Video Gallery

Introduction Video

Transcript of video:

THE BRIDGES HOUSE STYLES BRIDGES
BARBARA BRIDGES: Styles Bridges was born in 1898 in West Pembroke, Maine, which is way up in Maine by Eastport. He was the oldest child of Earle and Alina Bridges. And they had a little farm that he helped out with. And unfortunately his father died when he was only nine so he took on more of the responsibilities around the house being the oldest of three children.

He was a good student all through school and he went on to study animal husbandry at the University of Maine Orono. He found his way to New Hampshire where he found work for the Farm Bureau as a county agent. And that’s probably where he got the start of his political career, he traveled the state speaking to farm groups and met a lot of the local politicians and was just really popular at what he did. And it was in 1935 that he ran for governor. And funny story the Democrat he ran against was pretty popular but the French Canadiens in West Manchester wanted another bridge. So Styles Bridges said ‘I’ll build you another bridge’ and he won the election. He served one term as governor and then ran for the senate. And was successful in his bid for the senate. He was the go to negotiator and could work out deals and he was very friendly with Lyndon Johnson back then and they worked together on a number of issues. He was a real popular politician. And I was surprised, I never knew him but I can remember listening to a video of him when he was on Meet the Press and I guess my jaw kind of dropped when he started talking because he had a very  strong down Maine accent and I wasn’t prepared for that. I had heard about this very successful politician and when he talked he had not lost that accent. 

He was frugal and those were the values that he had and that in instilled in his kids. I wished I had met him, I heard wonderful stories about him.

He married Dolores who was his third wife and they bought this house. And he sold the little farmhouse up the street, and he lived here with Dolores. It was his wish that the house would be left to the state to be used as a governor’s residence. When he was governor, he realized there was no house for the governor and back in the day if a governor was traveling from the North country, it was more than just an hour or two drive, it was an all day thing so he wanted a place for a governor to come and stay. 

He left the house and all of its contents to the people of New Hampshire. The family followed his wishes and in 1969 they dedicated the house and everything in it.

I think he would be thrilled with most of it, I think he’d think this room was too fancy. He would’ve liked the barn still.

THE BRIDGES HOUSE CONNECTING THE PAST

VALERIE SUNUNU: When Chris was a little boy and his dad was governor, they came to the Bridges House for events, which is traditionally how the house was used. Of course everyone knows the Sununus were a family of ten, and they would never fit in a three bedroom house, one of the bedrooms being small enough for a crib. So they wouldn’t live here but they would use this house to host and he has a lot of stories about hanging out on the property while his dad was hosting a Easter event or a Christmas party and he always said it was a little spooky because it wasn’t the beautiful house that you see now that’s lived in. 

GOV CHRISTOPHER SUNUNU : So growing up it was different, there was a lot of campaign stuff out of here, looking back I would never think to bring a campaign site to the bridges house but back then it was a different time. We stored a lot of things here, out of the State House. I remember coming in on a Sunday and seeing my father’s staff watching football games here cause they were working a lot on the weekends and they’d come over and they’d watch a football game and then head back to the State House. It was just a little more flexible that way.

DR. SUSAN LYNCH : I came to an event here when Governor Shaheen was in office, and I remember thinking I’ve always been attracted to old houses and antiques and history. And I remember thinking this is such a beautiful house, with such an interesting past, and it’s just falling into ruin, its dilapidated, and by the time John came into office which was a number of years later, 2005, the house was just deplorable. And I remember he said to me it’d be really fun to let the kids have a sleepover at Bridges House, we can use it anyway we want, and I remember thinking are you kidding me? I think the place is a public health hazard. And it was really really sad. 

And when I thought about the Bridges family and their incredible generosity, they donated this home with  nearly eleven acres of land, all of the contents including some very valuable antiques, to the state to be used ask the governor’s residence. And I though how sad that this family made such an incredible donation and we have just let it go. And not only have we let it go, it’s not being used, people aren’t seeing it, people aren’t seeing the beautiful things inside of it, all these pieces of history. It’s just rotting away. So to me it was shameful and I felt like there was no other course other than try to embark upon getting this house renovated and getting it used again the way it was supposed to be. 
The first thing I did was draw on various people I knew both inside of and outside of state government and people I knew that cared about history, people who knew about buildings, who knew about renovations. Van McCloud, who we just celebrated the naming of a building in state government in Concord for him, he was instrumental, he championed history and culture and this was a piece of our history and culture. 

