To learn more visit their site: |
"Northcote," |
Shortly after Freeman Road, we turn right onto quiet and unpaved Mill Road which leads us south, across the Cornish townline and through the Blow-Me-Down Covered Bridge (1877, NR), the setting of which is probably the most intimate on our itinerary. With four survivors, Cornish leads the state in covered bridges. Shortly after the bridge, we take a left and a few hundred feet later a right onto Lang Road. As we climb past the large Austin Farm on the right, notice the former one-room schoolhouse on the left, followed by the Tracy Homestead (1793). Stephen Alden Tracy, a local man with an entrepreneurial spirit, at one time or another boarded in his farmhouse (which is still in the Tracy family) most of the Cornish Colonists. One of his early boarders was the artist Stephen Parrish (Maxfield's father) who bought acreage across the road from Tracy and built his house, "Northcote," (1894) not visible from the road. The house is unique among the Colony houses in its orientation northwest toward Plainfield and the Hartland Gap, rather than toward Mt Ascutney. The property was particularly well-known for its gardens. Lang Road becomes unpaved at this point (and is best avoided during 'mud season'), continuing on and gaining elevation until reaching Barrett Four Corners, a forested cross roads. Bear left here onto Saint-Gaudens Road. Just after passing on the right the handsome twin-chimney yellow Nathaniel Johnson/Garrett House (c. 1810), we take a left onto Hell Hollow Road. This leads us to Stage Road, a paved road. Turning left, we now head westward toward Plainfield village. Just before Mill Village is a small red clapboarded building on the right; now a residence, this was the Spencer District Schoolhouse until 1938. A bit further on we pass Gilkey Cemetery high up on the right which has some older slates, the earliest dated 1767. Next on the right, set back with fields in front, is Brook Place, the summer home of Ellen Shipman, a landscape gardener and interior decorator, and her husband, the playwright, Louis Shipman, both 'Cornish Colonists.' |
Cornish N.H. to Windsor VT. |
Austin Farm |
Schoolhouse |
Tracy Homestead |
"Northcote," |
Nathaniel Johnson/Garrett House |
Spencer District Schoolhouse The building has been remodelled into a private home. Photo of it in 165:286. School was closed in 1938. |
Brook Place Right on this road, high on the hillside is the large white frame Adams House, the summer home of the sculptor, Herbert Adams. |
Soon after, Stage Road enters Route 12A. We make a left here and go south. Just after the turn on the east side is the Plainfield Cemetery, the town's largest though not the oldest. The ashes of Maxfield Parrish are here. A plaque at the entrance notes that the west Plainfield meetinghouse was originally at this location, later to reappear in the village. The handsome hip-roofed building immediately to the south is what was the Asa Kingsbury Tavern (1801); it had a ballroom on the second floor. Continuing south on 12A--with sweeping panoramic views of Mt Ascutney ahead--we're soon entering Plainfield village. |
PLAINFIELD (Settled: 1764. 1990 population: 2056) The early settlers of Plainfield were from southeastern Connecticut in the vicinity of Plainfield, hence the name. Like Cornish, Plainfield was closely connected with the Cornish Colony, and could claim as residents its share of artists and writers of note. The town's two villages are Meriden, in the east, and Plainfield village in the west. |
The village stretches out along Route 12A and presents an interesting and varied collection of civic, religious, institutional and residential architecture. The first building of note that we come upon is on the east side, the simple white clapboarded Mothers & Daughters Club House (1901, NR), its most noticeable feature probably being its pergola-trellis-like entranceway. It was designed by Charles Platt, a prominent architect and Cornish Colonist who was responsible for several nearby grand houses. The Club was one of the country's earliest women's clubhouses and an important landmark in the resurgence of American handicrafts. It was hoped that the organization would "... embrace the sojourners from the city and the country women, so that interests might be shared and helpful work done together." The building is now owned by the Plainfield Historical Society. |
Two buildings further along is the simple Greek Revival Town Hall (1846, NR), famous for its theatrical backdrop designed by Maxfield Parrish and featuring a view of Mt Ascutney. The building itself was constructed with material from the dismantled meetinghouse beside the Plainfield Cemetery (which, in turn, started out, in 1798, in still another part of town). Across Main Street is the brick Colonial Revival style Philip Read Memorial Library (1921) in front of which is the Plainfield 1914-1918 Honor Roll. At bit further south, also on the west side, stands the Baptist Church (1840) and, across the street and further south again, is the quite similar brick Blow-Me-Down Grange (1839), built as the Union Congregational Church and since 1899 the home of the local grange. This somewhat woebegone building has a mural on the rear wall of the stage entitled "The Women of Plymouth" by Lucia Fuller. Several Cornish Colonists modeled for the painting which was originally commissioned for the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She and her painter husband, Henry, lived a bit further along on the west side of Rt 12A in a stuccoed Italian villa, still standing quite close to the road. |
At the southern edge of the village, on the southeast corner of Westgate Road, is a handsome painted brick Federal house, once a tavern. The Shipmans, who later bought property on Stage Road, lived here for several years, calling it Poins House, the name coming from the title of one of Louis Shipman's novels. Shortly after, take a left turn onto Thrasher Road. Soon we are back in Cornish and crossing our earlier route near the Blow-Me-Down covered bridge. Continue straight at this intersection where the road becomes Platt Road, named for the architect Charles A. Platt. The grand shingled house easily seen on the south side was that of Admiral William Folger but most of the Cornish Colonist's houses along this stretch are not visible from the road. Among these is High Court (1890), an early triumph for Platt who designed it for Annie Lazarus, a New Yorker and patron of the arts. The Italian villa burned in 1896 but was quickly rebuilt. Opposite the drive to High Court stands Platt's own house (1890) a bit of which one can see beyond the entrance area. |
The house of Admiral William Mayhew Folger (1844-1928) |
