There’s something new in the Longyear Museum lobby! Earlier this week, in the niche where Mary Baker Eddy’s Brougham carriage resides, a brand-new mural was installed. Now, a beautiful photograph of the entrance to Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy’s former home in Concord, New Hampshire, provides a dramatic backdrop that helps to tell more fully the story of her daily carriage ride.
A gift to Longyear in 2016 from The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, the Brougham carriage was custom-built for Mrs. Eddy while she was living at Pleasant View. Each day at one o’clock sharp, Calvin Frye would escort Mrs. Eddy to its door, and groundskeeper John Salchow would be there to hold the horses. Often, Mrs. Eddy would have peanuts and candies put up in little bags to give to children that she passed en route. Her daily drive meant many things – it was a time for prayer, for a quiet respite from her tasks as Leader (she once referred to her carriage ride as “a one-hour cheery vacation from the desk”)1 – and the outing also gave assurance to a curious public that, despite persistent rumors, she was still very much at the helm of the Christian Science movement.
With the addition of this lovely mural, visitors can now see the Brougham carriage as it once would have looked, coming and going from its original residence at Pleasant View.
