The Settings
If you started from the end

Liberty Creek, a small rural community consisting of mostly farmers and a few shopkeepers. There is a vacant doctor's office, a telegraph/postal office, a general store, a saloon and not much else. There is a small schoolhouse and a church. There is one street, with buildings on just one side. The area is beautiful during the summer, the lake especially. Liberty Creek is only a day's journey from Boise, and can be easily reached by stagecoach. It is also not too far away from Boise. There are meadows, a large creek, mountains, forests, Lake Liberty. The Marshall ranch, Belleterre, takes up a great portion of the land. There is no problem with Indians, nor are there many rowdies. It is a beautiful area.

The Marshall family ranch of five thousand acres or more. Some parts of the land are mountainous, some pasture land. Some are covered with dense forest and brush. Several streams and small ponds dot and cross the property. The house itself is large and expansive. Shaped in a square, it has a courtyard in the center. The courtyard is grassy and surrounded by gardens, with a stone fountain. The house is lined on all outside walls, top and bottom, by a porch. On these porches are swings, benches, and rocking chairs. On the far side of the house there is an archway entering the courtyard. The house is painted mostly white, but the porch and shutters are left bare wood. Inside the house it is warm and homey. There are only a few rooms where the furniture is kept exceptionally clean, tidy, and new. The other rooms are warm and well lit. The bedrooms are spacious, and it is the only house for miles and miles that has running water and indoor toilets. There are just two floors, and the house looks short and squat from a distance. The attic is accesible all the way around, and is used for storage and games of hide and go seek. Outside, the lady of the house keeps many gardens. Further from the house are the barns and stables. Belleterre raises cattle, but many horses are kept also—prized Thoroughbreds as well as cattle horses. There are several paddocks and exercise rings. Belleterre also keeps small amounts of pigs, chickens, sheep, etc. for personal use. The cattle are driven not too far away to be shipped elsewhere. John Henry keeps dogs, red setters. Much entertaining is done at Belleterre, both for the townspeople and for vacationing friends.

Found in the woods five miles from Belleterre, Tess's cabin was hastily built for her in the middle of winter by the townspeople. Her log cabin is cozy and warm with three rooms--a bedroom, a sitting room, and a kitchen. Only a short distance from the school house, Tess can get to school in the morning easily. The townspeople donated her furniture, and Tess bought other necessities at the store. She has several comfortable chairs in the sitting room, rugs, quilts, some decorations. The kitchen is small but adequate. Tess learned to cook for herself from two cookbooks given to her by the cook at Belleterre. Tess owns a cat, Queenie, who is a fixed fixture in her cabin. Soonafter she moved in, a barn was also built for her. She kept a horse, a milk cow, and some chickens. Situated in a clearing in the woods, Tess's cabin is surrounded by wild flowers, but she also keeps flowers in boxes outside all of her windows. Tess's cabin is built low and has a peeked roof with room for a loft above her bedroom. The barn has three stalls, a small room for the chickens, and a feed and tack room. Queenie spends much of her time mousing. Outside there is a small paddock for the horse and cow. On the right wall of the house, surrounding the kitchen door and window, is a large wood pile. Tess has since vacated the house, and it lies unoccupied with half the furnishings gone to Tess and Nick's house. A brutal storm tore a hole in the roof, and the cabin will likely remain unoccupied for some time.

A trapping cabin used by the Marshall men atop a small mountain on Belleterre land. Thick log walls protect the cabin from the elements. The surrounding yard is surrounded by dense forest, except for one side which offers a splendid view of the plains below. The cabin is accessible by one trail. The walls are well-battened and the roof reinforced by tin. The cabin had on room. Walking in the front door, there are two windows on either side of you decorated with blue gingham curtains. To the right side of the cabin is a large stone fireplace, with various pots and pans on shelves to the left. A table with four chairs sits in front of the right window. On the left side of the cabin were four wooden beds made up on the mountain. There are no mattresses, but furs and blankets are piled upon each bed. Directly in front of the door were two tables with hunting and trapping supplies piled atop them and hung on the wall behind. The cabin was built by John Henry and his two eldest sons in 1869, and is used each winter by John Henry's two eldest sons and two eldest sons-in-law. Outside, there is a small barn with a small enclosure for the animals. Rabbits, deer, and other animals are often seen in the area, and there is a large eagle's nest nearby. Family couples often use the cabin as a romantic retreat. Joe Kincaid and Stuart MacKenzie had a one night stand there.

Nick built Tess a small bungalow style house on a hill on the property of Belleterre. It has a small barn and barnyard. The house is yellow with white trim. It has a cozy porch with a screen door. Inside, there is an informal parlor with a stone fireplace and many chairs. There is a hallway leading back from the center of the parlor, and a door to the right of the hall. A dining room is found behind this door, and a simple table with eight chairs. Through a far door, the kitchen. There is a large stove, a pantry, and a cellar below. The first bedroom, the one closest to the parlor, contains a desk, a chest of drawers, and a small bed. A door from this room leads directly to a slightly larger bedroom, the master. Most of the furnishings and decorations were brought from Tess's cabin. This room has a large closet, something Georgie insisted Nick build for Tess. Nick and Tess have since moved into a large house on the shores of the Lake Liberty.

Located in the small farming community of Marshton in the northern Lake District of England, Marshall House was one of the home of the Marshall family before it was raised to a dukedom and before they became successful. It is the preferred home of Carey Marshall. It has a small stable, spacious grounds, and much tenant property. It is used as a vacation home.

Stancliff Manor is the country home of Charles Marshall, Duke of Stancliff. It is a massive manorial estate with a large, stately manor home. There are cliffs down to a beach, a private chapel and graveyard, and extensive stables.

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