“They had never seen such a country place before. The natural park of pines, oaks, great forest trees stretches for acres in every direction.”
On their annual outings to Stonehurst, Boston workers and their families toured the house, grounds and farm outbuildings while others “spent the time in roaming about the vast estate.”

Quote: “A Day in Pleasant Places, Wells Memorial Outing Club has a little holiday,” Boston Herald, July 16, 1893. Image: Stonehurst aerial photo, November 1928. Stonehurst Archives.

“One rides for nearly a mile through the extensive grounds, the avenue walled by trees and shrubs… The grounds undulate pleasantly and after passing tennis courts, croquet plats and a conservatory, the visitor alights at the entrance of the house.”

Quote: “A Costly Home.: The Elegant Estate of R.T. Paine at Waltham,” Boston Evening Record, 8 October 1892. Photo by Thomas M. Lang, 1970s. Stonehurst Archives.

“The house shall seem in approaching it…to be standing in the midst or on the edge of a wild forest.”

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips regarding Moraine Farm, March 6, 1882. Image: Stonehurst from the south field, 1939. Stonehurst Archives.

“Nothing shall be seen of the…outlook or of the lawn or finished ground from the approach.”

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., to John C. Phillips, March 6, 1882, regarding Moraine Farm. Image: Stonehurst drive, heading north, 1950. Stonehurst Archives.

The house is “to have the character…of a forest lodge for the summer…the more bold, rustic and weatherproof the better.”

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips regarding Moraine Farm, May 11, 1880. Image: Stonehurst from the northeast, ca. 1905. Stonehurst Archives.

“I should have dense forest right up to and about the house, with only such breaks and openings as would come of themselves in seeking convenience and comfort.”
Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips regarding Moraine Farm, March 6, 1882. Image: Stonehurst from the north, 1927. Stonehurst Archives.

“I…would have a stranger arrive and enter the house without suspicion of the broad and extended views in its…south [and west] overlooks; the unexpectedness of them…being its most striking distinction from the common run of villas and country seats.”
Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips, March 6, 1882, regarding Moraine Farm. Image: Stonehurst carriage entrance from the north, 1949. Stonehurst Archives.

“The house [should] be set high…supported by a terrace boldly projected, following natural lines, country made and highly picturesque in its outline and material.”

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillps, May 11, 1880 regarding Moraine Farm. Image: Stonehurst and its terrace nearing completion, 1886. Stonehurst Archives.

Relaxing on his terrace, Mr. Paine could “look around at all the things he has always loved so much—his pine trees, the glacial rock, the sun-dial, the big boulders of the terrace stone-wall and even the crows cawing around—all seems so full of him.”

Quote: Emily Lyman Storer to Edith Storer, ALS, August 10, 1910. Stonehurst Archives. Photo: Robert Treat Paine on the Stonehurst terrace, ca. 1905. Stonehurst Archives.

“The lawn, terrace and the part of the house opening upon them shall appear all one affair…so that in going or looking from it, you will seem to be everywhere going or looking into an outer world.”

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips, March 6, 1882 regarding Moraine Farm. Image: View of the South Field from the Stonehurst terrace, 1949. Stonehurst Archives.

“Near the terrace at the south of the house is noticed a very smooth, large rock, covering about 50 square feet. The rock has been nearly all bared by Mr. Paine… [It] is as smooth as if almost sand-papered and is covered with parallel scratches showing the course of the glacier.”

Quote: “A Costly Home: The Elegant Estate of R.T. Paine in Waltham,” Boston Evening Record, 8 October, 1892. Image: "Young Mountaineers" on Glacier Rock, ca. 1900. Stonehurst Archives.

“When he got the first tennis set in America—as I think he told us—he saved four girls who were beginning to get pretty restive under the somewhat inactive Waltham life.”

The Stonehurst tennis court dates from at least as early as 1876, but probably postdates what is widely accepted as first tennis court in America at the Staten Island Cricket Club (1874).

