Polo on the Common

During summers at Roseland Cottage, the Bowen boys engaged in sports and other energetic outdoor activities that reinforced ideas of masculinity and class. They organized the Wappaquassett Polo Club in Woodstock in 1878. In the first volume of his journals, Clarence wrote, “The game was intensely exciting and it seemed as if I never enjoyed myself so much . . . .” He is second from the left, riding his horse, Rosa, in this photograph taken on Woodstock Common.