Let s Meet at Roseland Cottage c 1846 Woodstock CT History Bites New England

With its instantly recognizable pink exterior, it would be hard to miss Roseland Cottage. But that seems only right, as it would be a shame to bypass this remarkable home, which is managed by Historic New England. Built in 1846 in the newly fashionable Gothic Revival style, Roseland Cottage is ideally situated in the rolling hills of Northeast Connecticut in the charming town of Woodstock. Roseland was the summer home of Henry and Lucy Bowen and their young family. The Bowens sought refuge here from the summer heat, congestion, and formality of life in a big city. Henry Bowen, a native of Woodstock, returned to his hometown after establishing a successful business in New York City. Bowen used Roseland Cottage as a place to entertain friends and political connections, including four U.S. presidents. Before stepping inside, take time to appreciate some of the elements of the Gothic Revival style. Gothic architecture is defined by the great cathedrals built during the medieval period in Europe. Roseland Cottage has all the features of a high style Gothic Revival building. Note, for example, Roseland's chimney pots, which are highly ornamental additions to chimneys, often grouped together. Consider, too, the use of quatrefoils, which are ornaments with four lobes or leaves. In a medieval church, a representation of the four evangelists, Roseland's porches have quatrefoils supporting its roofs. Like the rest of Woodstock, which Historic New England describes as a quintessential New England village with a white church and classical style houses, Roseland Cottage, with its full color scheme and pinnacle gables, stood in marked contrast to its sedate neighbors. Its Gothic Revival style, fashionable and forward-looking in 1846, expresses the confidence and individualism of a Victorian America at mid-century. This watercolor, done around the time the house was built, is thought to be the building's architect, Joseph Wells. It's clear that Wells envisioned the house a more subdued color than the pink Bowen insisted upon. According to 19th century tastemaker Andrew Jackson Downing, the unsymmetrical and capricious forms of Gothic Revival were a perfect match for men of originality, boldness, energy, and variety of character. Bowen's choice of the newly fashionable style suggests he believed himself to be all those things. Pictured here with his wife, Lucy, Bowen had made a powerful statement with the construction of Roseland Cottage. He had returned to Woodstock a moral, successful, fashionable, and thoroughly modern man. Roseland's Gothic motifs continue inside as the entrance itself appears like the door to a church, and that, notes Historic New England, is no accident. Just as a medieval cathedral stood as testimony to the power of the church and the power of people's faith, these Gothic Revival buildings were thought to have a similar testimonial purpose. The design of the front door suggests the Trinity, with three stained glass arches merging into one. Residing in a Gothic Revival home sent a self-proclaimed message that moral, God-fearing people lived inside. Pictured is a hall stand, an early 19th century invention, handy for hanging hats and coats before all closets were commonplace. The 1880s wall coverings in Roseland Cottage are a type known as lincrusta. Invented by Frederick Walton in England in 1877, it's produced by pressing a mixture of wood pulp and linseed oil onto a fabric or paper backing to create a raised pattern meant to look like richly tooled leather. Parlors at Roseland Cottage were used for formal entertainment and informal family gatherings that included a variety of parties. The family played parlor games like charades and read books and poetry together. One family member recalls a dinner party being held where several family members entertained guests on the piano, violin, cello, and flute. One activity that the family never engaged in, however, was playing cards, nor did they have after dinner brandies or smoke cigars while Henry Bowen was alive. This note written by Bowen in 1889 and left in the parlor demonstrates his dedication to temperance, prohibiting smoking and card playing on what he calls his premises. In 1813, Henry Chandler Bowen moved to New York City when he was 20 to work for successful merchants Arthur and Louis Tappan. At the end of his clerkship with the Tappans, Bowen and another employee started a dry goods business, Bowen and McNamee, specializing in silks, fine ribbons, laces, and trims. By 1844, their new venture was a success. Seen in the South Parlor fireplace, the marble mantle piece reveals the original Gothic decor with its carved quatrefoils in the corners. The portrait on the mantle is of Winthrop Earl Bowen, the youngest of Henry and Lucy Bowen's 10 children. Little Winthrop died in 1865. His father recorded his death in the Bowen family Bible. Winthrop Earl Bowen, youngest child of Henry and Lucy Maria Bowen, died at 76 Willow Street of inflammatory croup on the 12th day of May, aged two years, two months, and 18 days. The illness that took Little Winthrop's life is a respiratory tract infection of the larynx and trachea, mostly seen in young children. Like medieval Gothic, stained glass was an important element in the Gothic revival. The stained glass in the parlors at Roseland Cottage was not part of the 1846 construction. It may have been added in the 1880s or as early as 1860 when this kind of etching became available. The chair in the foreground and