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Two years after Mr. Lincoln's death in 1926, Mary Harlan Lincoln donated the telescope to Burr & Burton Seminary, the local secondary school. Hildene's empty observatory was then used as a smokehouse and storage facility for several decades before falling into disrepair. In 1984 a challenge grant was awarded to Friends of Hildene, Inc. for the observatory's restoration. The goal was exceeded in less than a month. In 1992 Lincoln's six inch Brashear refractor was returned to Hildene along with the original observing chair.
See Also
Hartness House Trip
