Steepletop
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Edna St. Vincent Millay House & Gardens (Steepletop)
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Front (south) elevation of main house, 2008
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| Location | East Hill Road, Austerlitz, NY |
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| Nearest city | Pittsfield, MA |
| Coordinates | 42°19′17.30″N 73°26′39.15″W / 42.3214722°N 73.4442083°WCoordinates: 42°19′17.30″N 73°26′39.15″W / 42.3214722°N 73.4442083°W |
| Area | 500 acres (200 ha) |
| Built | c. 1870 |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000534 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 11, 1971 |
| Designated NHL | November 11, 1971 |
Steepletop, also known as the Edna St. Vincent Millay House, was the farmhouse home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her husband Eugene Jan Boissevain, in Austerlitz, New York, United States. Her former home and gardens are maintained by the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971. The Millay Colony for the Arts, founded in 1973 by Norma Millay Ellis, sister of the poet, is also located at Steepletop.
The name Steepletop comes from a pink, conical wildflower that grows there. The Society opened the house for tours in 2010.
Steepletop is a 500-acre (200 ha) estate on a hilly, wooded area in the northeastern corner of the town near the Massachusetts state line. Although located within the range of the Taconic Mountains, the area is adjacent to the Berkshire Hills and is considered part of the cultural region of the Berkshires, known for its rich diversity in music, arts and recreation. The property is abutted on some areas by Beebe Hill and Harvey Mountain State Forest. It can be reached by taking partially paved East Hill Road to the main complex from the NY 22 state highway in the narrow valley to its west.
East Hill leads through the Steepletop property, on a rolling section of cleared land in the middle of the woods. Its most visible building is the guest house on the east side of the road, currently used as the Millay Colony's offices. It is a two-story building, sided in shingles with a gabled roof and two exterior brick chimneys. To its southeast is a stable now used as a garage, with a second floor studio. A barn with curved roof is located on the northeast.
Just north of it, across the road, is the main house, Millay's primary home during her years of residence. It is a two-story white clapboard-sided house with a steep gabled roof and central chimney, built into ground that rises up from the short unpaved driveway on the west. A one-and-a-half-story wing projects from the north.
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Wikipedia