Roseland Cottage Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Significant dates

Henry C. Bowen House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
U.S. Historic district Contributing property

Roseland Cottage
Location in Connecticut Show map of Connecticut Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	556 Route 169, Woodstock, Connecticut
Built	1846
Architect	Joseph Collins Wells; Edwin Eaton
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
Part of	Woodstock Hill Historic District (ID98001578)
NRHP reference No.	77001414
Added to NRHP	August 24, 1977
Designated NHL	October 5, 1992
Designated CP	January 6, 1999

Roseland Cottage, also known as the Henry C. Bowen House, is a special old house in Woodstock, Connecticut. It's located on Route 169. This house is so important that it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Later, in 1992, it was named a National Historic Landmark.

People say it's one of the best-kept and most well-documented Gothic summer homes in the whole country. Its inside looks almost exactly as it did when it was first built!

Today, a group called Historic New England owns Roseland Cottage. This group works to protect the house's history. They also run it as a museum, so people can visit and learn about its past.

What is Roseland Cottage?
Why is Roseland Cottage Important?
Roseland Cottage Today
Gallery
See also

What is Roseland Cottage?

Roseland Cottage was built in 1846. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style. This style uses wood to look like grand stone Gothic buildings. It was the summer home for Henry Chandler Bowen and his family.

The whole property includes a beautiful boxwood garden. There's also an icehouse, a garden house, and a carriage barn. You can even find the oldest indoor bowling alley still around in the United States here!

The design of the property followed ideas from a writer named Andrew Jackson Downing. His popular books talked about making homes practical and pretty. He gave detailed tips on how rooms should be used, how to keep things clean, and how to plan gardens.

Why is Roseland Cottage Important?

Starting in 1870, Roseland Cottage became famous for its huge Fourth of July parties. These were some of the biggest celebrations in the United States! Four different U.S. Presidents visited Bowen's summer home. They came as his guests and spoke at these big events.

The presidents who visited were Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley. Many other important people also came to the house. These included Henry Ward Beecher, Julia Ward Howe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and John C. Fremont.

A local newspaper described the house and gardens during one of these parties in 1887:

As one approached the house, the park in front of Roseland Cottage and the entire lawn appeared to be a mass of light with the Japanese lanterns of every conceivable shape hanging from the trees and every object that would support them, and colored lanterns supported upon sticks intermingled with them.

Roseland Cottage Today

The house is still in amazing condition today. It has its original Gothic furniture. The walls are decorated with special embossed Lincrusta Walton material. People in the area sometimes call it "The Pink House." It is currently painted a coral pink color. You can find it on Woodstock Hill Common.

Roseland's special garden has twenty-one flowerbeds. These beds hold over 4,000 annual flowers. They are bordered by boxwood plants. The garden still follows its original design from 1850. It is now part of Connecticut's Historic Gardens.

Roseland Cottage is also part of a larger area called the Woodstock Hill Historic District. This district is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.