This large rectangular room had white walls with panels of red silk damask encased within molded frames. The curtains were of the same material. The room was filled with a collection of elegant and costly furniture, old English portraits and paintings, and other rare and curious objects.
The floor was of black-and-white marble. The walls were of paneled wood painted white, with pieces of tapestry in the center panels. The red-carpeted mahogany staircase occupying the center hall was the chief feature retained in the rebuilding done by Ogden Codman Jr. It divided beneath a magnificent triple Palladian window. Shown here are the triple window, the tapestry, a portion of the staircase and ceiling detail.
This room was paneled in oak to the ceiling. The dark walls made a fine contrast to the deep red of the furniture covering. Above the fireplace was a portrait of John Jay painted by Gilbert Stuart. John Jay had given it to Gen. Stephen Van Rennselaer, father-in-law of Nathaniel Thayer II, who built the Homestead.
The library was paneled throughout in polished French walnut. The mantel, of red marble, supported a built-in mirror. (Mirrored overmantels with plaster decoration and marble fireplaces were Codman's trademarks.) On one side was an elliptical recess lined with books. The curtains, carpet, and furniture were green.
The terrace front of the Nathaniel Thayer estate, the Homestead, is beautifully mirrored in this c. 1900 view. Note the new plantings along the shore of Thayer Pond. The home had just been enlarged and remodeled by Ogden Codman. The Thayer family frequently commissioned him to work on their many homes.
This view shows an elaborate green-latticed wall treatment in a room off the master bedroom. The master bedroom itself had walls of French gray and panels with white moldings. The furnishings were white and gray, with curtains of pink damask. The room contained a rose and white marble fireplace surmounted by a large mirror.
This fine old Colonial on Neck Road was the first Lancaster home built by John Sprague, an attorney who moved to the town in 1770 to open an office in partnership with Abel Willard. Sprague, who later became a prominent judge, was active in town affairs and built a second home on the west side of Main Street along the Nashua River.
In one of the hothouses on the Bayard Thayer estate, an unidentified gardener looks over some of his beautiful blooms. In the early 20th century, groups of horticulturalists were often invited to the estate for field days.
Lancaster's young Buddy Connor fell to sniper fire during World War II on the Isle of Saipan in the Pacific theater on July 26, 1944. In 1948, his body was among the 3,200 war dead brought home on the U.S. Army transport Walter H. Schwenk. Before final burial in Eastwood Cemetery, his body was put in the town hall to lie in state, the only Lancaster citizen to have been so honored.
This snowy view, looking east on Bolton Road, shows the Humphrey Bridge with the electric car track in the foreground. Eugene V. R. Thayer had the track diverted to prevent electric cars from passing in front of the Thayer estates on Main Street on their way from Lancaster Center to South Lancaster.
Men are shown hear tending to the task of ice cutting on Fuller Pond. Farmers would often supplement their incomes during the unproductive winter months by cutting blocks of ice, storing them in well-insulated icehouses, and selling them for use in iceboxes during the hot summer months.
The Carr Farm is shown around 1900. This panoramic view looks east to Still River on the Harvard Road, beyond the corner of Schufeldt Road and the Burbank home. The land is on the current North Post.