Thoughtful musings on various topics by interesting people at Blithewold
Not Their First Pandemic – Remembering the Spanish Flu
The Pardee Family and the Flu Pandemic of 1918 With no effective drugs or vaccines to treat the killer flue epidemic of 1918, citizens were ordered to wear masks, and schools, theaters, and business closed. … Read more.
A Letter from Ario Pardee to His Two Young Sons at Boarding School, March 1851
A Letter of Guidance When Ario Pardee married his second wife, Anna Maria Robison in 1848, his domestic life became painfully stressful. His two sons from his first wife, Ario Jr. and Calvin, resented their … Read more.
The Pardees
The name Pardee is derived from the French oath par Dieu which was Anglicised to Parde, Pardy, Pardie, and ultimately to Pardieu and Pardee. Around 1530 these families were living in the Normandy region of … Read more.
An Evening at the Opera
An Evening at the Opera, 1912 Bessie and William McKee spent their winters in Boston at their large, elegant townhouse on Commonwealth Avenue. Among their favorite entertainments was the Opera. They were members of the Boston … Read more.
Time to tell
One of the things that sets Blithewold apart from other summer cottages in Rhode Island (aside from the grounds of course) are our extensive archives. The family left a priceless treasure of decades worth of … Read more.