July, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



265 



Sleepy Hollow chairs and fine old claw-foot table handsomely 

 carved, the morning-room with its splendid mirror, its old 

 mahogany bookcase, grandfather's clock, and the ladder- 

 back chairs, and the dining-room, with its fine mahogany fur- 

 niture, all have a charm which is most delightful. This 

 charm is further enhanced by the furnishings of the sleeping- 

 rooms in the second floor. Each of the rooms is a gem in 

 itself, but one of the guest rooms, shown in the illustration, 

 is especially notable, with its four-poster, and its low-boy 

 used for a dressing-table, over which is hung a Queen Anne 

 mirror. The den is off the dining-room, and among its 

 treasures, which Mr. Chase prizes very highly, is an old 

 sign which, many years ago, hung over the door of a cob- 

 bler's shop, and on which is inscribed, with yellow-painted 

 letters, each word being punctuated by a period, the fol- 

 lowing notice : 



(Eermis. 8thttl|». cast). 

 i9o. Satfjlten. iWabournten. 

 ^apmtnts. 3lt. map. be. 

 for. pears, anb. it. 

 map. be. forebcr. 



Leaving Mr. Chase's house and walking toward the north, 

 one passes the old Congregational Church, which is typical 

 of many of the old village churches of New England. The 

 spire is its crowning glory, not only for external beauty, but 

 for its construction. This church was organized October 13, 

 1652, by seven of the foremost townsmen, who afterward 

 were known as the "Seven Pillars of the Church." To show 



the solemn nature of these men, a story is told of one of its 

 deacons who kept a shop, Mr. Samuel Richards, a very godly 

 man of Puritanic ways, who deemed it necessary, on account 

 of his office, to appear grave and solemn, so much so that 

 when a boy appeared at his shop one morning, he became 

 frightened by the solemnity of the man, instead of asking for 

 a pair of L-hinges, he demanded of the horrified deacon a 

 pair of archangels. Mr. Richards was also the first post- 

 master in Farmington, and the "Connecticut Courant" re- 

 cords, on July 22, 1799, "A Post Office established at Farm- 

 ington for public accommodation, Samuel Richards, P. M." 

 The post office was kept in the front hall of his house, and 

 the half dozen letters which some times accumulated were 

 fastened on the wall with tape. 



Beyond the church one passes many fine old houses, the 

 most important of which is the one built by Gad Cowles, and 

 now the residence of Henry N. Whittlesley. The old house 

 is built of brick, and has a fine entrance and portico at the 

 side. The chief charm of the house, however, is its beauti- 

 ful mantels. The one in the front drawing-room is carved 

 with exquisite delicacy and detail, and the beauty of this 

 mantel was so much admired by the committee in charge of 

 the erection of the Connecticut State Building for the World's 

 Fair at Chicago that a replica of it was placed in the new 

 structure. 



According to Colonial law each town was obliged to keep 

 a tavern or inn for the entertainment of travelers, and Joseph 

 Root, of the village, was appointed by the town to attend to 

 this duty. In 1691 an inn with a swinging sign offered en- 

 tertainment for man and beast, and it subsequently became 

 what is to-day the Elm Tree Inn, owned and conducted by 



Concluded on page 280 



Byde-a-Whyle," the Summer Home of Waldo K. Chase, Esq., Originally Built for Major Timothy Cowles in 1815 