We finally got a group of people together brainstormed, we finally decided it was time to start a 501C3 non profit organization and I called on all the surviving former first spouses to come together to incorporate this and I really felt very strongly that this needed to be not just a bipartisan effort or bipartisan place but a nonpartisan effort. I found that kind of support among the former first spouses and we all worked together, we incorporated it, a number of us have served on the board of directors either as honorary or active board members. And then we set about building our Board and starting the incredible uphill slog to raise the money for this project.

CHRIS SUNUNU: We used to love the Christmas tree lightings and that’s a great tradition that’s been going on for decades here. Unfortunately when I became governor one of the first things I did, I drove up the driveway and I looked and the Christmas tree was in pretty rough shape, it was dying. We brought someone in and asked how can make sure we can bring the tree back and they said, you just can’t. We had to cut the old Christmas Tree down but we brought a new one in, a fifteen footer that’s out there and that will live for decades to come hopefully. So that was a little tough to see the old Christmas tree be cut down because I do have  lot of memories doing the Christmas tree lighting around that. With new things comes new opportunities. 

BRIDGES HOUSE REVITALIZATION

SUSAN: First of all this had to be a home that was true to New Hampshire. So if you visit governors’ mansions in other states and you can actually go to, most states have them, some states have multiple governor’s houses. And they truly are mansions. That’s not who we are here in New Hampshire so I felt the house needed to be a part of who we are. It needed to be a part of who it is. Being built in the 1830s we had to be true to its character, however, there had been a number of modifications over the years, by the Bridges family by the Thomsens who were the first governor and first lady to occupy the house and actually live here. So we couldn’t just restore it, it couldn’t be the original house that was built by Mr Graham. We had to keep the elements intact that were historical but make it a usable place, make it a place we could use for state government, for public education, and other kinds of events that we wanted to have here. Those were the guiding principles: trying to keep it true to its history, true to the spirit of New Hampshire, and give it as much function as possible. 

John Bridges who was Styles’ youngest son who passed away sadly before we completed the construction. He was quite an advocate and he worked very hard with me to raise the money and he would say, after I’ve spoken to a group that was considering making a contribution, ‘This is exactly what my father would have wanted.’ 

VALERIE: These are a bunch of people who really care about New Hampshire history and really take pride in it. We have this cognitive dissonance about us in New Hampshire we take pride in that we’re really laid back. This house it’s not austere, its not a mansion. We won’t call it that, it’s the governor’s residence, yet at the same time maybe we didn’t take as good care of the things that are valuable to our history that we should have. But as soon as you couch it in New Hampshire pride, that this is something of great value to us as granite staters, then people feel more compelled to value it and take care of it. But nothing about it is austere, there’s no regality to politics in New Hampshire, it’s really public service, and so you have to be ready for it, and in respecting that, one of the first things we did when we came in was clean the basement, and clean the closets, because anybody knows that a home you really live in accumulates things. 

BARBARA BRIDGES: I finally sent out an email to all the family and tracked as many of them down as I could, and they came from Chicago, Florida, New York City, Maine, upper New York state, Massachusetts, we had grand kids and great grandkids and I think a couple of great-great grand kids. It was a  wonderful day and everyone was thrilled about the house. Some hadn’t seen it, some hadn’t seen the remodel. It was just a nice, nice day for everybody reminiscing. 
Obviously I’m proud of the fact that I am a part of this family. And this historical home is important to the state, and I think the whole family that was once things that was expressed Saturday, they were so proud to get together and to gather in this house that means so much to the family. The state has now preserved this for the future and for future generations. And I think they like that it’s been opened to the public. And being taken care of. They  were all aware of the state that it was in.  You have to see it nowadays. 

I’d hoped that Susan Lynch would’ve be there on Saturday and I know a lot of them expressed their gratitude to her for taking on this project. She could have just walked away, it was a little overwhelming I’m sure. They were all very appreciative of what she did. 

