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This is a contributing entry for Gari Melchers Home & Studio and only appears as part of that tour.Learn More.
Stone walls, west entrance wooden gates, and flanking piers topped with lions were built ca 1923. In a letter from Corinne to her mother dated April 8, 1923, she mentioned the gate post with lions being installed at Belmont. The gates are hung on stone piers which bookend the stone walls fronting Washington Street. The origin of the lion statues on top of the piers is unknown, but they have been guarding the gates for close to one hundred years. Paint analysis revealed that this gate had the same off-white paint as the main house. Other gates on the property were either painted the green seen on the house shutters, or were simply whitewashed in areas of heavy use, such as the barn yard. This differentiation of color from other gates signal their importance; they secured what was then the only public entrance to Belmont. An earlier, Ficklen period entrance to the estate is thought to have been located just downhill from this location.

Stone Lion detail

Stone Lion detail

Front of Gate

Front of Gate

Gate with lion-topped posts and stone wall

Gate with lion-topped posts and stone wall

Gate with lions, circa 1920

Gate with lions, circa 1920