Fall Color Tour to Mayslake Peabody Estate

By Tom O’Donnell

October 11, 2015, was the best Sunday in October.  It was a very nice warm and sunny day.  Madeleine, her cousin Arlene, Arlene’s husband David Lodrick and I drove in my 1953 Lincoln to the Town and Country Mall where we met Ron Blum in his 1940 Fordor, Ron Dopke and Bernice in a modern Ford, and Gladys Duzell and Kitty & Terry Freihage in the Freihage’s 57 SkyLiner.  We drove along Arlington Heights road for a while to enjoy the fall colors.  The colors were not at their peak, but we did see some nice yellows and reds.

We arrived at the Peabody Mansion slightly before 10:00 AM where we met Carolyn and Ken Bounds, 51 Mercury, Judy and Tom Buscaglia, 51 Ford, Marie and Joe Dispensa, 50 Ford, Robin and John Emmering, 51 Ford, Kathy Larson, modern, Millie Olds and Joe Novak, 53 Merc, new member Lou Prazza, 49 Ford, Diane and Dan Pudelek, modern and Delice and Joe Serritella, modern. We talked for a while in the parking lot before heading to the front entrance of the mansion where a group photo was taken.

We were given a brief introduction to the mansion and its history by the Park District manager of the property and then split into two groups for the guided tour.  These tours usually last about 60 minutes, but there was so much interest in the docents’ presentations that our groups took around 2 hours. The mansion is still being restored and is not furnished in most rooms.  Mr. Peabody only lived in the Mansion a few months before he had a fatal heart attack, so there are few photographs of the interior when he lived in it.

After the interior tour, we looked around the grounds before leaving for lunch at Bakersfield in Westmont.  I received many compliments on the weather (sunny and near 80 degrees, not my fault), the interesting talks by the docents and the good food at Bakersfield.  I was suffering from a bad cold and sinus infection, so we headed home early.

Thanks to everyone who came and made the tour a success.