Discovering George Foster Peabody with Glenn Underwood

Glenn Underwood is an artist, author, and historian from Upstate New York whose family operates Twin Birches Cottages in Lake George, a property that stands on the former grounds of Abenia, the summer estate of banker and philanthropist George Foster Peabody. In 2017, Underwood began a research journey at the New York Public Library’s Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room for Rare Books and Manuscripts, where he examined the Yaddo Records and George Foster Peabody files. What began as an effort to find photographs or documents connecting Peabody to the land now home to Twin Birches soon evolved into a much larger discovery. Through Peabody’s letters and correspondence with family, friends, governors, presidents, and leading cultural figures of his era, Underwood uncovered the story of a man whose influence extended far beyond Lake George, shaping Saratoga Springs, New York State, and even the nation. Over the past eight years, Underwood has meticulously researched and documented… View Source