When you think of Jell-o, Grape-nuts, and Birdseye Foods, you never think about the woman behind those culinary creations and the house that those products would provide her. Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), the only daughter of C.W. Post, the man that brought the world Postum, was raised with exceptionally good taste and a great deal of expendable income.

Marjorie Merriweather Post bought Hillwood, her last of many homes, in 1955 and soon decided that it would be a museum that would inspire and educate the public (here is an informative video about all of her homes). This northwest Washington, D.C. estate endowed the country with the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia, a distinguished eighteenth-century French decorative art collection, and twenty-five acres of serene landscaped gardens and natural woodlands for all to enjoy. Opened as a public institution in 1977, today Hillwood's allure stems from the equally fascinating parts that make up the whole. From the captivating life of Marjorie Post to the exquisitely maintained mansion and gardens, the experience of Hillwood outshines even the Fabergé eggs.

That Ms. Post valued beauty, elegance, and graciousness in her life is apparent to all who experience the exquisite gardens, collections, and estate she left for the public’s enjoyment. In all its splendor, Hillwood is the culmination of a lifetime in business, art collecting, philanthropy, and estate management that gave rise to her singular style and grace.

With her father’s entrepreneurial spirit as inspiration, Post embraced her midwestern work ethic to become one of America’s most successful businesswomen. When both of Post’s parents died in the 1910s, she became, at the age of 27, the owner of the $20 million cereal company that would later become the General Foods Corporation.

It was in this second decade of the twentieth century when Post's taste for collecting was shaped. A young woman of great wealth living in New York, married to Edward Bennett Close and a mother of two, Post began to furnish her elegant new interiors according to the most current trends in design. She developed a preference for the arts of late eighteenth-century France, in particular the neoclassical style of Louis XVI—a style that was in vogue among New York’s fashionable society. The elements of harmony, balance, delicate decoration, and superb craftsmanship that defined this period continued to guide Post’s collecting taste for the rest of her life.

Post’s second marriage was to financier Edward F. (E.F.) Hutton, with whom she had one child (actress Dina Merrill), and together they transformed the Post Cereal Company into General Foods, a pioneer in frozen and prepared foods. The Huttons epitomized the Roaring 20s lifestyle and Post grew ever more socially practiced, hosting a stream of charity and philanthropic events in New York and Palm Beach. She further refined her collecting tastes during the 1920s, turning her attention to the acquisition of fine Sèvres porcelain, outstanding examples of French furniture, and a collection of gold boxes that proclaimed her taste for the jeweled object and, later, Fabergé. In the 1920s Post built and decorated her legendary and multiple residences, including a fifty-four-room New York apartment; her Palm Beach estate, Mar-A-Lago (she had built the estate); Camp Hutridge (later Topridge) in the Adirondacks; and her well-appointed four-masted yacht, which Post decorated to perfection (and rented to the Navy for $1 during WWII).

In the 1930s Post accompanied her third husband, Joseph E. Davies, to the Soviet Union, where he served as ambassador. During these years, the Soviet government was nearing the end of its efforts to sell treasures it had seized from the church, the imperial family, and the aristocracy in an effort to finance the new government's industrialization plan. Exploring commission shops and state-run storerooms, Post discovered that the fine and decorative arts of imperial Russia appealed to her taste for finely crafted objects and ignited a new collecting passion and pioneering effort in the field of Russian art.

Following her divorce from Davies in 1955, Post purchased Hillwood, which remained her Washington residence for the rest of her life. The mandate for her architects and designers was to refurbish the 1920s neo-Georgian house into a more stately dwelling that could function both as a well-staffed home and as a place to showcase her collections.

Post promptly became one of Washington’s top hostesses and her legendary parties were inseparable from the political, business, and social fabric of Washington, D.C. With her full-time live-in and local staff, she organized memorable spring garden teas for hundreds of Washington guests, and invitations to formal dinners at Hillwood were highly-prized, second only to the White House.

Our day began in the garden with an hour long tour with an exceptional guide. Ms. Post believed that each part of the outdoors was simply another room in her home.

Marjorie Post had the French parterre garden designed in 1957 to evoke the parterre garden that rested below her bedroom windows nearly forty years earlier at her first Hillwood—the estate she built with second husband E.F. Hutton in Roslyn, on New York’s Long Island. Here at Hillwood, she had a special bay window built in her second floor bedroom suite so she could view the exquisite patterns of the formal French parterre while she wrote letters, took phone calls, and held morning meetings with her staff. Both above and below, this garden room extends the French design of the interiors nearby, further reflecting Post’s passion for the culture and luxury of eighteenth-century France. If I ever return, I'm going to bring a picnic and dine on Marjorie's very groovy mid-century patio furniture.

