ON THE HUNT
The ancient sport of fox hunting still has practitioners – even if foxes are no longer among them
With a call of “tally ho!,” the chase was on at Chase Farm Park on Saturday morning. Horses and hounds alike combed the sprawling fields of the Great Road estate, seeking to find an elusive fox.
But while there were no actual foxes used in Saturday’s Fox Hunt and Luncheon, everything else – from the horses and hounds to the period costumes worn by volunteers – was as authentic as stepping into the era of English aristocrats.
Kathy Hartley, president of the Friends of Hearthside, said that her phone was still ringing on Saturday morning from people curious to see if there were any last-minute tickets for sale. Unfortunately for those who were dialing Hartley, tickets had long been sold out, as Saturday’s spectacle was at capacity with more than 40 attendees in the audience.
This was the second straight year in which Hearthside House Museum hosted the fox hunt. Hartley said people were intrigued by last summer’s inaugural event, noting that some said, “Oh a fox hunt! That sounds different.”
“You can see the best in equestrian skills, riders, trained hounds and horses...” Hartley said. “It’s wonderful. There’s a lot of intrigue. How many times do you see a fox hunt?”
Leslie Cashel, secretary of the Tanheath Hunt Club of southern New England, explained that a figure-eightshaped course was mapped out over the sprawling land of Chase Farm Park, on which 10 horses and seven hounds would hunt simulated foxes in addition to leaping over five jumps.
The huntsmen led the hounds onto the fields Saturday morning, followed shortly thereafter by the horses and riders.
“It’s not a hunt,” Cashel explained, as no real foxes were hunted on Saturday. “It’s a spectacle. It’s a spectacle and an education.”
“Word’s gotten out, people like to see the hounds ... People don’t get to see this ... This is unique,” Cashel said.
But in addition to the uniqueness of the fox hunt, what drew a full crowd on Saturday morning was the tie-in to the British histori- cal drama series “Downton Abbey.”
Hartley sees the preservation of Hearthside House as Rhode Island’s own version of Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the main filming location for the series. The castle was in disrepair but thanks to millions of dollars in repairs from English novelist Julian Fellowes, the creator of “Downton Abbey,” the castle has now seen a significant increase in visitors and has become a popular tourist attraction.
“We can relate to the preservation of Hearthside House...” Hartley said. “Preserving the historic build- ings and landscape serves as a backdrop to history.”
“It’s very special to do this event ... This was my playground growing up,” Hartley explained. “My maiden name is Chase. This was all my ancestors’ land.”
Among the fans of “Downton Abbey” who attended Saturday’s simulated hunt was former equestrian and Tanheath Hunt Club member Marcia Ferro.
An Uxbridge, Mass. resident, Ferro said she was most excited to see the horses and hounds, saying the hunts are both “exhilarating to do and watch.”
“It’s beautiful to watch in their red jackets, the horses are spotless, and the traditional tea after the hunt is fun,” Ferro said.
But she said that even as a former rider, watching club members participate on Saturday left her with no ill feelings.
“Bittersweet? Oh, it’s just a sweet, totally sweet day,” she said.
As for the connection to “Downton Abbey,” Ferro answered the question of whether she was a fan with an affirmative “Oh, absolutely!”
“I always looked forward to when they’d hunt ... It was authentic and it captures the hunt,” she said of when a fox hunt would be featured on the program.
An elegant luncheon followed Saturday’s festivities, as attendees dined on maple baked ham, roasted turkey, poached salmon, and assorted hors d’oeuvres while discussing their favorite moments from the television series and anticipating the upcoming release of the “Downton Abbey” film adaptation. ter reaching a high of about 910,000 as the hurricane plowed into the coast. Utilities said some outages could last for weeks.
In Goldsboro, North Carolina, home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, roads that frequently flood were already closed Saturday by rushing water. Dozens of electric repair trucks massed to respond to damage expected to hit central North Carolina as rainwater collected into rivers headed to the coast.
Duke Energy said heavy rains caused a slope to collapse at a coal ash landfill at a closed power station outside Wilmington late Saturday, but there was no indication contamination had drained into the nearby Cape Fear River. The company initially estimated that about 2,000 cubic yards (1,530 cubic meters) of ash were displaced at the landfill, enough to fill about 180 dump trucks. Sheehan said that estimate could be revised.
Near the flooded-out town of New Bern , where about 455 people had to be rescued from the swirling flood waters, water completely surrounded churches, businesses and homes. In the neighboring town of Trenton, downtown streets were turned to creeks full of brown water.