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66 voluminous scrapbooks. In turn, the press clamored to show her dancing with the Duke of Windsor and dining with Winston Churchill. Frequently photographed by Cecil Beaton and Toni Frissell, her glamorous life was chronicled in the pages of Town & Country, Country Life, and Vogue. Dallas art collector and bon vivant, the late Betty Blake, grew up in a Main Line estate adjacent to Ardrossan, and Wren interviewed her before her death last year. She and Helen Hope had been friends, and Blake's brother, William T. Carter II, later became a founding partner of Col. Montgomery's brokerage fi rm, Montgomery, Scott & Co. in 1929. There were other common bonds: Betty Blake's mother had survived the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, and, like many in Philadelphia society, the Montgomerys had extended family members and many friends on board. The tragedy touched almost every Main Line household in some way, underscoring the insular, tight-knit community that enveloped upper-crust Philadelphia. Newcomers were not welcomed easily into the fold. The Main Line had its own class system based on lineage and listing in the Philadelphia Social Register; residents were gracious to visitors, but, as Wren writes, "it was understood that it was better to be a poor relation than a rich outsider." After Helen Hope's death in 1995 at age 90, her son, Bobby Montgomery Scott, encouraged Wren to join him in writing a book about Ardrossan, with a focus on the estate's architecture, decor, and art collections. Wren was provided with a space to research and write inside the house, and for years he read through thousands of papers, letters, and books. "That opened the door to understanding who the Montgomerys were as people," says Wren, "and I realized the book needed to be a social history of the family as well." Bobby died in 2005, but Wren kept going, fi nishing the book 20 years after it was started. Today, nearly half of Ardrossan's original 760 acres has been sold. Still, the estate remains one of the largest contiguous blocks of undeveloped land in the area. "The house is still quite vibrant," says Wren. "It's active with charity events and functions — a big family wedding is planned there later this month." More than 100 years ago, the Colonel and his wife set up a trust to prevent the estate from being broken up and sold off after their death. That trust is set to expire at midnight March 14, 2018. But Ardrossan may get a reprieve — the Montgomery heirs, which have dwindled to four, have incorporated and plan to keep the house and surrounding 10 acres, while other acreage will be placed into a conservancy and preserved as open space. Portrait of Helen Hope Montgomery, 1913. Photo by Tom Cane. The main house at Ardrossan, circa 1940. Courtesy family archives. Ardrossan Cup races, as photographed by Strohmeyer. Helen Hope Montgomery, circa 1920. Courtesy family archives. BOOK DESIGN KATHY HART. STEVE GUNTHER PHOTO.