Roseland Cottage, 1846
A National Historic Landmark
Route 169
Woodstock, Conn. 06281
(860) 928-4074

Directions

Open: June 1 through October 15
Wednesday through Sunday, also open July 4 and Columbus Day
Tours at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Admission: $8, Historic New England members and Woodstock residents free

Click here for information about school programs for this site.

Roseland Cottage depicts the summer life of a prosperous family in mid 19th-century America. Built in 1846 in the newly fashionable Gothic Revival style, the house provided a seasonal escape from a more formal city existence for Henry Chandler Bowen and his family. Bowen, a Woodstock native, made his fortune in New York and became an active abolitionist, Congregationalist, and Republican.

The entire complex, with a boxwood parterre garden, an icehouse, garden house and a carriage barn with a private bowling alley, reflects the principles of writer and designer Andrew Jackson Downing. In his widely popular books, Downing stressed practicality along with the picturesque, and offered detailed instructions on room function, sanitation, and landscaping.

Beautifully situated on the village green, Roseland Cottage has survived virtually unchanged, with its original Gothic furniture, embossed Lincrusta Walton wall coverings, and coral-pink exterior.

The barn houses The Historic New England Museum Shop at Roseland Cottage. The barn and grounds also is available for function rentals.

For more information on events at Roseland Cottage -- a garden party, teas, concerts, children's programs, and a crafts festival -- click here.

Roseland Cottage is one of eleven historic sites that have joined to form Connecticut Historic Gardens. Comprising cottage gardens and formal gardens of many tastes and styles, Connecticut Historic Gardens promotes the appreciation of historic gardens throughout the state. At Roseland Cottage, visitors can stroll among the twenty-one flowerbeds bordered in boxwood hedge and planted with more than 4,000 annuals to create ribbons of color, as originally designed in 1850. Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic, relax on the grounds, and enjoy the gardens just as Bowen's family and guests did more than one hundred and fifty years ago.

Directions: Take I-395 to Exit 97. Turn onto Route 44 west for one mile. Go west on Route 171 for three miles. Route 171 will merge with Route 169 north. Take Route 169 north for 1.5 miles. Roseland Cottage is on the left.

The Official State of Connecticut Tourism Site

Northeast Connecticut Visitors District - The Quiet Corner

Connecticut's Historic Gardens