Roseland Cottage

Infobox_nrhp | name =Henry C. Bowen House
nrhp_type =nhl


caption = Roseland Cottage
location= 556 Route 169, Woodstock, Connecticut
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 56
lat_seconds = 56.72
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71
long_minutes = 58
long_seconds = 36.64
long_direction = W
locmapin = Connecticut
area =
built =1846
architect= Joseph Collins Wells; Edwin Eaton
architecture= Gothic Revival
designated= October 05, 1992cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1735&ResourceType=Building
title=Henry C. Bowen House |accessdate=2007-10-03|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = August 24, 1977cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private
refnum=77001414

Roseland Cottage, also known as Henry C. Bowen House or as Bowen Cottage, is a historic house located on Route 169 in Woodstock, Connecticut. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/77001414.pdf National Historic Landmark Nomination: Henry C. Bowen House (Roseland Cottage)] |650 KB|date=November 1, 1991 |author=Anne Andrus Grady |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/77001414.pdf Accompanying 7 photos, exterior and interior, from c.1977, 1986, 1989 and undated.] |1.90 MB]

It is now owned by Historic New England, a non-profit organization that preserves the historical value of the house and operates it as a museum. It is open several days a week from June 1 through October 15.

Roseland Cottage was built in 1846 in the Gothic Revival style as the summer home of Henry Chandler Bowen and family. The entire complex, with a boxwood parterre garden, an icehouse, garden house, and a carriage barn with a private bowling alley, reflects the principles of writer and designer Andrew Jackson Downing. In his widely popular books, Downing stressed practicality along with the picturesque, and offered detailed instructions on room function, sanitation, and landscaping.

Three United States Presidents visited Bowen's summer home as his guests and speakers for 4th of July celebrations: Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Only Grant visited while he was a sitting President; he spent a night there in spite of the fact that Bowen (a teetotaler) forbade drinking and smoking in his home. [http://www.townofwoodstock.com/history.html] "A Brief History of Woodstock" Web page on the Woodstock, Connecticut official town Web site, accessed July 30, 2006] Other prominent visitors included Henry Ward Beecher and John C. Fremont.

Today the house remains in excellent historic condition, with original Gothic furniture and embossed Lincrusta Walton wall decoration. The house is painted coral pink with black trim, and located on Woodstock's village green. Its grounds contain twenty-one flowerbeds with more than 4,000 annuals bordered in boxwood, in their original 1850 pattern, and now form part of Connecticut's Historic Gardens.

References

External links

* [http://www.historicnewengland.org/visit/homes/roseland.htm Historic New England article]
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.ct0347 Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress) - Bowen Cottage]