Day Trip to Roseland Cottage or inspiration for a fairy house in the woods

This weekend’s tourist adventure is all about my writing. I decided early on that my characters would land in the year 1852 (probably in the fifth book I complete), but the house in which they live shows up in the one I’m revising now. 

I spent several summers working for Historic New England.  One year I bought (seriously, all my earnings from that weekend job went to book and colored glass purchases in the gift shop) a coloring book of New England architectural styles.  I looked at the different images and chose the Gothic Revival style for my setting.  

There is something otherworldly about the style – maybe because there aren’t too many examples of it around (all those details of woodworking are difficult to preserve in New England weather).  But fortunately, an example is within driving distance of where I live.  Roseland Cottage.

Yesterday I finally went there.  I left for Connecticut around noon and arrived just before the 1 o’clock tour.  I had enough time to explore the garden and take pictures.  The garden is as much a piece of art as the house.  I eventually learned that it was designed to resemble a Turkish carpet with all the hedges and colorful blossoms.  The boxwood hedge is pretty much as old as the house.  There is a garden in my story, so I appreciated seeing the design, as well as how the house might look from the garden.  Or vice versa. 

One sees the house by guided tour only and only on the hour.  I appreciated the narrative of the young woman who gave our tour.  She had a conversational way of delivering the details and the patience to answer all my questions.  I got what I needed to come back and flesh out this ghost house in my book.

A few things I learned – most of which I can use.

1. Some distinctive features of a Gothic Revival house are the use of gothic arches as well as trefoils and quatrefoils for decoration.  The guide explained that the trefoils represent the holy trinity and the quatrefoils represent the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).  Within the context of the Christian, extremely temperate Bowens, that makes sense.  And I was content to conclude my lesson there.  But just now, when I scanned the Internet to confirm my spelling, I discovered (not surprisingly) the Christian interpretation is but one meaning.  The trefoil is like a shamrock.  So there’s that.  But there are a number of three pointed symbols that relate to women in Celtic/pagan tradition to which a trefoil can nod – the maid, the mother, and the crone.  Quatrefoils can also have other meanings – a four leaf clover and one I really liked – a man and woman as one.  Hmmm…

2. Much of the downstairs (which represented an 1880s re-decoration more than the original 1846 design) had a wall covering called Lincrusta.  This is made with wood pulp and linseed oil, put through a press to make elaborate embossed designs.  It really is impressive and adds texture and detail to all the rooms.  As I sit in my dining room writing this I wonder if it would work in here.

3. There was much made of the fact the builder of the house, Mr. Bowen, was a strong advocate for temperance.  When we were upstairs in what was the boys’ bedroom the guide read us a pledge he had his son sign before heading to university.  It sounded a lot like Polonius’ advice to Laertes before heading back to Wittenberg.  I found it curious that amongst the vows of good behavior to forswear drink, gambling, and other various irresponsible behavior, Mr. Bowen included going to the theater.  I suppose theater and drink do go well together.  But maybe that is a new marketing strategy we can use.  Be a rebel and go to the theater.

There were a few other things that popped out from the experience and made me go hmmm….

1. A detail I really enjoyed seeing in real life and not just the drawing in a book or photos online was the main entrance.  It is not the ‘front’ of the house – or the side of the house that faces the road and Woodstock Common (which was a delightful discovery on its own).  I liked the gothic awning and the way the drive curved towards the barn.  The barn, too, will be useful for my manuscript.  Only I am going to change the color.  The house, I already decided, has to be yellow.

2. Historic New England now allows photos inside the house.  I suppose this was inevitable and a defeat by technology.  It’s also smart marketing.  This wasn’t the policy when I worked there.  As the writer researching the details, I enjoyed it immensely.  

As one who still detests seeing the world through a phone, I was saddened by it.  I took a lot of pride in my tours and did my best to keep the attention span of lollygaggers with juicy tidbits.  I would hate to compete with the picture taking impulse and lose the momentum of the story.  It would be one thing if we weren’t timed on our tours – but it is a struggle with which I empathize.  I did my best to wait until she finished speaking – because I wanted to learn the story.  But I wanted pictures of things – like lamps and fireplaces.  It almost made me want to take one tour to listen and another to take pictures.  Maybe next time.

3.  A lot of these magnificent houses are summer homes.  In other words, the families didn’t live there the entire year.  They had city homes and would still visit other places.  (I guess I had a similar thought with the Ocean Liner visit.)  It wasn’t the scale of anything in Newport, but it represents a class into which I was not born.  It is not a class to which my ancestors had any connection either – not even as servants.  I am visiting a house they might glimpse if a magazine did a piece or maybe on a tour.  But it did make me wonder if 150 years from now, will tourists walk through the home of Steve Jobs or some corrupt Wall Street banker or one of the notorious Washington characters and marvel at the furniture or architecture or curiosities of a life edited down to a 40 minute stroll?  Will that narrative be forgiving or dismissive of what they have given to our present?  And likewise, what do I really know of these people who lived in a pink ‘cottage’ in Northeastern Connecticut?  I know more than I did a few days ago.  And maybe that’s all that matters.

All in all, it was a good day.  The sun was in and out for much of the day – out mostly when I was in the car.  So it had a very Irish gray landscape as I took pictures of the garden and exterior.  But maybe that was as it needed to be.  They would have it so.