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Naulakha, Rudyard Kipling's Historic Residence in Vermont
Rate it! Votes (21) | Comments (0) By Christopher Kenneally Posted August 6th, 2007

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONtablespoons , USA - They make an unlikely group of New Englanders: Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves and who talked with the animals; Shere Khan, the ruthless tiger; Bagheera, the fearsome panther. Indeed, though the jungle boy and the creatures who inhabit The Jungle Books of Rudyard Kipling were conceived in India during the author's childhood, they were given birth half a world away in the thoroughly unexotic setting of a small Vermont village. The first portion of The Jungle Books was published in the U.S. in 1894 (a second followed in 1895).

Recently, the house where Mowgli was born has been restored by the Landmark Trust, a British nonprofit foundation devoted to preserving historic British homes. Landmark Trust properties are not restored to be museums, but for use as unconventional guest homes.

On a bluff outside Brattleboro, the library, gardens and spacious living quarters at "Naulakha" are active again, reincarnated as perhaps Vermont's most unusual summer vacation home/winter ski chalet.

A Dream House in Vermont
In 1892, Rudyard Kipling followed his new bride, Caroline Balestier, to her native America. The couple retreated quickly from New York City, which the scion of the British raj deemed "grotesquely bad," and sought peace and privacy near Carrie's family in Vermont.

Already world famous at 27, the poet and novelist earned the then-princely sum of $25,000 a year (roughly $250,000 in today's dollars). He could afford to build whatever dream house he might imagine. Collaborating with New York architect Henry Rutgers Marshall (1852-1927), Kipling chose the then-popular "shingle style." An outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts movement, the genre marked a retreat from industrialization and Victorian stuffiness. He named the house "Naulakha," which means "precious jewel."

The house Kipling and Marshall created is unexpectedly bright and airy. The impression upon entering is, instantly and surprisingly, one of ease. Plain-speaking, open, even casual, Naulakha has a thoroughly American bearing. Large windows face the dominant east side to make for bright mornings and permit lazy afternoons. Oak-paneled rooms are lightly stained; wicker chairs and other furnishings are simple and relaxing. Floral and decorative motifs drawn from nature further soften and enliven the house's character.

Naulakha immediately reveals a Rudyard Kipling who had not yet succumbed to fame and politics and that other white man's burden, dour respectability. Not past thirty, he was still a budding artist who wished to bring light and joy into his life and that of others. By contrast, an older Kipling was less effulgent in his work -- consider the thunder of Gunga Din -- and, likewise, in his choice of surroundings. Judging from photographs, in any case, "Batesman's," Naulakha's successor in southern England, appears a somber mass of stone and thick woodwork. No less a Kipling admirer than Kingsley Amis, the English novelist, has fittingly described that historic mansion, which is now a museum, as "chilly, damp and dark."

Billiards and Babies
If his American surroundings are any indication, the Kipling of Naulakha hardly resembled the imperial father figure he later became. Wandering the house, a visitor inevitably attempts to conjure the man with the assistance of an amusing contemporary newspaper report: "he wears shabby clothes, drives shaggy horses, is always saying, 'Begad' and plays with the baby."

Rural Vermont or not, though, he never failed at Naulakha to dress for dinner. Remarkably, Kipling even played games at Naulakha -- the USGA credits him with inventing snow golf there (a winter version played with distinctive red balls and tin cans for cups), and a la Mark Twain, he installed a billiards table in the attic. On a visit from Britain, Arthur Conan Doyle brought Kipling a pair of skis and, it is said, introduced the sport to Vermont.

The thematic principle of the house's design is decidedly playful, too. In a curious conceit, Kipling intended Naulakha to resemble a ship. At 90 feet by 24 feet, the house is unusually long and narrow with the author's library and office at the "bow," the kitchen at the "stern." According to David Tansey, an architectural historian and the Landmark Trust's US representative, the author was possibly inspired by elegant Kashmiri houseboats he had known in India.

Collecting Dust
When a family quarrel erupted between Kipling and an alcoholic brother-in-the law, the fallout obliterated whatever joy had formerly illuminated Naulakha. The author's family left Vermont in 1896, and they returned to America only once with tragic consequences. Following a rough Atlantic crossing to New York in 1899, Kipling and six-year-old daughter Josephine fell seriously ill. He fought pneumonia and recovered; his "little American" and the "best beloved" child to whom he had recited the Just-So Stories in the Naulakha nursery did not. The Kiplings soon left America heartbroken and forever. Naulakha was sold to Mary Cabot, a Balestier family friend, in 1903 for $10,000, the same price the owners paid a decade earlier to build it.

