April, 1912 
The dining-room, with its original furnishings 
sticks, together with a tray holding brass candle snutters, 
which was used to light the guest to bed in the days of long 
ago. A sampler hangs on one of the walls, which was 
worked, when a child, by Moses Parker’s wife, who stitched 
into it many a quaint conceit. All the chambers of this 
house show original Colonial fittings, the rooms being kept 
as nearly as possible as they wefe in former times. 
In the roomy attic under the old-fashioned roof many 
choice relics of a bygone age are most carefully preserved. 
Chests containing beautiful old gowns and rare curios from 
abroad are carefully hoarded. Here in an old hair-covered 
trunk, profusely studded with brass-headed tacks, and care- 
fully hidden from view the “Lady Catherine” was found. 
A most wonderful lady, indeed, dressed in the fashion of 
Colonial times, in a fine 
white mull, tinted with age 
to a beautiful ivory. She 
was carefully holding in her 
hand a note of introduction, 
stating that her name was 
“Lady Catherine.” She was 
more than a century old and 
had no doubt been cherished 
so carefully by tiny hands of 
long ago that it seemed al- 
most sacriligious to with- 
draw her from her long 
years of obscurity. Also 
stored here are several other 
well-worn mementoes of 
small Parkers of the long 
ago. 
In this quaint old Savory 
house there still exists a 
chamber which, in the earlier 
days of its history, was com- 
pletely shut off from the main 
portion of the dwelling, and 
the only access then to be had 
to it (as old records and let- 
ters in the possession of the 
Parker family explain) was 
from the outside. This was 
probably by means of a se- 
cret door, traces of which 
have come to be destroyed 
in later years. The reason 
for so mysterious an apart- 
AMERICAN HOMES 
eae Catherine, a doll of Colonial Gas 
AND GARDENS 
Ee BI 
LNT TTR ER LT TA 
on Bi ie aie time Secieeal bedrooms 
ment was the fact that here were held in great secrecy nu- 
merous Masonic meetings, the proceedings of which were 
kept from the more curious of the neighborhood by reason 
of the privacy of the chamber and the thickness of the walls 
enclosing it. Even in those old days one’s neighbors’ affairs 
were matters to occupy the time of the idle, and so the little 
group forming the Masonic element of Groveland’s early 
society chose their meeting place in the protected spot af- 
forded by the arrangement of the Savory house, which, by 
reason of its private ownership, placed it beyond the bounds 
of unwelcome intruders. 
There is always the charm of mystery about an old house 
of this sort that endears it to one, even to the stranger across 
its threshold, beyond the knowledge of its authentic histor- 
ical associations. So you con- 
jure up visions of life in 
Colonial days as you turn to 
look at it in passing, and his- 
tory seems to have for you 
on such occasions the sense 
of reality. 
The sturdy old house com- 
plete is both simple and dig- 
nified in its outlines, and 
typifies strongly the best 
principles of early construc- 
tion. The sturdiness of its 
build is best evidenced in its 
excellent preservation, the 
underpinning and walls still 
standing as staunch as on 
the day it was built. 
The exact date of its erec- 
tion is not definitely known, 
though it antedated the 
Revolutionary War by a 
number of years, for at the 
time of the first Mr. Par- 
ker’s purchase it was con- 
sidered old by residents of 
the town. It stands to-day a 
distinct landmark in an in- 
teresting community, and the 
present owner may well feel 
proud of her possession, the 
sensible touch of Time not 
yet marring the outlines or 
the air of its age. 
