Hillwood Museum and Gardens

This magnificent estate of Post cereal heiress, businesswoman, and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post includes the beautiful mansion, where she lived from 1955 until her death in 1973, and 13 acres of gardens. The Georgian-style manse is filled with Post’s collections of art and artifacts from 18th-century France and 18th- and 19th-century Russia, from Fabergé eggs to tapestries. The spectacular gardens include a Japanese-style plot, a Russian dacha, a French parterre, and a pet cemetery. A rather nice conclusion to your visit here is lunch, or on Sundays, afternoon tea, at Hillwood’s Café, especially spring through fall, when the Café opens its terrace overlooking the gardens.