June, 1913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



207 



An exterior view of the old mill and the cottage joined to it by the covered passage porch 



A Windmill House 



By Mary H. Northend 

 Photographs by the Author 



HE quaint octagonal windmills which have 

 stood, dignified and picturesque upon the 

 brown hills of Cape Cod, are now silent. 

 Their attractiveness, however, is gradually 

 being discovered by the lovers of the unusual 

 and the artistic, and they 



are being purchased for modern use. 

 One of these is now converted into a 

 Summer home, making a novel adjunct 

 to the group of Summer cottages to 

 which it is added as a Guest House. 



The Windmill house is unique. There 

 are only a few of them on the entire 

 Cape. The problem of converting the 

 peculiar architecture of an ancient mill 

 into a house that would be livable and 

 in harmony with its surroundings was a 

 difficult one, but it was well solved by 

 Mr. J. J. H. Rothery, at his Summer 

 home at Cataumet, Massachusetts. 



The mill stands to-day far back from 

 the road, crowning a rolling hill, the 

 slope of the elevation being used to ad- 

 vantage in adding to the mill proper 

 other buildings which were necessary in 

 order to accommodate a Summer house- 



Bedroom in the old mill 



hold. The windmill itself, which is the most conspicuous 

 of the group of buildings, has three rooms in it, one on each 

 story. The two upper ones are used as chambers, the third 

 story room showing the roof to the topmost peak, with the 

 great timbers which were there in the early days when the 

 mill was doing duty, grinding grist for 

 the farmers for miles around. 



It would be difficult to find a cooler 

 or more delightful sleeping place than 

 in the old windmill, for windows are 

 open to the "four winds of heaven," so 

 that it is never too hot for sleeping pur- 

 poses. The lower floor is the airiest 

 kind of a living-room, and the rough 

 hand-hewn timbers which form the in- 

 side and which are weather beaten with 

 age, lend themselves well to the effective 

 use of burlap, crude straw mats, and the 

 simple old-time furniture which is 

 principally used here. 



The round rag mat on the floor was a 

 particularly happy idea, fitting into the 

 surroundings and adding to the sym- 

 metry of the rooms. This house has 

 been named the Guest House, and is re- 

 moved from the rest of the buildings so 



