Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-01-24


picnickers made merry under the trees
during the summer.
| The house is plainly but very sub
stantially built of large granite blocks
| Surmounting the two stories is com
modious attic. The front and rear are
almost identical in appearance. In
the center of each is a massive porch
with six solid granite columns. These
| columns are II inches-nearly six feet
in circumference at the bottom
| tapering slightly as they rise. A large
| window on each side of the porch
lights the lower rooms, while three
windows light the second story. Two
windows are in each side Of the house.
These would seem inadequate to
brighten the great extent of interior:
but because of the arrangement of
halls and rooms are sufficient
From the first floor front windows
small balconies project, protected by
iron framework. Dormer windows
one in front and one in the rear, are
placed in the center of the roof to
light the attic. Two tall chimneys
stand like silent sentinels on top the
venerable pile.
Cost not Considered.
That cost was little object is shown
by the fact that copper rainspouts
carry water off from the metal.
sheathed roof and the massive doors
are of mahogany, plainly but hand
sOmely carved.
1t is not difficult to enter the build
ing. The doors and windows stand
open, as though glad to welcome the
light and fresh air.
Entering at the front one finds
splendid hallway the width of the
porch. It's lofty ceiling bends in a
graceful arch. The floor is of the fin
est hardwood, closely fitted and pol
ished like that of ballroom. Near
the western, or rear, entrance the hall
narroWs, the projections on each side
being guarded by graceful Corinthian
column. A stair hall running at right
angles to the main hall divides the
southern half of the floor and leads
to the Colonial stairway, constructed
of oak with a mahogany handrail and
newell post.
The Ballroom.
The north side of the first floor
contains two stately apartments, with
high ceilings and plain white walls.
They can be thrown into one, making
a magnificent ballroom. Few modern
bathrooms have better floors for dane.
ing. Open fireplaces indicate that
festive occasions in the old house
were made cheerful by the blaze and
splutter of burning oak logs. One
can readily imagine that the genial
glow thus given fashionable gather
ings of that day could not have been
improved by the sultry steam-heating
fixtures of modern times. 1t is said
that artistically carved marble mantles
adorned these open fireplaces, but
there is no trace Of them there now.
This ballroom Is even now noted
place in Howard county, as
dances are frequently given there, and
the polished floor kept smooth by the
feet that follow the music of the two
step instead of the stately minuet and
the rollicking Virginia reel.
Dining Room and Library.
On the south side of the first floor.
beside the stair hall. are two large,
weIl-lighted rooms, evidently used as
dining room and library. These, too,
have open freplaces, but no mantels.
Indeed, open fireplaces are in nearly
every room in the house, but whatever
adornments they may have had have
long since disappeared.
The second floor is also traversed by
a wide hall ample enough to accommo,
date 2 score of patrons at a seaside
hotel. There are six large chambers.
enticing even in their present bleak
solation-dreams of luxurious com
fort in their days of use. There is also
a smaller chamber containing the
wreck of an old-fashioned bathtub
partly set in the wall.
It is said that among the appoint,
ments of the mansion when it was
left new and beautiful by the builders
costing many thousands of dollars. 1t
is not known where this pool was To-
Gated A local tradition has it that the
pool was some distance from the house
and connected with it by a subter-
ranean passageway. There is no trace
of any such thing now.
The Attic.
Two cross-halls and five rooms of
good size take up the space in the at
tic. The Railways in the center extend
upward to a square elevation or cupola
on the roof, where a skylight lets
| brightness through to the floor below.
This cupola is not noticed from the
outside of the building, because OF it's
stunted form. The rooms of the attic
have sloping ceilings, conforming to
the slanting roof which fact some.
what diminishes their area. Above
them, in a kind of half attic surround
ing the cupola and skylight, are three
small rooms, or large closets. They
were probably used as storage rooms
A remarkable thing about nearly all
the rooms in the second story and at.
tic is the number of large closets they
contain. In some rooms these extend
around three sides. They are long
shallow affairs, filled with shelves, Civ
ing the rooms somewhat the appear
ance of abandoned country stores.
The builders were liberal in their
ideas of space. Even the basement has
a large hall running through it. This