House and Garden 
MAYWOOD 
of our universal use of the porch or piazza. 
As used in the South, where they are desig¬ 
nated “galleries,” it is clear they are a natural 
development, due to the hot climate and 
French and Spanish influences; but in the 
North this explanation does not hold good, 
and in fact many of the existing New England 
houses that antedate the Republic have no 
porch at all in our accepted sense, in this way 
corresponding to their English ancestors. 
Does it not seem probable that these wide 
projecting eaves of the Dutch farmers proved 
so acceptable a shelter from rain and sun, as to 
have easily developed into the all-across-the- 
front porch which is so peculiarly American ? 
In most farming regions it is usual to find 
the houses composites of a main house and addi¬ 
tions of later date, made neces¬ 
sary by increased family or 
possibly by the coming of pros¬ 
perity. All through this coun¬ 
try of which I write, the main 
house is usually of stone, per¬ 
haps because the house was 
being built while the fields 
were being cleared, while the 
additions are of wood. 
At the northern end of 
Bogota is a very charming 
piece of farm architecture. 
The lines are the same, but 
the house is all of wood 
and is reputed to have been 
the first house built in Bogo¬ 
ta, long before the Revolu¬ 
tion. 1 he old farm barns 
are in the rear while the 
front stands serenely on a 
suburban street as if unaffect¬ 
ed by the hoydenish fashions 
of the frivolous young. Over 
the door one may barely see 
the carved ornament which 
always recurs in these houses 
and seems to have been one 
of the few details the builders 
knew of. Another view show¬ 
ing the rear has the austerity 
of a New England farmhouse 
hut shows the projecting eaves 
very clearly. The bay win¬ 
dow is, of course, a modern 
addition, the large panes of 
glass, the bracketed cornice and slat shutters 
Being all incongruous. 
In the final analysis it is not the beautiful 
cities which make the strongest impression 
upon travelers, but rather the allurements 
of country scenery and views. Anyone who 
has ridden in the cars from Dover to London 
on a spring morning or who has spent a 
day in rural France, at Avignon perhaps, 
will remember that day, when the crowded 
recollections of Paris or Berlin are very indis¬ 
tinct. Rural America is far from a boasting 
matter, to be sure, but there are, all through 
the older states, glimpses here and there of 
friendly little farmhouses nestling among 
the apple orchards or beneath swaying elms, 
and now and then a good house like this 
ON THE GOFFLE HILL ROAD 
4 
