A Day in the Life of the Worthley Girls: Visit to the Ainsley House in Campbell

One can't live a mere hour away from a house bearing the same name and not go visit it.....Visiting the Ainsley House in Campbell was our outing for last week. Ainsley was thrilled that there is a house named Ainsley House. Once in Campbell and at the Historical Society, Miss Ainsley took great pride in explaining to anyone who would listen that she came all the way from Concord to visit the Ainsley House, because her name also is Ainsley. We learned a lot about the Ainsley's on our tour of the house. Beautifully restored in an enchanting park-like setting, the English Tudor style architecture of the Ainsley House transports the visitor to the bygone era of the 1920s. Built in 1925 as the home for Campbell canning pioneer J.C. Ainsley and his wife Alcinda, the home was moved to its present location in 1990. The exquisitely restored and decorated 15 rooms are furnished with much of the original furniture of the era when it was one of the grand homes of the Santa Clara Valley. My favorite rooms were the green bathroom (I thought the shower door was really neat) and a state of the art kitchen. I also loved all the windows! throughout the house!! Ainsley liked the maids quarters (she liked the treadle sewing machine) and Kaley liked the kitchen, as well, especially the mock apple pie on the counter :) J.C. Ainsley was the first to can fruit salad, which is what we know of as fruit cocktail. The Ainsley packing plant packed peaches, pears and apricots. Hunts bought out JC Ainsley who later sold to Dole. The gardens were beautiful and a lovely setting for weddings. We were able to watch a wedding in progress, which delighted the girls!

Ainsley and Kaley with a coutout of the Ainsleys