Roseland Cottage

Grace and Lena

Grace Aspinwall Bowen was born in 1850. She completed her education at Miss Porter’s Boarding School in Farmington, Connecticut. Before she left for Miss Porter’s in 1860, Grace was photographed with her doll, Lena Rivers, the two dressed in identical outfits. According to family tradition, the doll’s clothing was sewn by Edna Dean Proctor, governess to the younger Bowen children. The doll and its clothing can be seen at Roseland Cottage, in the room known as The President’s Room, that was also Grace’s room. The doll was named for the main character in a popular book written in 1856.