Corbin’s Animal Garden

Presenter: Mary Kronenwetter

In the late 1800s, the banking, railroad, and real estate mogul Austin Corbin returned to his hometown in Newport, New Hampshire. He built a grand estate and bought out his neighbors’ farms to create an 22,000 acre wildlife game preserve stocked with boar, bison, bighorn sheep, antelope, elk, Chinese pheasant, and other imported animals. The grounds eventually became a prestigious private hunting park and hosted illustrious guests including Theodore Roosevelt, the Prince of Wales, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Joe Dimaggio, Rudyard Kipling, and Augustus Saint Gaudens. This illustrated slideshow features archival images and a discussion of the complicated history and legacy of New Hampshire’s own American Gilded Age robber baron. The talk will also highlight the important legacy of the role the Corbin family and park naturalist Ernest Baynes played in the saving of the American bison from extinction.

 

Join us as we celebrate 50 years of bringing the humanities to your community!

Event Details

When:

Wednesday, April 9, 2025 6:00pm

Where:

Chosen Vale Performance Center
410 NH Route 4A
Enfield NH 03748

Hosted By:

Enfield Public Library

Contact Info:

Nancy Fontaine, 603-632-7145