Naulakha was built in 1893 by Rudyard Kipling and his home until 1896. In this house, Kipling wrote Captains Courageous, The Jungle Book, The Day’s Work, and The Seven Seas.
Just a mile from the river, North of Brattleboro in the tiny village of Dummerston, a bungalow-style house perches on a hillside. With views across to Mount Monadnock, this magnificent home called “Naulakha” was built by Rudyard Kipling after he married Vermont heiress Caroline Balestier. When Kipling wasn’t playing tennis with Arthur Conan Doyle, he wrote The Jungle Book (in which the short story about the courageous mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, appears) and
The cover of the original 1894 printing of The Jungle Book.
Captains Courageous here. Today you can eat on his dining room table, knock balls around his pool table, and write your own masterpiece at his desk. At night, rest your weary head in his master bedroom, or one of three others, since the building sleeps eight. For a cozier, less pricey night for two or four people, you can rent out his carriage house instead.
Naulakha is kept by The Landmark Trust USA, an offshoot of the much larger Landmark Trust UK, which preserves homes all across the United Kingdom and beyond by turning them into lodging opportunities. It is a concept that has not yet become popular in America, but just might be a way to save more unique homes along the Connecticut River.
Visit www.landmarktrustusa.org and for reservations contact at
(802) 254-6868 or info@landmarktrustusa.org.
One of the bedrooms inside Naulakha.