Designed by Shogo Myaida and clearly reflecting Marjorie Post’s love of collecting decorative objects, this non-traditional Japanese garden offers action and intrigue instead of opportunities for contemplative meditation found in other Japanese gardens. Well-placed stone lanterns, pagodas, symbolic animals, and statues with storied significance populate the various niches.

The plants provide interesting contrasts of color and texture. The delicate tracery of the reddish Japanese maple is juxtaposed with the evergreen white pine towering over it, its soft fat clumps of needles silhouetted against the sky.  Hundreds of carefully placed stones create a subtle structure that adds stability to the garden, while flowing water activates the senses of sight and sound.

After a delicious lunch break in the cafe, we headed to the exhibition, Glass: Art. Beauty. Design. "Transparent or opaque, fragile yet impervious, glass has inspired artists and designers, stimulated scientists and engineers, and captivated collectors with its beauty and practicality. Hillwood founder Marjorie Merriweather Post was no exception, and she amassed over 1,600 pieces of glass, created in the 17th-20th centuries in China, Western Europe, Russia, and the United States. This special exhibition highlights this lesser-known aspect of Hillwood’s collection, featuring a range of styles and techniques."

First made in Mesopotamia and Egypt, glass has been produced in different forms and with various techniques for over 3,500 years, now used in most societies throughout the world. Though made of simple ingredients—sand (silica) with additive (plant ash or natron, a type of salt) to lower sand’s fusion temperature, and lime to stabilize it—it is a challenging material that requires innovation and dexterity, though the creative possibilities are endlessly versatile.

A gorgeous pause at the Lunar Lawn really showcased how truly special Hillwood is.

Leo, a regal eighteenth-century stone lion, presides over an emerald expanse of over 13,000 square feet of turf, embraced and shaded by American elm trees and encircled by colorful seasonal plantings. Evergreen arborvitae and false cypress, along with spring-blooming azaleas, camellias, dogwoods, and magnolia, enclose the space to create an outdoor room for entertaining on a grand scale.

"Climb a few steps to the south portico and catch a glimpse of the Washington monument rising above the treetops. Though Hillwood feels like a country estate, it is only 3.8 miles from the monument. Have a seat at one of the vintage blue and white lawn chairs from the 1960s and sense how Post tastefully combined historic pieces with modern trends."

Hillwood is described as a museum, something that was the plan from the beginning. "Marjorie Post maintained strong ties to the eighteenth-century French decorating style that she developed in the 1920s, transferring much of this look to her new home at Hillwood in the mid-1950s. This did not keep her from updating her Georgian-style mansion with the most modern conveniences that money could buy. Journey through her final home to experience the elegant French drawing room, the efficient and “high-tech” kitchen and pantry, and the many personal touches that made Hillwood one of Washington’s most memorable homes."

"When I began collecting, I did it for the joy of it,

and it was only as the collection grew

and such great interest was evidenced by others

that I came to the realization that the collection

should belong to the country."

-Marjorie Merriweather Post

She loved Marie Antoinette and this image of her portraying the doomed French Queen made me smile. I love the whimsy of it all.

This cylinder desk was one of Marjorie's prized possessions. Abraham Roentgen’s workshop was celebrated for the excellence of its marquetry work and the complexity of its mechanical devices. This desk is fitted with a full range of mechanical devices that open almost forty hidden compartments and secret drawers. On the front of the desk, the elaborate mother-of-pearl monogram surmounted by a crown contains the letters “MA.” Long speculated to be the initials of Marie Antoinette, this storied connection has finally been dispelled. The monogram is now thought to be that of Maria Antonia, Princess of Bavaria and the Electress of Saxony (part of present-day Germany). Maria Antonia was a talented and artistic woman of the 18th century. Not only was she a respected composer and patron of the arts, she also served as regent of Saxony from 1763-1768 until her son came of age. The musical instruments and other images on the marquetry reflect her artistic interests and pursuits.

In 1885, Alexander III initiated the custom of presenting his wife, Maria Fedorovna, with a Fabergé egg each Easter. Alexander III's son, Nicholas II, continued the family tradition each Easter by giving an egg to both his mother, and his wife, Alexandra. Rows of diamonds divide the egg into twelve panels. The crowned ciphers of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna, set in diamonds, provide a simple yet elegant decoration against the dark blue enamel. Only under high magnification is it possible to notice the champlevé enamel technique. Areas for the enamel were carved out of the gold, leaving the thin red-gold ribs that form the foliate design. To the naked eye, it appears that the gold design was painted on the ovoid surface.

The gold Easter egg is covered with royal blue champlevé enamel divided into twelve panels by bands of rose cut diamonds. The blue panels have all over scroll work in red gold and the ciphers of Emperor Alexander III (AIII) and his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna (MF) set in diamonds, each six times, the former around the lower part of the egg, the Empress's ciphers around the cover. A large rose cut diamond is set within rose-cut diamond border at each end. The interior is lined with ivory satin. The surprise, which all eggs housed, is missing.

