'I didn’t have to buy a plate, although I’ve certainly added my fair share.' Martha - who spends part of July and August here as well as long weekends throughout the year - told AD: 'I look at myself as the caretaker of an American treasure.'Īnd she certainly has a lot of Ford's original treasures, with the family before her selling the home with everything in it 'right down to cabinets and shelves filled with the Fords’ silver, glassware, china, and linens'. Martha is often spotted riding along the trails. The Rockefeller family helped to develop the carriage roads in the area.

With only one other family ever laying claiming to the home, who bought it from the Fords in the Eighties and sold it to Martha in 1997, the queen of the lifestyle empire has dedicated to adding her own personal touches while persevering it as a touchstone of America design and history.Ĭandler was a favorite architect of the Rockefeller family who resided in nearby Mount Desert Island in Maine. The property also has an indoor squash court, mechanics' garage, greenhouse, stable and a 200-seat Catholic church. Greenery: Patrick Chassé, a landscape architect specializing in historic landscapes, reconstruction of natural plant communities, and design of new gardens helped Martha to make her Maine paradise boom It is certainly an impressive one with the main house featuring 12 bedrooms, a floral arrangement room and a Great Hall, plus there are numerous outbuildings throughout the grounds which are, like Maine, a mix of rocky outcrops and lush wooded areas, with refection pools and natural stone paved patios. He married Edith Stebbins, a Seal Harbor summer girl.Įdsel, the son of Henry Ford, and the president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 until his death 1943, loved the property which sits high on a hill that looks over Seal Harbor.įord built the house as a summer retreat for his family and many of the original furnishings and family photos still grace the home, which Martha has owned since 1997. It is no wonder the doyen of entertaining, describes the property - which is located on the northeasternmost state in the US - as her 'favourite place'.Ĭalled Skylands, the 63 acre estate was completed in 1925 architect Duncan Candler and landscape designer Jens Jensen for Edsel Ford and his wife, Eleanor.Ĭandler was a popular and well-connected architect among the Gilded Age families.

Historic property: The 63 acre estate was completed in 1925 for auto-engineering visionary Edsel Ford (pictured in the 1930s)

Perfect Feet by Stuart Mogul