Collections

Dorset House

Shelburne Museum’s world-renowned wildfowl decoys are housed in Dorset House. The house was built around 1832 in East Dorset, Vermont, and is an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture. Dorset House’s two-and-a-half-story front-gable main block is flanked by cross-gable wings that give the building classical balance and symmetry. The façade is dominated by a massive cornice, and marble slabs are used as a veneer for the foundation and porches. The house was dismantled and moved to the Museum in 1953 to serve as exhibit space for the decoy collection.

Dorset House is newly opened to the public after significant upgrades to its heating, cooling, lighting, security, and fire protection systems. This project, designed to bring the conditions in which the decoy collection is stored and displayed up to modern conservation standards, has been supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by generous donors to the Museum.