And how about this dining room, designed with furnishings from a variety of times and places to achieve a grand appearance?! The French early eighteenth-century oak paneling, featuring rococo motifs such as billowing scrolls and graceful long-tailed birds, sets a lively tone for the room. Four large Dutch paintings of hunting scenes on the walls add a stately touch, and a nineteenth-century Aubusson carpet, a gift from Napoleon III to Emperor Maximillian of Mexico, graces the floor. A pair of stunning Empire-style lapis lazuli and gilt bronze candelabra, an eightieth birthday gift to Post, frame the fireplace and add to the luxurious atmosphere.

The crown jewel of the room is the table. This magnificent piece, with a mosaic top containing eleven different stones, sat up to thirty guests. Commissioned in 1927 from the most celebrated hardstone workshop in Florence—the Opificio delle Pietre Dure—the table was originally designed for Mar-A-Lago (the lavish Palm Beach estate Post built with her second husband, E.F. Hutton in 1927). A provision in her will called for its move to Hillwood following her death.

I loved the kitchen. Whether for intimate dinners or large garden parties, the staff of thirty to thirty-five people (including three cooks) at Hillwood were fully equipped to prepare and serve Washington's most memorable meals. Today, what were once described as "up-to-the-minute" appliances, including multiple Hobart standing mixers, a Globe Gravity Feed meat slicer, an Oster Touch-a-Matic combination can opener and juicer, and a fifty-five-cup capacity West Bend coffee percolator, still line the heavy-duty stainless steel counters of this once working kitchen.

The large state-of-the-art appliances include a nine-burner Magic Chef stove and an enormous Sta-Kold freezer—a nod to Post's frozen foods heritage. Carefully designed at every level, the kitchen's close location to the dining room allowed meals to be delivered quickly and efficiently.

This menu, from a 1963 dinner, made me smile. Served alongside all the other foods was an Apple Jell-o Ring with assorted fruit. How many of us in the early 60s ate Jell-o with fruit embedded within?

From the Louis XVI canopied bed to the dresses on Post’s daughters Adelaide and Eleanor in the Pierre Tartoué portrait, a pink and gold color scheme dominates Hillwood’s primary bedroom.

I think my favorite painting is this one, A Boyar Wedding Feast (1883) by Konstantin Egorovich Makovskii. This large (100 1/4 × 161 in.) painting depicts one of the most important social and political events of old Russia, a wedding uniting two families of the powerful boyar class that dominated Muscovite politics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The artist has singled out that moment during the wedding feast when the guests toast the bridal couple with the traditional chant of "gor’ko, gor’ko", meaning "bitter, bitter", a reference to the wine, which has supposedly turned bitter. The newlywed couple must kiss to make the wine sweet again. The toast occurs towards the end of the feast when a roasted swan is brought in, the last dish presented before the couple retires.

The scene takes place in a room very reminiscent of those in an old palace in the Kremlin. Various men and women in elaborate costumes of the period are grouped around a table in the center. The bride and groom stand at the right. In center background is a side board on which rests silver plate and to the left of this a servant brings in a cooked swan on a large platter. At left foreground is an ivory chest on which stands an enameled silver bowl. Various pieces of silver are on the table. The guests raise their glasses in a toast, while the matchmaker stands behind the bride and encourages her. The detail is so rich and mesmerizing. Wow.

There was something about this sofa with a collapsible side table that I found so clever.

After seeing as much as we could absorb in the house, we headed to the Greenhouse for some nature. In any season, the beauty and serenity of fragrant flowers can be found in the greenhouse.

When Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased Hillwood, a small greenhouse existed on the grounds. Orchids were her favorite flower and she invested significant resources into fueling this passion. She saw Hillwood as a perfect opportunity to support her growing orchid collection and had four more greenhouses built on either side of the existing one.

Post even hired an orchid curator to tend these temperamental beauties and breed new varieties for her pleasure. The curator delivered orchids in bloom to the mansion, always displaying them in Post's bedroom, the breakfast room, the library, and the French drawing room. Freshly cut orchids were also used in many of the floral arrangements for special events that she hosted. Post was so fond of her orchids that she often had a large selection shipped from Hillwood to grace her rooms when she was in residence at her other properties.

Today, Hillwood maintains the orchid collection to Post’s exacting standards, with a collection of over 2,000 specimens and hundreds of different varieties, and carries on the tradition of filling the mansion with these exotic flowers.

Marjorie Merriweather Post said about Hillwood, "I want young Americans to see how someone lived in the twentieth century and how this person could collect works of art the way I have... I want to share this with the rest of the world." I could not think of a more perfect place to conclude my visit with Chuck. I'm so happy he share Hillwood with me. What a trip!