Roseland Cottage - Gothic Revival

Roseland Cottage, located in Woodstock CT, epitomizes the Gothic Revival architecture of 1846 with its steep gables, decorative bargeboards, and ornamented chimney pots.

The interior of Roseland Cottage is equally colorful, featuring elaborate wall coverings, heavily patterned carpets and stained glass, much of which survives unchanged from the Victorian era. Roseland Cottage's picturesque landscape includes original boxwood-edged parterre gardens planted in the 1850s. The estate includes an icehouse, aviary, carriage barn, and the nation’s oldest surviving indoor bowling alley.

Note that these are earlier photos of Roseland Cottage, today the color is a shade deeper. Several years ago, Historic New England undertook a scientific analysis of the layers of paint that coat the house. The analysis identified thirteen different shades of pink, ranging from a light dusty rose to a deep coral pink, that were used throughout its 160-plus years.

[Photo Credits: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division]