Like an old book collecting dust on a shelf, Naulakha lay unnoticed for most of this century. Mary Cabot never took possession, and eventually sold the house to her sister and brother-in-law, who lived there for a brief period. The house later passed to their son, but it was virtually mothballed for the last fifty years until the Landmark Trust purchased it in 1992 for $320,000. They have spent an equal sum to restore it.

According to David Tansey, the Holbrooks made only relatively minor changes in the original design. Whenever a door was removed or a curtain taken from a window, the thrifty -- or foresighted -- Yankees left them in a nearby barn. In a cigar box marked "Naulakha," Tansey even found original drapery strings. "Though we had the original blueprints and were planning to restore the house faithfully," he noted, "it makes it much more satisfying to restore the originals."

If Kipling could return to Naulakha after a century's absence, he would not only find its architecture nearly unchanged, but also its contents would be strikingly familiar. His golf clubs, for example, are left to lean against a corner, much as they do in a period photograph. In the nearby study, a set of Encyclopedia Brittanica from 1891 lines one wall, a replacement of those given Kipling as a present from Robert Louis Stevenson. The author of The Jungle Book, however, might not know what to make of a dishwasher installed discretely in the Naulakha kitchen.

If You Want To Stay At Naulakha
Naulakha is the Landmark Trust's first property in North America; its many other restoration projects include several English castles and a lease on a floor in the Roman flat were Shelley and Keats once lived. Up to eight guests may stay Naulakha, which includes four bedrooms (three twin, one double); three bathrooms; full kitchen; washer, dryer and dishwasher. Bedrooms and bathrooms are all located on the second floor, which is only accessible by stairs. Dogs are allowed.

All bookings for Naulakha must be made through the office of the Landmark Trust in England. Contact the Landmark Trust, Shottesbrooke, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 3SW, United Kingdom, tel. 011-44-1628-825925, fax. 011-44-1628-825417. The Trust's office is open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (times are for the UK, which is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the U.S.).

The Kipling home (located in Brattleboro, Vermont, off Interstate 91 at exit 3) is available by the week, with shorter stays possible from November through March.

For general information about the Landmark Trust or to order its handbook ($19.50) of more than 200 properties in the UK and Italy, call 802-254-6868. Visit the Landmark Trust website at www.landmarktrust.co.uk.

What To Do in the Brattleboro Area
Kipling remarked of Brattleboro that "the town has little to do." Times have changed and so has southern Vermont. The nearby Mount Snow resort, for example, is the third largest in New England. Throughout the winter months, alpine skiers are attracted in droves by its 130 trails and 24 lifts as well as to the surrounding restaurants and shops located in West Dover.

In spring and summer, Mount Snow remains active with a Golf School (tel. 800-240-2555; www.thegolfschool.com) and a Mountain Bike School, as well as numerous hiking trails. The Golf School holds two-day weekend and three-day and five-day midweek sessions from end of May to mid-October. "Off-campus" fees include instruction, greens fees, use of power carts, swimming pool and tennis courts.

The Mountain Bike School is a two-day weekend program offered end of May to mid-October; tuition and fees covers bike rental, helmet, two-day trail pass, lunch and welcome party. For details on all activities year-round, contact Mount Snow Resort, Mount Snow, VT 05356, tel. 1-800-245-SNOW or 802-464-3333. Web address: www.mountsnow.com.

Nordic skiing enthusiasts will want to explore the extensive cross-country ski area at the Hermitage, an old-style New England country inn at the foot of Mount Snow. The Hermitage offers 50 kilometers of trails as well as its own ski shop and cross-country ski school. Evening dinner menus at the inn's restaurant feature venison, pheasant and other game raised at the Hermitage farm. The inn's retail wine cellar has received several awards for its stock of 40,000 bottles. For information and dinner reservations, contact the Hermitage, Box 457, Coldbrook Road, Wilmington, VT 05363, tel. 802-464-3511.

The Marlboro Music Festival runs annually on the campus of Marlboro College, Marlboro, July through mid-August and brings serious and classical symphonic music to the Vermont hills. For a schedule, contact Marlboro College, Marlboro, T 05344, tel. 802-257-4333. The college's Rice Library houses an intriguing Rudyard Kipling collection focusing on the writer's stay in Vermont. Naulakha residents may arrange an appointment with the librarian, by calling 802-257-4333, ext. 221.

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