Roseland Cottage

National Historic Landmark · Woodstock, Connecticut

A bright pink Gothic Revival summer cottage on the green at Woodstock, built in 1846 for Henry Chandler Bowen, a Brooklyn silk merchant who came home to Connecticut every summer and threw the most famous Fourth of July parties in New England. Four sitting presidents came to them. The house is pink because Bowen wanted it pink, and it has been repainted in the original shade rather than softened. Inside it is largely unaltered - Gothic furniture made for the rooms, stained glass, and wallpapers still in place - and in the barn behind it is what may be the OLDEST SURVIVING INDOOR BOWLING ALLEY IN THE UNITED STATES, a two-lane wooden alley from the 1840s that Ulysses S. Grant is said to have bowled on. In front is a boxwood parterre garden of twenty-one beds, laid out to the original plan and still worked that way. It is seasonal, short-week and an hour from anywhere, which is why the Quiet Corner stays quiet - but it is a National Historic Landmark and it is the only reason most visitors ever drive into this corner of the state, which is a shame: the drive is the other half of it.

556 Route 169, Woodstock, Woodstock, Connecticut, 06281, United States

SEASONAL. Open roughly from late spring to mid autumn on a short week, commonly Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday, with the interior shown by guided tour at set times. Closed through the winter apart from announced events. The GROUNDS and the parterre garden can be seen from the green at any time. Confirm the season, the days and the tour times before travelling - this is a small site with a short year.

Roseland Cottage on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos