Milford chronicle., 1932-04-29
T%%%rsmn%%%%E%% III ~
AN OLDCOUNTRY
CASTLE IN DEL.
Built BY John VOgl And
Family.

About one mile from a little place
| known as Masten's Corners, which
is somewhere west of Harrington
there is one of the most interesting
! farms in the State of Delaware.
| From the road the farm house seems
no different from any other i'll the
surrounding country. AS you ap-
proach, however, the aspect of the
whole place suddenly changes and
you are transported to little para
disc i'm corner of the world TO get
the real atmosphere of the place we
should know something of the his
tory of the family.
Twenty-fOUr years ago, Mr.. John
VOgl and his wife and family came
across the ocean from Bohemia, or
what is now CzechOsloyakia to settle
in America. They were on the water
for thirty days and finally landed in
New Orleans. Although the warm
climate did not particularly appeal
to the family they made their home
in Louisiana and stayed there for
three-quarters of a year. Then came
their first stroke of bad luck There
had been many storms in Texas that
year and the Great River" over
flowed its banks. Mr.. VOgl's descrip-
tiOn of the flood is very vivid. All he
could hear, he says, was the awful
boom-bOom of those turbulent wa
ters. Not only was his home COM
pletely destroyed but he lost one of
his little daughters. Her body was
never recovered. That, says Mr.. VOgl
hurt him more than anything else
His son, Otto, then a small boy,
would awake in the night and cry
for his little sister, but the Great
River" would not give her up.
Then after the flood, Mrs. VOgl
and the children became ill. The
doctors told them that the climate
was not healthy for them, they
should move away. To cap the eli
max, a fierce cyclone tore up their
second home, and they felt that it
was time to leave the sunny
south.
The Vogls came to Delaware and
bought the farm on which they now
live They had hardly gotten settled
when the house was burned down to
the ground. They knew no one; they
had mo money, no spoon, no shoes"
Those first years were rough sailing
for Mother and Father Vogl and
their children. Since then. however,
they have prOspered and are very
happy.
They started building their pres
ent home in 1914 and it is not yet
finished. All the work is done by Mr..
Vogl and the children. They even
make the cement blocks of which
the house is composed. Mrs. Vogl |
designs the house, draws the plans, |
and Otto and Mr.. Vogl build it as |
she desires. Everything with them is |
original. Just now they are work. |
ing on a large sun-room. The latter
is open all the way to the roof and |
there is a balcony around the sec
Ond floor by which you enter the
bedrooms. On the ceiling Mrs. VOgl !
has painted a blue sky with gilt
stars pasted on it. Each star stands
for some member of the family. Mr..
Vogl took a long thin pose and,
reaching from the second story bal
cony, painted out some of them.
The floors of the new reception
room are to me mosaic. There will
be two movable pillars in the sun
room so that Mrs. VOgl can hang
tapestry between them and change
the size of the room to suit her fam
cy. There will also be a large cabi-
net with a glass front on the wall of
The room for the children's musical
Mrs. VOgl draws all de-
signs for the. woodwork trimming on
walnut and her husband cuts them
lut and attaches them. He does ev-
srything except manufacture the
glass, even builds the window
rames himself.
Besides these two rooms there are
n this quaint castle a medium sized
ltchen, a dining room, a little
scratch room" or tiny sitting room,
and a beautiful sun room in the
,ack of the reception hall. This last |
$ bright and cheerful all of the day,
real credit to the architect. The
ace curtains at the windows and the
Dlorful linOleUm on the floor make
t one of the daintiest prettiest
'ooms in the whole house.
Every here and there you will find
n unexpected nook or cubby-hOle.
hey are as numerous as they are in
he old-fashioned European castles
hat we read so much about. An
,ther interesting feature about the
1ogl house is its balconcies. The
arger one of the two is above the
ront entrance and on the roof be-
ide it is a cement eagle, one of Mrs.
1ogl's masterpieces. Out in the
ard are a swan and a lion, her