Communication Associate: Public Relations | Lori Melton | lmelton@d.umn.edu | (218) 726-8830
May 7, 2013 Lucie Amundsen | Glensheen, the historic Congdon estate | 218 726-8921 | lamundse@d.umn.edu
34 Years at 3300 London Road: Glensheen's Complimentary Community Day
The Congdon Estate Offers Free Standard House Tours this Friday
Glensheen will be offering free standard house tours on Friday, May
24, 2013. This celebrates the 34th anniversary of the Congdon's home opening to the public and
the estate's return to summer hours of 7 days a week. The complimentary community day begins
at 9:30 a.m. and the last tour starts at 4 p.m. Tickets can be picked up in the ticket house, located
at the base of Glensheen's parking lot, beginning at 9 a.m.
"Downtown Abbey isn't the only beautiful estate with colorful characters," says Lucie Amundsen,
interim director of marketing at Glensheen. "Too many local people have never been to
Glensheen, or not since their 5th grade fieldtrip. It's time to come back, explore and hear the
story."
In addition to tours, Glensheen's Community Day also features kite-flying demonstrations, kites
for sale in the Glensheen museum shop, book signings by "Secrets of the Congdon Mansion"
author Joe Kimball and an events open house in the winter garden.
The standard house tours will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.Tour manager Bree
Mattson recommends arriving early, as the limited number of tickets is often spoken for by early
afternoon.
The first Community Day started back in 1979 fulfilling Chester and Clara Congdon's vision of
Glensheen becoming an "educational and cultural resource." Long lines of people stretched
through the estate on Glensheen's first day as a historic house museum. Since that day, more
than 2-million people have toured Glensheen.
Glensheen was built for the family of Chester and Clara Congdon between 1905 and 1908 and
bequeathed to the University of Minnesota in 1968.
In addition to house and garden tours, Glensheen hosts sublime public and private events,
including weddings. Summer hours start May 24 with tours throughout the day starting at 9:30 am
and running to 4:00 p.m. Site hours are 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Our event calendar is available at
www.glensheen.org. (218) 726-8910, info@glensheen.org.
UMD News Releases