Stranica 188 [188]
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The house has distinction. This comes partly from its paneled
walls, witnessing to the good taste and knowledge of the builders—
long since dead—who placed them there. The two wings, each a
complete house, are held together by the long, wide hall originally
intended as the ballroom. This hall is one of the features of the
house, which, with its exits upon both ends and sides, may properly
be called four-fronted. The interior, with its large, square rooms,
engaged the attention of the first artisans of the country; the
rnantels and hand-carved stairway are particularly interesting.
All over the house the woodwork is elaborate and exceedingly
good. Ihe paneled rooms show refined cornices, while the graceful
north stair is of particular note, along with the beautiful treatment
of the newel post at its foot. Black walnut, mahogany and heart
pine are the woods used.
The splendid paneled dining-room still speaks of the presence
of century-dead masters. The sunbeams that steal in through the
opalescent window panes light up the names and dates thereon as
far back as 1779. The H and L-H hinges; the heavy brass locks
and huge door keys; the iron locks showing the English coat-of¬
arms in brass; the personal reminders of Thomas Jefferson who
lived here as a boy—these are among the many things that make
this house as interesting as any in America.
Straight through the hall—from river to road—a vista ends
down the cedar-bound lane and stretches its length into the house
and out over flights of well-worn stone steps. These steps now
present almost a dilapidated appearance, and suggest an indifference
on the part of the owners, but they are really carefully left that
way in respect to their great age. And, as if in a like appreciation
of this same age, wherever possible, the mossy crevices are filled
with violets and ferns.
The exterior of the house is unique. Begun, apparently, as a
brick building, the south wing has both ends well laid in Flemish
bond, as if the change to a frame construction came after these
were built. The north wing is all frame.
[115]