covered novel for consolation. Partly inside, partly out, at length, at 10 or
thereabouts arrived at New Rochelle, whereat in a pretty depot. Turned my
face backwards and walked along the rail merrily; rock cuttings on each
side, or a deep declivity, shewing miles of country, bare brushwood, stone fences,
and here and there a white farm house. A colloquy with a workroom on the
railroad, I making inquiry as to the site for the new village, he, after respon-
ding, asking from what part of England I came? [words crossed out]
[words crossed out] How did you know my country?
Why, by your speech. He was Cheshire born, had known America
before railroads, and evidently relished a gossip. Arrived at the
spot destined for the site of Pelhamville , descended the deep declivity and
making my way through a little copse to two men busied in chopping down
trees, inquired of them; skirting the copse, passing through treed fields with
surveyors poles in it, and at length joined them, sunburnt enough.
Strolled to and fro with them, through the orchard, about the barns,
the [unclear word], and at noon to the timber-built, comfortable farm house,
to dinner. Mr Wolf the owner, sturdy, brown lined, good humored and
country spoken; wife pleasant, daughter yclept Phoebe buxom, and comely,
sons and visitor. After a good substantial dinner, seeing them at
their work, wandered on to a little winding stream yclept Hutchinson s
river or brook, tall trees and coppice around it, few birds in the bran-
ches, and a vegetable resembling a lettuce, possessing withal an evil smell,
and known as skunk cabbage. Taking my station on the rails of a
sort of gate crossing the river, with the clear water bubbling and sparkling
most musically beneath my feet, sky above, and a wilderness of twigs
around me, sketched awhile the trees and twigs at the farther end of
a little island fronting me. That done wandered back, and Dillon
accompanying me to the stream again, where a prettier sketch was getatable.
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two: page seventy-six |
| Description: | Describes his arrival at New Rochelle to visit Mr. Hart and Dillon Mapother, who are doing surveying work for a new town called Pelhamville. |
| Date: | 1851-04-12 |
| Subject: | Drawing; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hart; Leisure; Mapother, Dillon; Nature; Railroad; Railroad travel; Travel; Wolf; Wolf, Mrs.; Wolf, Phoebe |
| Coverage (City/State): | New Rochelle, [New York]; Pelham, [New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-07 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn's attempts to find drawing work among New York publishers, brief employment in an architectural office, visits to his soldier friend William Barth on Governors Island, boarding house living, drawing at actor Edwin Forrest's home at Fonthill Castle, and sailing and walking trips taken with friends. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Books and reading; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Military; Publishers and publishing; Religion; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
