-1941), the youngest. Together, they decided that the house should be preserved as a museum, and in preparation Frances began recording family stories, labeling artifacts and documents, and reminiscing about Hartford during her lifetime. (31) She remarked:

What we hoped was that in some fashion the old Homestead be so preserved as to continue to give to others some measure of the peace and pleasure and abiding interest which had been ours in such rich measure--a sort of oasis in the hustle and bustle of a World's Main Street. (32)

Frances died in 1971 at the age of ninety-four. Today, the Butler-McCook House and Garden remains an oasis where the twenty-first century fades away and visitors can take in an intimate reflection of Hartford's past.