The Library Inglenook

In the Gem at Little Rest, also known as the Baker Greene Home, there are spaces that seem to gather time around them, holding it gently, almost reverently. The Library Inglenook is one such place. Hidden just off the kitchen, where warmth and daily ritual have long been centered, this intimate room captures the quiet soul of a home built in 1788, when craftsmanship was a language and fireplaces were the heart of every dwelling.

At the far end of the room, the original stone fireplace stands much as it did more than two centuries ago. Its rugged masonry, worn but steadfast, bears the marks of generations who relied upon its heat. Set beside it, the small brick beehive oven remains intact, a rare survival of early American domestic life. From this modest opening once emerged the bread that fed families and the meals that warmed winter nights. Today, it stands as a tangible link to the past—a reminder that this home was not only built to shelter, but to sustain.

Around the fireplace, built-in shelves rise in dark, hand-planed wood, framing the hearth with the quiet dignity of New England design. Their sturdy lines and deep-toned finish make the perfect companion to the broad, black-painted floorboards underfoot, boards that have witnessed the passage of countless footsteps, each one adding its own whisper to the house’s long story.

This is a room that invites lingering. The low ceiling and thick walls create a sense of enclosure—not confinement, but comfort. One can imagine curling into a well-worn chair here, the fire crackling softly, a book resting gently in hand. In the Inglenook, the world slows to the pace of turning pages. Light from the kitchen spills in just enough to remind you that you are never far from the warmth of the home’s center, yet the room is quiet enough to feel like a refuge of one’s own.

And then, beyond the doorway, the kitchen lies only a few steps away. The proximity feels intentional, as though the home’s earliest builders understood that reading and cooking, thought and nourishment, work and rest, are all intertwined. From the Inglenook, the aroma of bread, of simmering broth, or of morning coffee would once have drifted in—small comforts that turned a house into a home.

In the Library Inglenook, the Baker Greene Home reveals one of its most intimate gifts: a space where history is not simply observed, but felt. Here, beside the original stone hearth and beehive oven, in the glow of old wood and soft light, one senses the enduring warmth of a home that has held families, stories, and quiet moments for well over two hundred years.