November, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



377 



D BATH . 

 BED EOOM 



the other old-fashioned flowers which 

 screen but do not altogether hide a thrifty 

 vegetable plot beyond. Back of it the 

 sharp wooded slope capped by the ruins of 

 the Colonial redoubts rises prominently. 



But despite the changes, time and many 

 minds have wrought the house has lost none 

 of its charm exteriorly, and within, the re- 

 modeling has been so slight as to be scarcely 

 noticeable. From off the broad hall, run- 

 ning from door to door, there opens four 

 rooms; to the right, the living-room and 

 library; to the left, the dining-room and pantry. In the 

 cellar the original kitchen, with its old Dutch oven and 

 time-honored equipment of culinary utensils, is still in use. 



The rooms are low and rambling and, as in most houses 

 of the early Colonial period, the cabinet work is of superior 

 quality and finish. To lovers of fine woodwork, there is in- 

 spiration in the exquisite spacing and in the perfect propor- 

 tions of windows and doors. On the first floor none of the 

 rafters are exposed, but in the spacious bed chamber over- 

 head they are frankly visible. Two very interesting fire- 

 places flank the ends of dining- and living-rooms. About 

 the chimney opening, the brick facing has at one time been 

 veneered by a layer of soapstone, a fashion in vogue fifty 

 years ago, and the hearth is raised from the floor level by 

 a single layer of brick . 



In this era of change and unrest, not many of these old 

 land marks remain, and lucky is the man who is fortunate 

 enough to secure one for a home — and a hobby, particularly 

 when that happens to coincide so appropriately with the 

 atmosphere of the place. About "Sneden's old house at the 



1 



HALL 



J_L 



ferry," as it was familiarly called in Revolu- 

 tionary days, clings all the old-time romance 

 and historical sentiment we love to fancy as 

 inseparably associated with old furniture, 

 pottery and glass. And the visitor to Mr. 

 Williamson's home is sure to thrill with a 

 sense of deep satisfaction to find, on enter- 

 ing, there is nothing to mar the picture. It 

 requires no vivid stretch of the imagination 

 to fancy oneself transported to the days 

 when pewter and old blue china and copper 

 luster, now so jealously guarded under lock 



Second floor plan 



and key, were in common daily use, and San Domingo ma- 

 hogany was as plentiful almost as firewood, and was the 

 staple product for the construction of nearly all the best 

 furniture of the day. 



It is a catholic collection Mr. Williamson has brought 

 together in the old Dutch house, as he himself will tell you. 

 It is his aim to keep it so. Although he has developed it 

 along certain broad lines, he has not attempted to feature 

 any special phase of collecting, unless it be that of old Staf- 

 fordshire of which there are some eight hundred pieces. 

 All told, Mr. Williamson's antiques number about two 

 thousand. 



Like most collectors, Mr. Williamson's fancy is often 

 taken with some especially delightful piece, he can't resist 

 buying, until now, in finding a place for his treasures, it 

 has become a question of subtraction rather than addition. 

 This weeding-out process too is attended with more or less 

 difficulty, since the attic of the house, like most Colonial 

 dwellings of the second period, is so inaccessible as to be 

 practically useless. Consequently, every odd closet has its 



The dining-room contains some of the eight hundred pieces of old Staffordshire ware comprising Mr. Williamson's collection 



