From Dave Brigham:
I suppose the word "dovecote" was in my lexicon before reading about such a thing on the web site of Antique Homes, but once I finished the article, I decided I needed to find the closest one to my house.
A quick Google search turned up one on the campus of Bentley University, less than three miles from where I live.
Located on Bentley's south campus, near Fenway Hall and the sports complex, the dovecote was once part of the Lyman Estate, a late-18th century National Historic Landmark also known as "the Vale." I'm not sure what the university uses the building for -- some sort of academic or administrative purpose, I guess. Dovecotes are used to house pigeons or doves, which is likely how the Lyman family used it.
The estate was built by Theodore Lyman, a successful shipping merchant from Maine and father of a Boston mayor by the same name, as well as grandfather to Theodore Lyman III, a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts in the 1880s.
Like me, you may be wondering, "Why did rich people keep doves and pigeons?" The National Trust in the United Kingdom has our answer: "On a practical level, doves and pigeons provided a source of food for the table, as well as feathers for the aristocratic household and manure for the estate. Doves were also valued for their religious significance due to their associations with the Holy Spirit in Christian thought....[T}o have a dovecote was an easily recognisable status symbol."
Coo coo....
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