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About

Vineyard House

The Vineyard House – Headquarters of The Herb Society of America, Inc.

Henry Earl, a Lake County farmer, built the simple rectangular portion of the house in 1841 of local stone. The site he chose is across the road from Pierson's Knob, the second highest point in Lake County. Earl's "pioneer Greek revival" house is the oldest stone house in Lake County.

The most significant architectural detail is the front doorway's bold Doric columns, lintel and cornice. To make the columns, Earl took the trouble to find single slabs of stone measuring six feet in length.

In the early 1900's, the house was purchased by Benjamin Hubbell, Sr., designer of the Cleveland Museum of Art and other important Cleveland buildings. Thirty acres of grapes were planted and the house was renamed Vineyard House. A horse stable, long since removed, quartered Hubbell's prize-winning racehorses.

Hubbell's embellishments include a master bedroom (now the library) with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, and a back porch. Hubbell, who was also the architect of Cleveland's West Side Market, used two carved stone pieces from the market at the upper corners of the porch fireplace. The carvings depict market items -- a lobster and a cornucopia of vegetables.

By 1962, the house had become a residence for the director of Red Oak Camp, a nearby boy's camp.

In 1988, The Herb Society of America, Inc. located in Boston, purchased the house from the Holden Arboretum for use as its new headquarters. The roof was replaced, the floors straightened and other features carefully restored.

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