Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1892 — Lafayette’s Home. [ARTICLE]

Lafayette’s Home.

The Chateau de Chavaniao is on a high hill, and in the misty background are the slopes of Mounts Dome, Laguet and Cantal. A lovely wide avenue at least a mile long leads to it from Paulhaguet. The avenue Is (bordered by poplars, ash and elm trees, all of which were planted by the General. The chateau itself is a rather new building, for it stands on the place of one that was burned in the eighteenth century. It forms a parallelogram, each side of which is seventy-five feet long and with a height of about forty. The principal front faces the north, but on each side several doors offer easy exits. The construction lacks elegance, and if it were not for its fine situation, the lovely site on which it stands and the ancient trees that form a splendid framework, it would present a rather heavy physiognomy. The ground floor is only occupied by kitchens, pantries and wine cellars; the first story is divided into several fine rooms, and on the upper floor are the bedchambers, most of which have, however, remained unoccupied since 1829, when Lafayette made his last visit to his native place. The most important room on the first floor is about forty-two feet long, and has served in turn for dining hall and ball-room. In it are the family portraits, most of them modern, and several busts, among which are those of Washington, Franklin, Jean Jacques Eousseau, Montesquieu, Yoltaire, Caesar, Brutus, Cicero and Socrates. The library has perhaps a thousand volumes, and the books still bear the “ex libris” of the General’a arms, and “Cui non?” his proud device.