Gazebos: How to Find a Time Portal

Welcome to my entry in the Classic Romance Revival Blog Carnival. The theme is SETTINGS - SIMPLY SCENIC OR SPECIALLY SIGNIFICANT?

In Lady of the Stars, my Regency time travel, the very scenic setting is vital to the story. The heroine, Caroline, while staying at the resort Thornbell Manor in Cheshire, England, steps through the back door of a gazebo into the past.

I modeled both the gazebo and the resort on a real place, Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. Mohonk resides in the Shawangunk Mountains in the Hudson River valley, north of New York City. In the picture, the Catskill Mountains of Rip Van Winkle fame rise to the west

behind the House.

Mohonk is a beautiful place, from the mountain lake that fronts the house, to wooded paths, extensive gardens, and Skytop, the tower on the summit of the ridge.

My husband comes from the area, and we were married in the rose garden. In this picture, which my husband took, the rose garden is in the foreground. And before you ask, no, Mohonk did not pay me for the plug.

Mohonk's symbol is a gazebo-like structure called a summerhouse. Dozens of these little open-air structures with wooden tiled roofs and one entry dot the extensive grounds. Nailed to the lintel on the inside of the door is a metal plate with the summerhouse's number. My husband and I made a game of finding all the summerhouses and recording their numbers.

The fictitious Thornbell Manor has dozens of gazebos on its grounds, with number plates on the door lintels, and Caroline plays a game of recording their numbers (sound familiar?) until she finds that one gazebo with the back door.

There fiction diverges from real life, for none of Mohonk's summerhouses has a back door, much less with a metal lintel plate bearing the number "1817", which is the year she is transported to. That special gazebo exists only in Lady of the Stars, for Caroline's back door is a time portal, which whisks our heroine to the past, and her destiny.

The CRR festival is giving away prizes. I've contributed a PDF copy of Lady of the Stars. Note, this is a Classic Romance Revival group event. You must comment on each and every blog, leaving your name and email address, in order to qualify for a prize. For more information, see the CRR blog.

Thank you all,

Linda