Sanfilippo Mansion

May 18, 2916

The Vagabonds took a trip today to Barrington, IL, for a tour of the Sanfilippo mansion and its collection of music players, organs, stained glass, Tiffany, railroad cars, and even a carousel.  Peter was at the Watertown Plank P&R at 8:30 a.m.; I got picked up at the College Ave. P&R at 9:00.  We had a full bus for the trip arranged by Helen Hankwitz.

We got to Barrington at about 10:30 a.m. and shopped the mall, which was a converted dairy.  We met at 11:30 a.m. for lunch at Chesse's.  Peter and I had pork with mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked vegetables.  There was also some nice crusty warm bread on the table along with salad.  We had a little time to walk to the Main Street before the bus left at 1:00 p.m. for the mansion.

We were greeted by our guide who took us through very many musical players, collected through the years Jasper Sanfilippo, who made fortune in the nut industry.  They are second only to Planters' in the distribution of nuts, with factories in a number of cities in the US, and now in China.  The architecture of the building was simply beautiful, showing off all of these instruments.  Our guide demonstrated many of them, talking about their unique features.  There was a lot of standing while he talked, which would have been a problem with anyone with walking and standing problems.  Some people sat on the stairs, there was also seating in some of the rooms we went into.  The theatre organ is played digitally and I'm glad I took out my hearing aids.  Phantom of the Opera filled the theatre with its volume.  We had to take the bus to another building that housed the carousel and the site for their fund raising functions. 

The artistry of this mansion was magnificent.  Nothing was left out that didn't enhance the entire experience