The Rocks Estate, also known as the John Jacob Glessner Estate, is a historic

summer estate A summer house or summerhouse is a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed t ...

Bethlehem, New Hampshire Bethlehem is a hillside town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,484 at the 2020 census. It is home to Cushman and Strawberry Hill state forests. The eastern half of the town is within the White Mountain Nation ...

. The large estate, covering more than , is located near the junction of

U.S. Route 302 U.S. Route 302 (US 302) is an east–west spur of U.S. Route 2 in northern New England in the United States. It currently runs from Montpelier, Vermont, beginning at US 2, to Portland, Maine, at U.S. Route 1. It passes through the states of V ...

and

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

, and includes some twenty buildings. The estate was assembled by John Jacob Glessner (whose Chicago residence is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

designed by H. H. Richardson) in the 1880s, and is one of the largest and best-preserved surviving private estates in the state. Glessner created The Rocks as a private conservation initiative, to prevent destructive farming methods from destroying the land. The large

Shingle-style The shingle style is an American architectural style made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture, which eschewed the highly ornamented patterns of the Eastlake style in Queen Anne architecture. In the shingle style, Engli ...

house he had built in 1883 no longer stands, but a significant number of outbuildings survive, including a carriage house, horse barn, and a sawmill/pigpen building in a cluster of buildings located generally northward of the former house site. At least three of these buildings were designed by Chicago architect

Hermann V. von Holst Hermann Valentin von Holst (1874–1955) was an American architect practicing in Chicago, Illinois, and Boca Raton, Florida, from the 1890s to the 1940s. He is best remembered for agreeing to take on the responsibility of heading up Frank Lloyd ...

, and are of unusually high quality in their design and construction. There is a subsidiary area of the estate known as the Red Farm, centered on a c. 1840 farmhouse. The estate was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984. The property is now owned by the

Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF) is a private, non-profit, land conservation organization, conservation and sustainable forestry organization based in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It purchases or is given easements ...

and is open to the public. It is managed by that organization according to principles articulated by Glessner, preserving an important aspect of the property.

References

External links

The Rocks - SPNHF
{{DEFAULTSORT:The Rocks Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Greek Revival houses in New Hampshire Shingle Style architecture in New Hampshire Houses completed in 1883 Houses in Grafton County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Grafton County, New Hampshire Bethlehem, New Hampshire

See also

References

External links