Tag: Bellamy Ferriday House

The Bellamy-Ferriday House Just Made My Christmas Extra Special

imageAfter spending so much time at The Bellamy-Ferriday House and Gardens researching Lilac Girls, you can imagine how attached I’ve become to the lovely old house. I’ve also become so fond of the wonderful people at The Connecticut Landmarks, in whose hands Caroline left her beloved home. This year they have done a holiday tribute to Lilac Girls and decked the halls with lilac poinsettias and even put the book under the tree. I’m just so touched and this holiday I’ll be thanking my lucky stars I visited Caroline’s home back in 2000. Dressed in lilac, The Hay has never looked more beautiful.

Thank you to Dorothy Ambruso, BF House guide extraordinaire for sharing it.

Some Wonderful New Caroline Ferriday Pictures

img_6447I love this new batch of Caroline Ferriday photos, especially this one of Caroline and her friend Helena Piasecka. Helena was one of the four so-called “Rabbits” who not only stayed with Caroline on their trip to America, but also married in the states and became one of Caroline’s lifelong friends. They are so happy to be together and Caroline’s whole look is amazing. Would love to know who took the picture!img_6446

Another great photo, this time Caroline in action, greeting the Polish women when they arrived in New York City.

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Caroline and “Rabbits” again. Not sure if this is in Warsaw, or NYC…can’t read the bottle on the table, but that might give a clue! Either way, they are having a lovely time.

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Caroline as a child and her mother Eliza. Such a sweet photo.

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I love all the pictures of Caroline but this one is my very favorite. Such a beautiful actress, with her whole career ahead of her. And that bow!

Stacey Fitzgerald’s Amazing Lilac Girls Video Filmed at The Bellamy Ferriday House

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When Stacey Fitzgerald, documentary filmmaker extraordinaire suggested we shoot a short video about how Lilac Girls: A Novel came to be, while she shot footage for her upcoming documentary Saving the Rabbits (the story behind Lilac Girls-how Caroline Ferriday helped a group of Polish women who’d survived experiments at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp) I jumped at the chance.

The footage, shot by Director of Photography Jimmy Collins is extraordinary and shows The Bellamy-Ferriday House at its most beautiful. I hope you enjoy watching it! https://youtu.be/brxXY6jxgQA

Stacey’s documentary is due out this spring…find out more about it here: rememberravensbruck.com/filmaker

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The Amazing Portrait of Caroline Ferriday Returns Home to The Bellamy-Ferriday House

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Last April I visited The Bellamy-Ferriday House in Bethlehem, Ct., Caroline’s lovely country home she and her family called The Hay. I turned the corner in her bedroom, a room I’d been to many times since I first started researching Caroline’s life for Lilac Girls and stopped in my tracks. On the lovely wallpapered wall was an oil portrait newly-donated to the house, painted of Caroline as a young woman. It was truly startling, as if Caroline was there in the room. The portrait is not signed but it is very nicely done and really captures Caroline’s beauty.

I revisited the portrait this past June when we were at the house shooting Stacey Fitzgerald’s documentary about the true story behind Lilac Girls. Dorothy Ambruso, one of the incredibly knowledgable house tour guides, told me visitors who take the house tour tell her they think Caroline looks like a famous actress onscreen today. Any thoughts on who they might be mentioning? Who does she look like to you?