THE PLUMMER HOUSE

We are blessed to live in a 49 room mansion. The photo you see here is only PART of the house. And, no, we don't OWN the mansion. The house is owned by the city. We live in the "west wing" of the house and act as Resident Director's.It's kind of a part time/full time job. We oversee the day to day operations of the house while the city Park and Recreation Dept takes care of the 11 acres of grounds.  We have now lived here for 23 years!!! It was not always our intention to be here this long but time just flew by ( like time DOES ) and we never saw any reason to leave this amazing place! Who wouldn't want to live here, right?

I've decided to share weekly stories and information about the history of the house, the Plummer family, and stories about our experiences living here for the past 23 years along with photos of the grounds and house. We've had some interesting experiences here!This first post will just be an introduction. Dr Plummer has stories to tell and so do WE. Like the fact that some people think it is haunted; that even though Dr Plummer ( in the future I'll refer to him as Henry )  was a genius, he was also absent minded and there are stories about his absent-mindedness; that famous people have been guests here like Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan and other fun and interesting tidbits of information.

There are 11 acres of property surrounding the home with gardens, ponds with fountains, a man-made waterfall, plenty of woods filled with wildlife,  some trails though the woods, and amazing landscaping! The grounds now serve as a public park. The house can be rented for the whole day ( except, of course, in the part where WE live ) and is a bargain! The most popular use of the house is for weddings, reservations now being taken two years in advance. But people also rent it for graduation parties, anniversary and birthday celebrations, family reunions, piano recitals, etc. We've even had memorial services here. During the summer it is open to the public one day a week for self guided tours. There are tour guides ( docents ) available to answer questions. Our 16 year old granddaughter works as one of the tour guides.

HISTORY:  It took 7 years to build the house, from 1917 to 1924, and was owned by Dr Henry Plummer. Dr Plummer was one of the original doctors working with the Mayo Brothers at the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic is world famous, treating patients here from all over the world,  and having the distinction of having many famous people as patients including many of our Presidents. The Dali Lama is also a regular patient here at the clinic being one of the few who doesn't mind the publicity. In Rochester we're used to seeing limos followed by security vehicles knowing that inside the dark glassed cars,  there are dignitaries who will be going through the clinic or here for surgery.

Dr Henry Plummer

There is much to share about this fascinating and historical place and I thought it would be nice to share a bit of that here, along with photos of the beautiful gardens and grounds. Look for more in future posts.