When MacDowell defined the essentials of a characteristic
national culture, he did not know that his name would one day be
associated with an enterprise ideally fitted to supply these
essentials. MacDowell had a dream which he hoped might be
converted into reality. This dream was shaped by influences from
two different sources--an abandoned farm in New Hampshire and the
American Academy at Rome.

He was one of the trustees of the American Academy at Rome. In
this capacity he met intimately a remarkable group of men--John
W. Alexander, Augustus St. Gaudens, Richard Watson Gilder,
Charles McKim, and Frank D. Millet. Contact with these men proved
an inspiration to MacDowell and convinced him that there was
nothing more broadening to the worker in one art than affiliation
with workers in the other arts.

In 1895 MacDowell purchased an old farm in Peterborough. In the
deep woods, about ten minutes from the little farmhouse he built
a log cabin:

"A house of dreams untold
It looks out over the whispering tree-tops
And faces the setting sun."

There he did much of his best work and there he liked to dream of
a day when other artists could work in just such beautiful and
peaceful surroundings. This is the dream that has come true.

Until MacDowell went to Peterborough he had worked under the
usual difficult conditions. During the winter he lived in the