The decorative window coverings add color to this example of a bygone era. Probably, more color than it will ever see again once it is restored. I wonder how many of the Roslyn High School student artists had taken a good look at the building on the way to school before the lot was cleaned up last year. People tend to look past sad looking structures, as if hoping they would disappear. Thank goodness it never looked like a total eyesore, just a place in need of attention.

My newly arrived Ukrainian grandfather worked on the estate in the 1910s before moving the family to Boston, circa 1920. His five children; three born on the estate; lived their life in Massachusetts, and died here, knowing little about Harbor Hill. It pains me to be learning about it now, but to have no one from the first American born generation to share it with.

I cannot wait to visit Roslyn and walk the Harbor Hill site to get a feel for the lay of the land. To maybe stick a shovel in the ground at a future Roslyn Landmarks Society volunteer cleanup. The first Romanko ancestor to break ground there in over a century.

Dan (Bostons South Shore)