Interior of the living room at the Rookery at Cedar Hill, 1928

About this postcard

A rustic living room with a staircase at the left, a table and folding chairs in the center, a stone fireplace with snowshoes mounted above it, and a piano at the right. The room is identified as the living room at the Rookery. The snowshoes above the fireplace and the stone chimney give the interior a country-house character; the piano and folding chairs suggest a space used for gatherings. The Rookery at Cedar Hill in Waltham, Massachusetts, was a former carriage house on the estate of Cornelia Lyman Warren that was converted into a dormitory for Girl Scouts when the estate became Camp Cedar Hill in 1923. The Rookery was part of Cedar Hill’s group of camp buildings, sometimes called the “Cedar Hill village.” A historical Boston University study lists it alongside the Chalet, Bowling Alley, and Coop. A 2009 Olin College report also describes staying in the Rookery and mentions that the cabin contained a piano. These establish its use as a camp building, rather than a bird rookery.