Happy Anniversary, Oakhurst
Oakhurst, early 1990s
In March, I told you about the renovation work that will be done at Oakhurst this summer. There have been some delays, but the work is starting now, just in time to mark the twentieth anniversary of the public opening of the house on May 27. This year also marks 120 years since George and Frances Ball moved into the house.
A group of Ball family members and others from the community worked with Minnetrista staff and contractors for approximately five years to make sure that the renovation of the house and the gardens would be true to the spirit of George, Frances, and their daughter, Elisabeth.
Elisabeth, George, and Frances Ball
In addition to serving on the Oakhurst committee, Frances Petty Sargent worked with the interior decorator and chose furniture from the Minnetrista Heritage Collection for the first floor. Frances called Oakhurst her “baby,” and said that being involved in the renovation was “one of the most thrilling and exciting things I’ve ever been involved in.”
Frank Bracken expressed his pride at the opening of Oakhurst. He said, “The house had just been dormant; we hadn’t lost it. It just needed to be brought back to life. While exhibits and programs are brought into the Center, Oakhurst itself, to me, is the exhibit.”
A lot has happened at Oakhurst in the past twenty years. Hundreds of visitors have toured the house. Many “faeries” have flitted through the gardens during Faeries, Sprites, & Lights at Minnetrista. Thousands of people have enjoyed the beautiful holiday decorations. Many others have enjoyed a quiet stroll through the gardens and some have even gotten married there.
Faeries, Sprites, & Lights at Minnetrista
“If G. A. Ball and his wife Frances and their daughter Elisabeth were to walk in today, I think they’d be amazed,” Frank Bracken noted. But of course, we didn’t do this for them and we didn’t do this for ourselves. What we did is for all of those who come here and enjoy the wonderment and the inspiration and the vision of Oakhurst. All those who will come in our generation, in our children’s generation, in our grandchildren’s generation, and those generations who know us not and we know not of.”
Happy Anniversary, Oakhurst.