Just where Platt Road joins Rt 12A, on the east side, is the Chase Cemetery, an attractive and still active burying ground. Within are the graves of numerous Revolutionary War veterans and some very large and well-carved slate headstones, the ones for Moses Chase (1799) and Rebeckah (1794) and Rhoda Chase (1796), wives of Moody Chase, are especially fine. Named for the Chase family, early worthies of Cornish, the cemetery lies across the road from the Nahum Chase Homestead (1794), a large hip-roofed yellow frame house. At this corner take a left back onto Rt 12A, proceeding south. Soon we see on the left the Blow-Me-Down pond and the stone Blow-Me-Down Mill (1891). The mill, which actually was used as a gristmill and later to produce electricity, was designed by the famous architect, Stanford White for Charles Beaman, whose extensive property and house, named Blow-Me-Down, was across the road (the two stone entrance piers are still there). Until its destruction my fire in 1927, Blow-Me-Down was the center of the Cornish Colony's social life. Beaman, a New York lawyer and the son-in-law of William Evarts, who we will learn more about in Windsor, was the one most responsible for the development of the Cornish Colony. At one time he owned 23 houses in the area, many of which were later sold to Colonists. Close by on the highway is a state marker commemorating the Cornish Colony. |
Chase Cemetery |
Nahum Chase Homestead Burling House (R) the Burling House, a large hip-roofed frame house painted yellow, formerly carrying on the pediment of the porch the figures 1794, the date of the erection of the house. It was once a Chase homestead. |
Shortly after, we take a sharp left onto Saint-Gaudens Road which climbs steeply through shady pine groves until we arrive at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site , the single most important attraction on this itinerary. The parking area is to the right. [Admission charge. Grounds and buildings open daily Memorial Day through October; grounds open November through late May. Tel: 603-675-2175.] The Site today is a collection of several buildings, studios, galleries, statuary and gardens, all in a lovely setting with striking views of Mt Ascutney. The sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens came to Cornish in the 1880s at the urging of his friend, Charles Beaman. For his summer home he purchased an old coaching inn, 'Huggins Folly' (c. 1800), renaming it Aspet. In time a permanent resident, Saint-Gaudens lived and worked here until his death in 1907. The Little Studio (1904) with its pergola, Doric columns and Mediterranean colors is a delight, as are the gardens (seek out the allee of birches) in which one, often unexpectedly, comes upon the sculptor's works. Aspet remains as the Saint-Gaudens knew it and frequent short tours of the ground floor interior are offered by Park Service personnel. Sunday afternoon concerts on the lawn are a summer highlight. One can easily spend a half day here. The Site's brochure is beautifully produced and very informative. |
To learn more visit their site: |
Continuing along Saint-Gaudens Road, going east, the road becomes unpaved and soon we pass on the left Barberry House/Jacob Chase Homestead (c. 1795). Now a bed and breakfast, it was once the home of Homer Saint-Gaudens, son of the sculptor. The road gradually climbs and it bends to the right, becoming Dingleton Hill Road and once more paved. Along this stretch are several large farm properties and older houses. And the views back toward the northwest are memorable. Once over the eastern shoulder of Dingleton Hill, the road descends, affording an occasional view of Mt Ascutney, until reaching Cornish Mills, another of Cornish's tiny settlements. Straight ahead as we come to Town House Road is the Dingleton Hill Covered Bridge (1882, NR). Either take a right onto Town House Road or, for a short diversion, drive through the bridge and immediately turn west onto Mill Village Road which will take you by several older houses. Soon you will join Town House Road and be heading west. |
Barberry House, the summer home of Homer Saint-Gaudens, the son of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Built about 1780 it is a large square hip-roofed structure with huge central chimney set amid finely landscaped grounds. Homer Saint-Gaudens is now the Director of the Department of Fine Arts of Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. While a guest in this house, Witter Bynner wrote 'The New World.' Here Louis Evan Shipman spent a summer in 1893. |
On reaching Route 12A, go north a bit and you'll see the Connecticut River on your left and the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge (1866, NR) ahead. Beside the road, just before the bridge, is a small pull-over (the state historic marker is situated here too) which affords a good view of this the longest (at 450 feet) wooden covered bridge in the country and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. It is without question the jewel in James Tasker's crown. Three previous bridges stood at this site, the earliest built in 1796. All were destroyed by floods. The original cost in 1866 was $9,000; nearly $4.5 million was spent in its reconstruction in 1989. The bridge has served to link Cornish and Windsor, not only economically (1,000 sheep passed over it on September 30, 1833) but historically (Lafayette and his entourage used it in 1825) and culturally (the Cornish Colony had strong links to Windsor). Its Cornish builder, James Tasker (1826-1903) is an interesting figure. "An intuitive engineer," he was responsible for at least 11 bridges in the area including all 6 on this itinerary. |
As we pass through this landmark bridge, it's an appropriate moment to recall the so-called Western Rebellion when for a time it looked like a new state might come into being by the name of New Connecticut. Most of what is now Vermont was originally part of New Hampshire, whose royal Governor, Benning Wentworth, between 1760 and 1764 alone had granted no fewer than 150 townships west of the Connecticut and another 50 on the east side. These towns felt cut off from such population and political centers as Portsmouth and Exeter so banded together to seek more representation. The eventual upshot were proposals for the towns to set up for themselves or to join what would become Vermont. Indeed 16 towns, including Cornish, were admitted to Vermont on June 4, 1778, although this was soon rescinded by Ethan and Ira Allen. The Continental Congress put an end to all of this squabbling and uncertainty; if New Connecticut had actually materialized try contemplating how the intervening 200 years might have been different. |
