Many there were who would have wished it torn down for good and rebuilt elsewhere than at the top of the knoll. Those feudal serfs of old and hired laborers of modern date who farmed the fields and tilled the soil for the generations of barons and landed proprietors cursed the slow uphill trudge back to the house at the end of every day’s weary labor.

Yet there the center of the estate remained, century upon century, and still stood proudly to this day.

Baron von Dortmann and his daughter entered the front doors on the plain west face of the front of the house, which sat in an approximate north-south line. The adjacent wing, invisible from their approach, stretched behind it on the north side, partially enclosing in the back an expansive courtyard, protected thus from north and westerly winds. As a result the courtyard was pleasant through most of the middle of the year. When the winds came from the direction of the Russian motherland, however, there was nothing for it but to endure them or remain inside. Today was one of the warm days, and here they found the baron’s wife, Marion, and each greeted her with a kiss.

From the level grassy courtyard, in the middle of which sat a centerpiece more to the baron’s liking and of his own design—a small pond encircled by a few of his favorite rose bushes—steps led downward in two directions, toward the Spring Garden to the south and east. A large ancient oak grew picturesquely opposite the point where the two wings of the house joined, down the hill ten meters or so from the southeast corner of the courtyard. Under its spreading wings sat an ancient stone bench.

Scattered at uneven intervals toward the east were a half dozen or so additional buildings of both stone and wood construction, the various enclosures necessary for their farming commerce—barns, stables, pens, granaries, and equipment storage facilities. These spread down the eastern and northeastern slope from the plateau, the most recently built grain house all the way down on the plain itself amidst the fields of growing corn. An abundance of trees was scattered among them, all planted by either the present baron or his father, both of whom had an eye for aesthetic beauty and desired to see the environment of their trade as pleasant as possible.

Baron von Dortmann and his family occupied the lavishly appointed west wing. The east wing housed the household and farm staff and laborers, the latter comprising no more these days than ten or twelve men year-round, with local day workers added during harvesttime.