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loged pieces left in this collectionSetting
the stage, so to speak, for this memorable visit, visitors are greeted by a very realistic fiberglass Siberian tiger as you turn into Pete’s circle gravel driveway. His home - a large barn-type structure custom built especially with the “museum” in mind-has three floors, all overlooking a small lake, beautiful woods, and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. With 9 to 16 foot ceilings, every room is used as a showroom for this unique collection.
Although the collection may seem “random” at first glance with 14th century pottery and 20th century “outsider art” co-existing, each room is devoted to some specific theme. Pop American and Mexican folk art and furniture seem to dominate the first floor rooms and hallways, with a 8by-11 foot painting of Mexico’s revered Virgen de Guadalupe greeting guests as they enter the foyer. This collectable “piece” is actually a photographer’s backdrop from the Basilica in Mexico City. Colorful folk art masks, a circus of painted horses, small wooden and ceramic animals and musicians add to the melange of artifacts on the first floor.
Religious art (especially Latin American folk art) is located in the large penthouse room on the top floor. A large open kitchen/dining area is dedicated to the cooking arts and related artifacts.
An equally spacious antiques and folk art-crammed living room with items too numerous to describe adequately here, overlooks the back deck and the wooded mountain landscape. An extraordinarily beautiful 270-pelt skunk bed covering graces the master bedroom. An equally spacious lowerlevel has a large living room and two guest bedrooms devoted to other antiques and early colonial figurines and pottery. Pete also is a skilled woodcarver himself and examples of his own folk art grace this fascinating collection.
Custom-built shelves have been constructed for the collection throughout the house and every cabinet is filled with artifacts and such, including art books by the hundreds. Many doors between rooms and on closets are faux-painted wood grained works of art in themselves. (A cover story for the Washington Post Home Magazine last April featuring his collection mentioned that when he left one of his last foreign posts (in Spain) he was 6 tons over the weight limit for his personal belongings!)
Pete has a bit of a zany look about him with his ostensibly untamed big bushy beard that, he notes proudly, he trims every three weeks-much better than shaving every day! But appearances can be deceiving. Pete might be considered “eccentric” in
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