Naulakha: Where Kipling Wrote The Jungle Book and Then Fled Vermont

In eighteen ninety-two, Rudyard Kipling married Caroline Balestier of Brattleboro and settled on a hillside in Dummerston, a few miles north of here. He designed and built a home he called Naulakha, a Hindi word meaning priceless jewel, shaping it to look like a ship riding the hillside.

In that house he wrote The Jungle Books, Captains Courageous, and early drafts of the Just So Stories. He also laid out a garden in the Himalayan foothills style.

Then came a feud with his brother-in-law Beatty Balestier, who cornered Kipling on the road and threatened him. Kipling had him arrested. The resulting trial drew reporters from every major paper, forced Kipling into humiliating public testimony, and destroyed his privacy. He left for England in the summer of eighteen ninety-six and never lived in America again. The house is now a National Historic Landmark.