Roseland Cottage

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Historic house in Connecticut, United States

title: "Roseland Cottage" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["woodstock,-connecticut", "historic-house-museums-in-connecticut", "museums-in-windham-county,-connecticut", "national-historic-landmarks-in-connecticut", "carpenter-gothic-houses-in-the-united-states", "houses-completed-in-1846", "houses-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-connecticut", "houses-in-windham-county,-connecticut", "national-register-of-historic-places-in-windham-county,-connecticut", "historic-new-england", "historic-district-contributing-properties-in-connecticut"] description: "Historic house in Connecticut, United States" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseland_Cottage" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Historic house in Connecticut, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox NRHP"]

Field	Value
name	Henry C. Bowen House
nrhp_type	nhl
image	File:Roseland Cottage was built in 1846 in the Gothic Revival style as the summer home of Henry Chandler Bowen and family. The entire complex, with a boxwood parterre garden, an icehouse, garden house, and LCCN2011631587.jpg
caption	Roseland Cottage
location	556 Route 169, Woodstock, Connecticut
coordinates
locmapin	Connecticut#USA
built	1846
architect	Joseph Collins Wells; Edwin Eaton
architecture	Gothic Revival
designated_nrhp_type	October 5, 1992
added	August 24, 1977
refnum	77001414
nrhp_type2	cp
nocat	yes
designated_nrhp_type2	January 6, 1999
partof	Woodstock Hill Historic District
partof_refnum	98001578
::

Roseland Cottage, also known as Henry C. Bowen House or as Bowen Cottage, is a historic house located on Route 169 in Woodstock, Connecticut, United States. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. It is described as one of the best-preserved and best-documented Gothic summer houses in the nation, with virtually intact interior decorations.

It is now owned by Historic New England, a non-profit organization that preserves the historical value of the house and operates it as a museum.

History

Roseland Cottage was built in 1846 in the Gothic Revival style as the summer home of Henry Chandler Bowen and family. The entire complex, with a boxwood parterre garden, an icehouse, garden house, carriage barn, and the nation's oldest surviving indoor 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.

Beginning in 1870, the largest Fourth of July celebrations in the United States were held at Roseland Cottage. Four United States Presidents visited Bowen's summer home as his guests and speakers for these celebrations: Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley. Other prominent visitors included Henry Ward Beecher, Julia Ward Howe, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and John C. Frémont. The home and gardens on one of these occasions were described in a local newspaper in 1887:

Today the house remains in excellent historic condition, with original Gothic furniture and embossed Lincrusta Walton wall decoration. The house, known locally as The Pink House, is currently painted coral pink, and located on Woodstock Hill Common. Roseland's parterre garden contain twenty-one flowerbeds with more than 4,000 annuals bordered in boxwood, in their original 1850 pattern, and now form part of Connecticut's Historic Gardens.

The house is a contributing property within NRHP-listed Woodstock Hill Historic District.

Gallery

Roseland Cottage (Bowen Cottage) - interior view.jpg|Interior view Roseland Cottage (Bowen Cottage) - entryway.jpg|Entryway detail Benjamin Harrison and large group at Roseland Cottage - DPLA - 6f621e21a20b5083a4b22d44e6604e56 (page 1).jpg|Benjamin Harrison and large group at Roseland Cottage Roseland Cottage, Woodstock, CT - 1909.jpg|Roseland Cottage on a postcard sent in 1909 Roseland Cottage and Garden, Woodstock, CT 2020.jpg|Cottage and garden (2020) Roseland Cottage, Woodstock, CT 2020.jpg|Exterior (2020) Roseland Cottage National Historic Landmark Marker.jpg|National Historic Landmark marker INTERIOR FRONT PARLOR - Bowen House, Woodstock, Windham County, CT HABS CONN,8-WOOD,1-12.tif|Interior, front parlor

References

{{NRISref. 2007a
"Henry C. Bowen House". National Park Service.
Grady. (November 1, 1991). ["National Historic Landmark Nomination: Henry C. Bowen House (Roseland Cottage)"]({{NHLS url). National Park Service.
[http://www.townofwoodstock.com/history.html] "A Brief History of Woodstock" Web page on the Woodstock, Connecticut official town Web site, accessed July 30, 2006.
Emmet, Alan. ''So Fine a Prospect: Historic New England Gardens''. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1996: 69. {{ISBN. 0-87451-749-4
Clouette. (September 8, 1997). ["National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Woodstock Hill Historic District"]({{NRHP url). National Park Service}} {{NRHP url.

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