In Mr. Willis's "letters from an invalid," he described the beautiful walks and drives in the neighborhood where he spent his days and the description brought summer visitors seeking for board. Every room was occupied and hundreds went away for lack of accommodation. The next season saw new houses built and others were enlarged, and there seemed no limit to our prosperity. A paper published here in 1874 contained the advertisements of twenty-five houses that were public boarding-houses, besides all that were accommodated in private families. Many who came as visitors purchased building sites and erected summer homes. One of these was Mr. Harvey, of Brooklyn, who built Homeland, adjoining Idlewild. Mr. E. A. Mattheissen secured the next site where Mattheissen Park is now. Mr. Solomon, of New York, chose Land's End for his beautiful home. Mr. Bellows's residence was on Bayview Avenue. Mr. James Stillman and his mother each have a summer cottage here.
BOARDING-HOUSES.
Among all the houses opened for guests the Mountain House stood first, from the fact of its position twelve hundred feet above tide-water in the heart of pine woods, where the visitors found health as well as recreation. The building itself was also attractive. In the early sixties Dr. Champlin, who had been traveling in the East, saw some marvelous cures performed on consumptive patients by the use of kourmis.
Property on the mountain was at this time nearly all held by two families—John Losee Wood and Christian Vought; so when the doctor erected two houses as a sanitarium, no one objected. The architecture was oriental—windows and doors were surmounted by round arches, and the second story was built over the broad piazza which surrounded it on three sides. A number of goats were installed in what is now the Chalet across the road, and two physicians, Doctors Pellatier and Boyd, had charge of the houses, but the enterprise was a failure and it became a boarding-house, numbering among its patrons some of the most exclusive families of New York and Philadelphia.
Many of the wealthier guests who saw that there was a possibility of forming a colony similar to that of Tuxedo, joined in a syndicate to purchase land, to lay out roads and develop its resources. Later it was found desirable to have a place of meeting for themselves, and the clubhouse was built. It was incorporated under the title of the Deer Hill Company in 1890. Besides being able to accommodate many guests cottages were built in the grounds and the Mountain House found its days of prosperity gone. Mr. J. W. Meagher surrendered his lease and fire destroyed two-thirds of the building, when it passed into the hands of Mr. James Stillman. One of the next houses in point of numbers was Mr. James G. Roe's. It has sheltered three hundred guests. The Elmer, had nearly two hundred; the Smith was almost the length of a city block. The Wiley House had ninety feet of broad piazzas. Grand View, owned by Mrs. Alott, is the only one at present that is still in the business. There were many others, and nearly every private family was willing to accommodate city guests. Recently the club has surrendered its charter, and it has passed into private hands.
ROUND TOP.
While we are in the mountain we will stand for a few minutes on Round Top, the home of the late Miss Hussey. Near us is a small chalet, consisting of three rooms with a cedar rail portico in front. Here for sixty years a woman, refined, cultured, and of marked literary ability, dwelt alone. There came a break in her seclusion, when in 1861 she entered the army as a nurse, where she remained until the close of the war. She was a fine raconteur, and many a story of those days entertained her visitors, and she had many, for she and her romantic home attracted nearly everyone who came to Cornwall. She kept a visitors' book, and there were 5,000 names in it before mine. In 1876 she, with two other ladies, Miss McClean and Miss Hayes, edited the first newspaper printed in the town, but it was not a success after the first year, when she abandoned it. She received a pension from the Government, and died about four years ago.
E. P. ROE.
As we have been dealing with personal history, a modest residence with large grounds suggests another name, that of E. P. Roe, the novelist. His childhood was passed in Moodna and the home and surrounding scenery in the background of the picture drawn in "Nature's Serial Story." He studied in Williams College and then entered a theological seminary, but in 1862 resigned to become chaplain in the Harris Light Cavalry. He participated in several engagements, but on being appointed Hospital Chaplain, was granted a furlough, came home and was married to Miss Sands, who accompanied him back to the seat of war. He retained his position until the close of hostilities, when he took charge of the Presbyterian Church at Highland Falls. He visited Chicago after the fire, and that suggested the plot of "Barriers Burned Away." The success of this was phenomenal, several editions following in quick succession. Feeling he could reach a larger congregation by his pen than by his voice, he resigned his charge and came to Cornwall. His mornings were spent in his garden, where his success in fruit raising equaled that in literary work. The afternoons in his study resulted in volume after volume being given to the public in quick succession. His books sold well and his royalties were large, but through the misfortunes of others he became financially embarrassed and sold the royalties of his then published novels for $30,000. He still found ready sale for all he produced, which soon enabled him to liquidate his obligation, and the "children of his fancy were his own again." But the strain told on him, and in 1887 he went to Santa Barbara for rest and recuperation. There he wrote "The Earth Trembled," a story of the Charleston earthquake. He returned in 1887 and began his last work, "Miss Lou," which was never finished. In August, 1888, he was reading aloud in his library, when he was seized with sharp pains in his heart. Two physicians were summoned, but failed to give relief and half an hour after his first attack, E. P. Roe was no more. After his death several gentlemen, among others Mr. Thomas Taft, Mr. Valentine and the Rev. Lyman Abbott, consulted as to what shape a permanent memorial to him would take. A Roe Memorial Park was decided upon, the location being near his home on the side of Round Top, bounded by the Boulevard. It consists of a little more than two acres and is heavily wooded. None of the trees have been disturbed, only the underbrush cleared up and paths made through the grounds. At the top is a large boulder and on top of this was placed a bronze tablet, on which was engraved two branches of chestnuts with their foliage and burrs, some open. Above this is inscribed: "In Memory of Edward Payson Roe," and under this, "Near to Nature's Heart." The tablet was unveiled on May 30, 1894, with very impressive ceremonies and was presented to the village.
COLONEL DUNCAN.