THE BRIDGES HOUSE NEW HAMPSHIRE’S HOUSE

VALERIE SUNUNU: Chris makes it a priority to put the family first, so one of the things we immediately did to the house was put in a basketball hoop and cornhole.
CHRIS SUNUNU: I bult a basketball net. Between 9pm and 1 in the morning, I was sitting in the Great Room a few months ago, I was putting together a basketball net by myself, but I was doing it in a way that I didn’t scratch the floor or ding anything. That was quite an exercise to do that and then to actually get it lifted in the middle of the night.

VALERIE: We brought Leo’s little train set and it was nice because the Bridges family had a family reunion and there were plenty of families here to use the toys. It’s nice because it feels friendly and open and ‘come one, come all’.

CHRIS: My wife doesn’t do anything halfheartedly so just to understand what the Board was and what the Bridges House was, Valerie is not very political at all, so just understanding what this house was and how it worked, she had to figure all that out. But once she realized what it was an what an asset it could be, she just started brimming with ideas, as a former school teacher, it all started coming out again. She gets really into the weeds, she gets right into the details and I think it has inspired others to bring some ideas to the table about what it could be today but what it could be tomorrow. 

The house itself is in really good shape right now so I don’t think we need any major renovations going forward. Some folks have had some ideas about what do with the outside. There's a beautiful patio out there now. There was an idea of bringing in some benches or bringing in some-- I had the idea of bringing in the state tree from each of the New England states and putting them in the front lawn. So just better ways to keep highlighting the history that we have here in the state of New Hampshire and some of the shared experiences from our surrounding neighbors. Really make it an educational place so that when the kid come, when the people come, they can really experience New Hampshire as a whole.

VALERIE: If I had come I at a different time and the idea was to renovate the house, I bet I wouldn’t’ve been as involved in the project, or I would  have found my own lane to participate. I just happened to come in a at the right time, it’s serendipity that I would be here right at a time when the board was ready to do all of this outreach. I am benefiting from all of the hard work of the people who made this house such a great place to gather.

THE BRIDGES HOUSE LOOKING FORWARD

VALERIE: It’s serendipity the time that we came into the house. It’s not within my wheelhouse  to renovate. I wouldn’t have taken on Susan’s project, that’s not on my radar. I don’t decorate but I really love the idea of having a place where people can gather.

SUSAN: It make me feel great. And what makes me feel even greater is to see this house being used in so many ways. It’s open to the public for a number of occasions. It’s being used by the governor and by other state officials, We’re offering tours here, we are now working on green project, partnering with various groups. It’s just fantastic. 
CHRIS: I’ve used it a couple times but really we want to keep it open. We really want to--every governor’s different. We really want to open it up, it’s a great asset. Susan Lynch and John Lynch did a great job rebuilding it. It’s a beautiful house with beautiful accessibility. We want people to enjoy it and be able to utilize it. Whether it’s a nonprofit organization, a state agency, locally, whatever it might be, if we can accommodate in terms of the schedule and open it up and let people experience part of the history of New Hampshire. I think it’s a great opportunity.

VALERIE: We recently met with an organization who wants to partner with the Friends of the Bridges House to set up an educational apiary.  They are going to fund the hives and they’re going to man the hives and we’re going to benefit with the honey and having the bees here, and I’m going to include it in this piece on education when groups come to explore the house and learn about the history, they can also learn about this important piece of our environment here in New Hampshire and our community so were going to learn about bees and how they are part of our ecosystem and how important they are. There’s also a history to the bees because Steve Merrill kept bees here on the property too so I’m just happy to bring it back. 

CHRIS: I will tell you because we want to keep it open, part of that is bringing schools in and bringing school kids in to the see the history and experience to see it, touch it, feel it.

VALERIE: It’s Important to have the doors to the Bridges House open not because it’s the rule but because its our nature. We have to remind ourselves of our nature at granite staters that yes we’re very involved in the political season and we all know that the first nation primary is a great source of pride for us but we’re really all neighbors. New Hampshire is a small state, everybody knows each other. You have to move on and you have to get along. It feels like a great place where different groups of people can get together. It’s not a place to exclude or to feel like any groups are left out, it’s a great place at the heart of the state to include all. In any capacity it’s very inclusive.