History of The Smiley Manse

The ‘Smiley Manse’, is named after the Scottish minister, Robinson Smiley, and his wife, Elizabeth, who built the brick portion of this extraordinary home in 1811. 

A later occupant, Senator Ralph Flanders and his wife, Helen Hartness Flanders, commissioned the 1929 addition and a comprehensive renovation, which has been lovingly maintained under the stewardship of several successive owners – now including Jennifer and Nate! 

We welcome you to the Smiley for art retreats.

There were many women who owned and resided at The Smiley Manse over the centuries. Two of particular note were Elizabeth Smiley and Helen Hartness Flanders.

Elizabeth Harkness Smiley (1773 - 1860) was a force to be reckoned with. Though she was a quiet, kindly woman, not given to gossip or humor, she was a great student and reader. It was her custom to read and study late at night - her Bible, history, current events, politics - and people used to watch for the light in her south window, knowing it meant she was reading.

Elizabeth conducted a private school, a sort of kindergarten, for her and the neighbors’ children. When her husband was planning the building of their home, she wanted it to stand true to the compass. After the foundation was staked out, she told her husband it was all wrong. He consulted with the workmen, who maintained it was all right. Mother Smiley said nothing, but on a very bright moonlit night when her household was all settled down, she rode her horse up to the site and moved the stakes to match her viewpoint. She said nothing until it was too late to change, and for years her husband delighted in telling how she got the best of him.

Helen Hartness Flanders (1890 – 1972) was an internationally recognized ballad collector and an authority on the folk music found in New England and the British Isles. The daughter of Vermont Governor, James Hartness, and the wife of US Senator from Vermont, Ralph Flanders, Helen created a special room at the Smiley Manse for recording New England musician.

At the Manse, Flanders commenced a three-decade career capturing traditional songs that were sung in New England—songs that, in many cases, traced their origin to the British Isles. The timing of her life work was critical, coming at a time when people were turning away from traditional music in favor of listening to the radio.

Today her nearly 4,500 field recordings, transcriptions and analyses are housed at the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont and have been a resource for scholars and folk singers since the establishment of the collection in 1941.

More resources on Helen’s work can be found here:

Helen Hartness Flanders Wikipedia

PBS Pass It On – Helen Hartness Flanders (28 minute video)

NPR Vermont's Archive of Folk Songs (7 minute cider)

My Champlain Valley (3 minute video)

Vermont History: Collecting Old Songs (4 minute listen)

The Manse All of the structures are clad with Vermont slate roofs and old-growth clapboards. Oriented to southerly views, the Manse is discretely located in a neighborhood populated by dozens of Vermont’s finest residences representing architectural styles and sizes afforded by wealth produced at the zenith of the Machine Tool Industry.

Over the years, the Smiley Manse hosted guests such as Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Robert Frost.

The gardens are superbly landscaped and feature a Har-tru tennis court (soon to be home to solar panels) wide covered veranda and a grape arbor.

The barn was built by Governor and Mrs. Hartness at the beginning of the 20th century. Post-and-beam construction with a slate roof that rises to a massive walled cupola. The barn is noted as one of the finest carriage barns in the region.