to the right is one of a number of pieces that Bowen ordered for Roseland Cottage from Thomas Brooks of Brooklyn, New York. President Grant is seated in this chair in an illustration in Harper's Weekly. At a 4th of July celebration in 1870, President U.S. Grant is depicted seated second from left in a Gothic chair from Roseland Cottage. The event was held on the Town Common in Woodstock with the illustration appearing in the July 20, 1870 issue of Harper's Weekly. This room was originally a conservatory, but later doubled as a library. The stained glass is part of the original construction of the cottage and has been in place since 1846. It is one of the earliest instances in the country of domestically produced stained glass installed in a residence. The newspaper on the desk is a copy of the independent Henry Bowen's newspaper. Abraham Lincoln knew of Bowen's reputation as a reformer and said that he read the publication every week. Bowen was familiar with Lincoln because he had represented his business in Illinois. Bowen would later write that he thought Lincoln had a brilliant political future of great value to the Republican Party. Pictured is the North Parlor which is a mirror image of the Southwest Parlor. Double parlors like these were common in Gothic Revival houses. The pocket doors between the parlors could be closed, separating them into two distinct rooms. This, notes Historic New England, was the era of separate spheres. Men and women often socialized apart from one another. The painting over the mantle is Lucy Tappan Bowen, Henry's first wife, just four weeks after their tenth child, Winthrop, was born. This is a classic Victorian mourning portrait. Eyes are raised heavenward. Lucy has an angelic quality and she is portrayed as a very young woman. She was only 38 when she died. Lucy Maria Tappan married Henry Chandler Bowen in 1844 when she was 19 years old. Beginning in 1845, Lucy would give birth to 10 children, seven boys and three girls over the next 18 years. For the 1880s redecoration, the dining room was an impressive place. Dinner was served on monogrammed French china. New tiles framed the Italian marble fireplace and Henry Bowen's portrait hanging over the mantle presided. The tiles in this Italian marble fireplace were added in the 1880s and, like the tiles in the north and south parlors, featured birds. The artist James J. Sawyer grew up close to Woodstock and was an acquaintance of Henry Bowen. Sawyer painted this portrait of Bowen in the 1870s. Lancrusta in the dining room, notes Historic New England, with its combination of natural elements and stylized folia, is an aesthetic movement tour de force. Designers in this period were fearless in their determination to layer pattern, texture and color. The Bowen family's formal dinnerware is similar in style to the one used in the White House by the Lincolns. It was made by the French porcelain factory of Sevres. The dinner plate shown here was used for the game course. Each plate depicts a different game bird. Roseland Cottage's china is well known. Occasionally someone will return a piece to the cottage that they found at auction or for sale. Historic New England refers to the second floor bedchamber as Ned's room because it was used by Edward, or Ned as he was called, Henry and Lucy's second child. It is surmised the room was originally the bedchamber of Henry Bowen as it is on the front of the house and overlooks the garden. Fort Augustus Ned Bowen retired at 26 after a number of successful business ventures and working as a stockbroker and came back to Woodstock and Roseland Cottage to live. The foot of Ned's bed is a basket with a handwritten note signed by Ned and dated July 18, 1924. The basket, according to Ned, was a gift given to him by his mother prior to 1863. It had never been used by him or anyone else. Bowen family called this room the President's Room in honor of the three presidents who stayed at Roseland Cottage and slept in this room, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley. The room is also associated with the Bowen daughters, Mary, Grace, and Alice. All three Bowen daughters attended Miss Porter School, a well-known girls academy in Farmington, Connecticut. It served a similar purpose for the daughters as Yale did for the sons. Lifelong social connections were made there. Named after a novel of the same name, Lena Rivers was Grace Bowen's doll. Her extensive wardrobe was reportedly made by Edna Dean Proctor, the family's governess, using remnants of fabric left over from making Grace's clothes. Lena must have been precious to Grace. Here's a photo of them together, taken when Grace was about 10 years old. Your visit to Roseland Cottage is not complete until you visit the Bowen Barn and the nation's oldest bowling alley. Ten-pin bowling, which was popular in the 1840s, replaced nine-pin in 1841 because of its association with gambling and drinking. In short, with just a little Yankee ingenuity, they added another pin to get around the law. The pins were made of pine and there is a mark under each one so the person replacing the pins knows where to put them. When President U.S. Grant visited Roseland on July 4, 1870, he tried his hand at bowling and rolled a strike on his first attempt. Grant wanted to light up a celebratory cigar but was told by Bowen that he disapproved of smoking and didn't allow it. Grant, according to Bowen's son Herbert, slipped out to the garden and smoked to his heart's content. This engraving of Grant is in the bowling alley at Roseland Cottage. you