In her book Reminiscences Julia shares how the Howe’s first acquired their summer home in Lawton’s Valley.
“THIS LOVELY LITTLE ESTATE had come to us almost fortuitiously. George william Curtis, writing of the Newport of forty years ago, gives a character sketch of one Alfred Smith, a well – known real estate agent, who managed to entrap strangers in his gig, and drove about with them, often succeeding in making them purchasers of some bit of property in the sale of which he had a personal interest. In the summer of 1852 my husband became one of his victims. I say this because Dr. Howe made the purchase without much deliberation. In fact, he could have hardly told any one why he made it. The farm was a very poor one, and the farmjouse very small. Some necessary repairs rendered it habitable for our family of little children and ourselves. I did not desire the purchase, but I soon became much attached to the valley, which my husband’s care greatly beautified. This was a wooded gorge, perhaps an eighth of a mile from the house and extending some distance between hgih rocky banks. We found it a wilderness of brambles, with a brook which ran much out of its proper course. Dr. Howe convertd it into a most charming out-of-door salon. A firm green sod took the place of the briars, the brook was restrained within its proper limits, and some fine trees replaced as many decayed stumps. An old, disued mill added to the picturesqueness of the scene. Below it rushed a small waterfall. Here I have passed many happy hours with my books and my babies,, but it was not in this enchanting spot that I wrote my play. “
Reminiscences 238 to 239
