Meet Evelene Dohan, the proprietor of Hamanassett: She has taught English literature, run a catering business, and gone home a multiple champion from the Philadelphia Flower Show. Her gifts are evident both on the grounds and in the decor of this secluded estate.
The hilltop residence overlooks 48 acres of woods and meadow, shaded garden pathways, and stone-walled ponds. In April and May, approachingguests travel on a½-mile driveway lined with ancient rhododendrons and well-established azaleas, blossoming in profusion all the way up to the ellipse that fronts the main house. Inside, the innkeeper’s cut-flower arrangements grace each room; potted plants and hanging ferns flood the light-filled solarium. Mrs. Dohan, who came as a bride in 1950 and raised her children here, has appointed the rooms with four-poster canopied beds, Oriental rugs, and handsome antiques. And she singlehandedly serves up delectable country breakfasts with homemade jams, compotes, and freshly baked confections.
Hamanassett was built in 1856 for Dr. Charles Meigs, a Philadelphia pioneer in obstetrics, but what you see today bears little resemblance to the doctor’s sum-merretreat. As Mrs. Dohan will tell you, the little farmhouse then consisted of just “three rooms down, and three rooms up.” But in 1870 her late husband’s grandfather purchased the estate. His son—her father-in-law—didn’t like the sensation of enclosure, and so he added onto and redefined the original structure (including the pumpkin pine floor-ing). He installed arched passageways instead of doors between rooms on the first floor, so the main body of the house feels united, allowing fluid movement from room to room and a less obstructed flow oflight. Before ascending the main staircase, note the blue-and-white delft tile depiction of human history encased in the broad white arch to your right:
The story begins with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
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