Gate Of The Hills
Description and history
The Gate of the Hills stands at the southern fringe of a residential area south of Bethel village. It is set on a small level area north of the junction of North and Royalton Hill Roads, in a small clearing in the woods with a semicircular drive in front. The house is 2+1⁄2 stories in height, with a massive stone foundation (apparently intended to support masonry walls) and a wooden frame clad in shingles. The roof has gables at the side, and its front slope extends down to the first floor, where it shelters a recessed porch, and has three large gabled dormers above. On the rear, the roof extends only to the top of the second floor, and is slightly flared (a Dutch Colonial feature) at the base.
The house was built about 1896 for Mary E. Waller and her mother; its designer and builder are not known. Waller made this her primary residence until 1918, and it was here that she wrote some of her best-known works, including the 1904 The Wood-carver o£ 'Lympus, which is set in Bethel. Although she did not write directly about the house, she occasionally wrote about its surrounding environment. The house itself is an unusual combination of American Shingle style architecture, with a number of distinctive features presaging the later Dutch Colonial Revival.
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Hugh Henry (1991). "NRHP nomination for Gate of the Hills". National Park Service. Retrieved July 2, 2016. with photos from 1991