File:American homes and gardens (1907) (17535421703).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesga41907newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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July, 1907 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 265 Sleepy Hollow chairs and fine old claw-foot table handsomely carved, the morning-room with its splendid mirror, its old mahogany bookcase, grandfather's clock, and the ladder- back chairs, and the dining-room, with its fine mahogany fur- niture, all have a charm which is most delightful. This charm is further enhanced by the furnishings of the sleeping- rooms in the second floor. Each of the rooms is a gem in itself, but one of the guest rooms, shown in the illustration, is especially notable, with its four-poster, and its low-boy used for a dressing-table, over which is hung a Queen Anne mirror. The den is off the dining-room, and among its treasures, which Mr. Chase prizes very highly, is an old sign which, many years ago, hung over the door of a cob- bler's shop, and on which is inscribed, with yellow-painted letters, each word being punctuated by a period, the fol- lowing notice: (Eermis. 8thttl;». cast). i9o. Satfjlten. iWabournten. ^apmtnts. 3lt. map. be. for. pears, anb. it. map. be. forebcr. Leaving Mr. Chase's house and walking toward the north, one passes the old Congregational Church, which is typical of many of the old village churches of New England. The spire is its crowning glory, not only for external beauty, but for its construction. This church was organized October 13, 1652, by seven of the foremost townsmen, who afterward were known as the "Seven Pillars of the Church." To show the solemn nature of these men, a story is told of one of its deacons who kept a shop, Mr. Samuel Richards, a very godly man of Puritanic ways, who deemed it necessary, on account of his office, to appear grave and solemn, so much so that when a boy appeared at his shop one morning, he became frightened by the solemnity of the man, instead of asking for a pair of L-hinges, he demanded of the horrified deacon a pair of archangels. Mr. Richards was also the first post- master in Farmington, and the "Connecticut Courant" re- cords, on July 22, 1799, "A Post Office established at Farm- ington for public accommodation, Samuel Richards, P. M." The post office was kept in the front hall of his house, and the half dozen letters which some times accumulated were fastened on the wall with tape. Beyond the church one passes many fine old houses, the most important of which is the one built by Gad Cowles, and now the residence of Henry N. Whittlesley. The old house is built of brick, and has a fine entrance and portico at the side. The chief charm of the house, however, is its beauti- ful mantels. The one in the front drawing-room is carved with exquisite delicacy and detail, and the beauty of this mantel was so much admired by the committee in charge of the erection of the Connecticut State Building for the World's Fair at Chicago that a replica of it was placed in the new structure. According to Colonial law each town was obliged to keep a tavern or inn for the entertainment of travelers, and Joseph Root, of the village, was appointed by the town to attend to this duty. In 1691 an inn with a swinging sign offered en- tertainment for man and beast, and it subsequently became what is to-day the Elm Tree Inn, owned and conducted by Concluded on page 280
Text Appearing After Image:
Byde-a-Whyle," the Summer Home of Waldo K. Chase, Esq., Originally Built for Major Timothy Cowles in 1815

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