New Hillwood Exhibit Goes Behind-the-Scenes to Explore Personal Stories

Travel back in time to see what it was like to live in high style in the '60s—in a home equipped with stunning artwork, frequented by dinner guests from the top echelon of international society, with a kitchen staffed like a hotel and a fallout shelter in the basement.

Tough to imagine? Head over to the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens (4155 Linnean Ave. NW, Washington, DC) to check it out.

This year, Hillwood takes a personal approach to exhibiting its collection, amassed by the home's last owner, Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973).

Hillwood already is well-known for its collections of 18th-century French decorative arts and small art objects (like Fabergé eggs) from Imperial Russia.

But this new exhibit, titled Living Artfully—which closes on Jan. 12, 2014—sheds light on the social history of the house as well.  

Post was the daughter and heiress of Post Cereal founder C.W. Post and one of Washington, DC's last and greatest society women, known for her elegant, tasteful parties, dinners, charity events, garden teas and—at her property in the Adirondacks and her fantastical Palm Beach mansion—her long weekend retreats, according to Estella Chung, who curated the exhibit.

An invitation from Post was the most sought-after invitation in her time, said Chung, a historian who leads the museum's oral history program, and is the curator of American material culture at Hillwood. Part of what the new exhibit examines is what Post's society events would have been like, and what was involved in terms of hosting an event—including what went on behind the scenes for Post's staff.

For example, when Post hosted a long weekend retreat at Camp Topridge—her property in the Adirondacks—she flew her guests up from DC in her private airplane. Upon landing, guests were slowly ferried across a lake while their baggage was speedily transported to their cabins (yes, the property had multiple guest cabins—much like an upscale resort), and the suitcases were unpacked by the time guests arrived at their cabins, Chung said.

A special part of the Living Artfully exhibit takes a closer look at what a long weekend at Camp Topridge would have been like. (Hint: Square dancing in special square dance dresses and outfits was involved.)

Another feature of the exhibit is the movie projection room, from which new movies were shown at Hillwood to guests and staff after special dinners. The equipment is state-of-the-art for the 1960s. Near the film projection room is the newly displayed cocktail bar with 1960s barware reminiscent of retro TV show Mad Men.

Upstairs, near Post's bedroom, is her special hairdressing room—featuring a permanent wave machine from the '60s and a hair-washing sink connected to a rainwater collection tank on the roof, according to the museum. (Filtered rainwater was thought to be especially good for hair.)

But perhaps the most interesting new room on exhibit is a fallout shelter from the early '60s. After President John F. Kennedy urged Americans in 1961 to build bomb shelters to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear Cold War fallout, Post constructed four fallout shelters on her Hillwood property—to shelter her and all of her staff. (Altogether, at her three homes, she employed between 100 and 300 people at any one time in the 1960s, according to the museum.)

The exhibit has an accompanying audio tour, which guides museum visitors through the house, including through the kitchen and service rooms, offering insights into the social history of the property.

The regular collection also is on display. Not to miss: The dining table—originally commissioned for Post's glamorous Palm Beach estate (called Mar-A-Lago) but moved to Hillwood for exhibition when the house was turned into a museum after Post's death in 1973—is, for the first time in many years, uncovered, so that visitors may examine the intricate hard-stone mosaic pattern, created by Florentine artisans, across the table top. The table is set with Post's Venetian glass plates and goblets used at her Palm Beach property, according to the museum.

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Hillwood (4155 Linnean Ave. NW, Washington, DC) is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The suggested donation for adults is $15. Find out more about the museum on its website, www.hillwoodmuseum.org.