Kent Hill Cottage

Private home close to Historic Dorset Green and local attractions. Perched above the town’s Historic District, 133 Kent Hill Road is an unassuming bungalow with a story that is intertwined with several of Dorset’s most distinguished and noteworthy settlers including the Holley, Field, Gray and Kent families. To fully appreciate the story, and one must delve into the history of those clans. Justus

Holley (1765-1848) owned the tract of property that today is known as Kent Hill. He built the original home on the property, circa 1840, which still stands on Route 30. Holley was born in Connecticut, later moving to Vermont from Richmond, Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Field (1773-1858), and served in the Revolutionary War under Captain Robinson at Bennington. His wife, Elizabeth Field (1773-1858), was also born in Connecticut and lived a long life of 85 years. Also of note, she was the aunt of Frederick Field, one of three cousins that owned and operated the largest marble firm in Dorset; Holley, Kent and Field. Their son Hiram (1800-1882) married Clarissa Gray (1805-1884) and had a daughter, Helen Holley (1830-1901). Helen married Henry B. Kent (1826-1906) in 1851, and moved into the Justus Holley house soon after, most likely to care for Justus’s widow Elizabeth. Kent was the great-grandson of Cephas Kent (1725-1809), an important figure in Dorset and Vermont history. Born in Connecticut, Cephas moved to Dorset in 1773, where he opened and operated a small tavern. It was in Kent’s tavern that the very idea of Vermont was born by the New Hampshire Grantee’s. They met four separate times and shortly after the fourth meeting, 25 June 1776, it was agreed that they form a separate district. That agreement is known as the Dorset Accord which was the first official step towards Vermont’s independence. The following year, 2 July 1777, in the town of Windsor, the State’s name was chosen and the constitution adopted. Eventually New York State relinquished their claim on the Green Mountain territory and in 18 February 1791, Vermont entered the Union. Cephas Kent lived in a house on the southwest corner of the intersection of Nichols Hill Road and Dorset West Road. The original home is no longer standing and his son Martin Kent (1769-1857) built the house that now inhabits the northwest corner of that intersection. Martin’s son was Daniel Kent (1793-1858), a very active and successful marble quarry owner. His son, Henry B. Kent was also a marble dealer. Most likely it was Henry B. Kent who developed the tract of land, currently known as Kent Hill, in the latter years of the nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century, the parcel of land now occupied by Kent Hill Cottage was owned by Theophile Ernesto Comba, who immigrated to Vermont from San Germano, Italy. Comba was a lecturer and teacher at the New York City Public Library School; specifically, he taught a course in “technical Italian” to seniors. His obituary stated that the faculty and alumni remember him as “a most interesting and stimulating teacher.”
Locally, Comba was the first president of the Dorset Village Public Library Association, and addressed the audience at the 1920 celebration of the library’s fiftieth anniversary. It is also interesting to note that Comba’s wife, Martha (a.k.a. “Mattie”), born 1850 was the daughter of Clark and Ruth Gray. Ruth Gray’s maiden name was Kent, and Justus Holley’s wife was Elizabeth Field. More research is needed, but it’s likely that Mattie inherited the property through her relationship with the Kent, Gray, Field and Holley families. According to town records, the current structure at 133 Kent Hill Road was built circa 1918. Christian Adolf Stein commissioned the Craftsman Style home on land he purchased from Theophile and Mattie Comba. The property was one of the first homes developed on Kent Hill and sits on a prime lot that included the property below that is currently 77 Kent Hill Road. Stein was born in Troy, New York, in 1863; his parents, Christian and Henrietta Stein, were born in Germany and emigrated to the U.S. Stein attended public school in Troy and became an organ and piano teacher; many of the city’s best musicians were formerly his pupils. He was also the organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Church in Troy for twelve years. He married Grace La Rose of Albany in 1896. In June 1923, Helen Peverly Ford purchased the home from the Steins. The Ford family was among the earliest settlers of New England. Helen’s ancestor, John Ford, arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the Fortune in 1621. The daughter of John Wheeler Ford of Cohoes, New York, Helen was married to James D. Schroder. The Schroder’s spent summers in Dorset and are mentioned several times in the Palm Beach Post where they spent the “winter season” at their home at 247 Seaspray Avenue. Before passing the property onto their son John Ford Schroder, James Schroder subdivided the land and 77 Kent Hill Road was developed. John Ford Schroder and his wife, Ruth, purchased the property in October 1954 for the price of $1. In July 1958, John and Ruth sold the home to Gladys Lodge, who lived there for 29 years and is still remembered by many people in town. Gladys taught public school in Schenectady NY before retiring to Dorset. She appreciated the natural beauty of Vermont and actively petitioned to preserve its environment. Gladys was born in Albany, New York in 1900 and lived a mighty life of 97 years. It appears that Gladys had no children and the home was transferred to her niece in 1987, Merilyn Lodge Emerich, the only surviving child of her brother Ronald and his wife, Marjorie. Merilyn was married to Robert W. Emerich, an artist and teacher who had graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Fine Arts in 1941. Merilyn herself graduated from the Albany Academy for Girls in 1945 and Middlebury College in 1949. After college she worked for B. Lodge & Co. of Albany, a family-owned business until 1954. She was a member of the Roessleville Presbyterian Church, the Bethlehem Grange, the Colonie Art League, and the Albany Artists Group. The Emerich’s son Scott lived in the house until 1998 when the Emerich family sold the home to Henry Jackelin of New York City. Born in Brazil, Jackelin started his career as a banker and later worked for the United Nations. His main interest in Dorset was the Dorset Theater, which he actively supported. Jackelin never lived in the house full time and rented it out frequently. John and Aleida Rodenburg purchased Kent Hill Cottage in October 2016 as a summer home and are the current caretakers. They extensively renovated the home in keeping with the architectural style of the neighborhood and town. A retired sports marketing executive, Mr. Rodenburg spent most of his career at Sports Illustrated. A graduate of Syracuse University 1976, Rodenburg is the fifth of his name; many of his Dutch and English ancestors were early settlers (dating back to 1584) in New Amsterdam NY and New London (Groton) CT. His wife was born Aleida Willemina Smit in Deventer, Holland. Formerly an employee of Time magazine, she owns her own interior design company. The couple has three adult children, two of whom live in the U.S., the other residing in the Netherlands. The bungalow style home was originally a four-bedroom structure and expanded to five bedrooms with a separate entrance and bedroom on the first floor (in the 60’s). In 2017 the Rodenburg’s reconfigured the first floor by eliminating the central hallway, enlarging the master bedroom suite, and adding a guest bathroom. The upstairs bathroom was also expanded with a dormer, the back porch was expanded, new chimneys, upgraded electrical system, insulated walls, replaced all windows, and expanded the kitchen. This restoration will hopefully allow the history of Kent Hill Cottage to continue and be enjoyed by future owners for another century.