“Green Hill” 
facade ot singular harmony before you ; 
then you step around by way ot the front to 
the other long facade ; then to the rear—and 
by this time you have the full impression of 
this simple but charmingly picturesque old 
Colonial house, and it is an impression that 
will remain with you always. It is for the 
purpose of introducing this unique work ot 
better days that a few holidays have been 
spent in making the accompanying sketches. 
But as all must know, sketches, drawings 
and photographs fail to give the real teeling 
of a fine old house, much lived in, and with 
THE PILLARED VERANDA 
a history. One should visit “Green Hill” on 
a pleasant afternoon in September. Then 
the leaves, which so obscure the house, are 
partly off the trees. The scene is that of 
solitude. Silence, without even the twitter 
of birds, is broken only by the sighing of 
the breeze, while the slowly lengthening 
shadows mark the lapse of the hours. All 
is favorable to an appreciative condition ot 
mind ; then one can feel the past life of this 
house, as one can in contemplating the old 
Southern manor-houses. But this is in cold 
New England, and here is the cold sky of 
the North. There are elm and spruce 
trees, grape arbors, and a tew remains of box, 
but not the profusion of the South. There 
is not the subtle sense of comfort in loafing 
to be had in the presence of the Southern 
manors, but a keen air, an alertness, and a 
damp ground which repels familiarity by an 
ache or two after an hour at sketching. It 
seems as it all of these are but natural ac¬ 
companiments ot these New England homes. 
Now this old house was first a simple cot¬ 
tage, held by an early settler in the town. 
Later it was acquired by people of more 
wealth and position, 
who turned it into 
the more pretentious 
mansion house. Sin¬ 
gularly enough a cre¬ 
ation of several dif¬ 
ferent times and 
owners, it has come 
down to us as com¬ 
plete and harmoni¬ 
ous a whole as if de¬ 
signed by the first 
master of Colonial 
work, were such a 
thing possible. It is 
of the rare, pictur¬ 
esque kind of Colo¬ 
nial work, as distin¬ 
guished from the 
more formal and 
symmetrical facades, 
such as the Long¬ 
fellow House in 
Cambridge. As 
such, it seems to 
stand almost alone, 
in New England at 
least, as an example ot harmony after having 
passed through the hands of many owners, 
all ot whom were evidently possessed of 
rare taste and a sense of restraint. So re¬ 
markable is this that it were well to hand 
down the names of the various owners, that 
a posterity, just commencing to appreciate 
the work of the older days, may hold them 
in grateful remembrance. 
The mansion was originally composed of 
the rear part, the gables at its sides making 
the line of the front. At this time it also 
lacked the two octagonal bays, and was built 
260 
