Area 9.7 ha | Phone +1 978-983-8545 | |
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Hours Open today · 9AM–4PMFriday9AM–4PMSaturday9AM–4PMSunday9AM–4PMMonday9AM–4PMTuesday9AM–4PMWednesday9AM–4PMThursday9AM–4PM Management Department of Conservation and Recreation Similar Tenney Castle Gatehouse, Searles High School, Nevins Memorial Library, Searles Castle, First Baptist Church | ||
Greycourt State Park (alternately Grey Court) is a 24-acre (9.7 ha) Massachusetts state park located in Methuen, built atop the restored ruins of the Charles H. Tenney estate. The park is a satellite of Lawrence Heritage State Park. Department of Conservation and Recreation staff works closely with the Methuen Public Works department who look after it on a daily basis. The Tenney Castle Gatehouse is associated with this property and it is under special permit with the Methuen Historical Society.
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Grey Court
Grey Court (aka Tenney Castle), designed by Carrère and Hastings, prominent New York architects, was the centerpiece of the Charles Tenney's 75-acre (30 ha) rolling estate. Begun in 1890 and completed two years later, the mansion was modeled after Château d'Yquem, the ancestral seat of Montaigne, and served as the Tenney family's summer home. Ernest W. Bowditch, designed the grounds. He had laid out several estates in Newport, Rhode Island, including Marble House, W. K. Vanderbilt's estate; designed Tuxedo Park in New York; and landscaped Colgate University. His designs for Grey Court's surrounds won a prestigious horticultural prize in 1902.
From New England Families (1913):
The town of Methuen, Massachusetts, where he makes his home in summer, has been largely benefited by his generosity. This picturesque little town has been greatly beautified by Mr. Tenney. His magnificent estate, laid out by modern landscape artists, is a beautiful park in itself and is always open to the public. The mansion, modeled after the Chateau Yquem, the ancestral seat of the great Montaigne, crowns a sightly hill, and is approached by a winding driveway, a mile long. Southwest of the mansion is an unenclosed quadrangle in the Italian style, two sides of which form an open corridor, its roof supported upon pillars of richly colored marble. The view from the hill overlooking the city of Lawrence and the Andovers is superb.
Gatehouse
Now home to the Methuen Historical Society and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tenney Gatehouse was originally a rough stone farmhouse built by Richard Whittier in 1830. Tenney purchased it in 1882 and remodeled to become the entry point to Greycourt.
State park
On January 11, 2001, the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court approved $1,750,000 for the rehabilitation and repair of the Greycourt State Park, including public safety improvements and courtyard renovations. The park is a satellite unit of Lawrence Heritage State Park, offers wooded walking trails and scenic landscape, and is open dawn to dusk. The park hosts city activities such as the annual Fall Festivals and other events.