Quote: Annie Sears quoted in Sarah Cushing Paine. Paine Ancestry: The Famly of Robert Treat Paine (1912). Image: George Paine and friends on the Stonehurst tennis court. Stonehurst Archives.

“Each of the prize winners since 1900 has been bred in my own yards. A large number of chickens being raised each year, with free range to give vigor and vitality.”
This staged photo of head gardener Walter Clark promoted the sale of prize-winning Silver Spangled Hamburg chickens raised at the Paine Estate.

Quote: “Robert Treat Paine, Jr., Breeder of Silver Spangled Hamburgs, Yards at Waltham, Walter B. Clark, Superintendent.” pamphlet in Stonehurst Archives. Photo of Walter Clark in the South Field at Stonehurst, early 20th century. Stonehurst Archives.

“Our grandfather Victor Landstrom worked on the estates as gardener, landscaper and handyman, … farming the land and providing milk, eggs, butter and produce….”

Quote: Ada, Pearl and Ruth Landstrom, “Memories of Ethel Lyman Paine Moors,” Heath Herald, June/July 2007. Image: Victor Landstrom atop a haywain in the south field of Stonehurst. Stonehurst Archives.

Of this terrace, Olmsted wrote to Paine, “I have never done any of the kind I liked as much.”

Olmsted also encouraged Paine to visit Franklin Park to see the Overlook during construction to get a better understanding of what he had in mind for the terrace overlook in Waltham.

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to Robert Treat Paine, 5 November 1885. Library of Congress. Image: Mrs. Paine on the Stonehurst terrace, looking west, 1890s. Stonehurst Archives.

“I don’t object to the cutting away of certain bramble patches if other brambles are to take their place—or anything that will appear spontaneous and not need watering or care. More mowing or dug ground I object to. Less wilderness and disorder I object to.”

The low maintenance naturalistic landscape envisioned by Olmsted incorporated vines into the stone wall of the terrace. In the 20th century, the Paine family added turf and high maintenance flowering shrubs and beds.

Quote. Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John Charles Olmsted possibly about Fairsted, September 12, 1884. Photo of Stonehurst terrace, 1950. Stonehurst Archives.

“I have enjoyed at odd times trying to create beauty out of a juniper hillside by the use of trees, shrubs and plants.”

The naturalistic Olmstedian landscape of the 19th century gave way to the Gardenesque Period in the 20th century when the next generation of Paines planted showy specimen flowers in abundance.

Quote: “Robert Treat Paine, Jr.,” Harvard College, Class of 1888, Class Report, 1938. Photo, 1950. Stonehurst Archives.

“If the gardener shows himself outside the walls, off with his head.”

At Stonehurst, a cutting garden, vegetable garden and orchard were hidden from the main vistas, behind and to the north of the complex of outbuildings.

Quote: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. to John C. Phillips, May 11, 1880, regarding Moraine Farm. Image: Stonehurst vegetable garden with peonies, 1928. Stonehurst Archives.

“I got to know grandpa. He had me memorize and give the Gettysburg Address…. I was leaning against the barn door and he was out near the grape arbor and I had to bellow out the Gettysburg Address; took about five hours. That was how he and I got along.”

Quote: Robert Treat Paine Storer, Jr. oral history. Photo of his mother’s generation by the grape arbor, early 20th century. Stonehurst Archives.

“Can you not come over to Waltham Saturday as early as convenient & give me a lesson in forestry—how to cut—what to leave, &c.”

Quote: Robert Treat Paine to Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., September 30, 1884. Photo by Thomas P. Lang, 1970s. Stonehurst Archives.

“The gate led to a simple walk through the nearby wood which she called her ‘morning walk.’ Early memories of Mrs. [Ethel Paine] Moors were of her dressed in walking shoes, a longish skirt, and a scarf on her head, walking through the woods.”

Today, thousands of daily visitors enjoy miles of ancient woodland footpaths and cartpaths across this estate.

Quote: Ada, Pearl and Ruth Landstrom, “Memories of Ethel Lyman Paine Moors,” Heath Herald, June/July 2007. Image: Estate of Robert Treat Paine, 1907, Stonehurst Archives