Read. Write. Listen. Create.

I recently visited Filoli, a historic home in Woodside, California. I have been following them on Instagram for a while now and was so excited to finally see it in person. The gardens are beautiful, but being able to go inside the house was a highlight for me. It was built as a private home in 1917 and was opened to the public in 1975.

Not all historic places are accessible to wheelchair users so knowing that the house had a ramp to get inside made me even more intrigued to check it out. Of course, not all places have wide enough door frames, but once I was able to see it for myself, I knew that I’d be able to get in. You first go into the kitchen from the side door. We went in right after the kitchen talk had started so we followed along and heard about the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and dining room.

After that, we toured the rest of the downstairs by ourselves. The upstairs was not open to the public, but I’m totally okay with that since I don’t get to go upstairs in historic places since they usually don’t have elevators. There were many rooms, but I’ll add a few pictures of my favorites.

The gardens were so beautiful! The perimeter of the first garden is flat with ramps leading up to the gardens where they grow more of the flowers. I wish I had taken more photos, but I was really enjoying taking it all in. I was so impressed with the outdoor accessibility too. The surfaces were easy to navigate and I was even able to get into the Garden House with some help pushing my wheelchair over the raised surfaces up to the door. I will have more photos in my Instagram post! I highly recommend visiting Filoli if you’re ever in the area. It’s a wonderful melding of history and nature.