Nadine Krasnow, CRS
Here are a few close-ups in my house from the tour this past weekend. The “pumpkin book” is my favorite. Since this was a tour to benefit the library, the talented Rita Pacheco crafted a pumpkin from an old book, and it became a charming and relevant focus upon entering the house. Who would think?! Only Rita.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the annual pumpkin day sale at Bourne Farm. Folks got there early to snag the best ones. Here are some pictures and videos from this morning:
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that I volunteer as a docent each December for the West Falmouth Library House Tour, and you’ve seen my photos and descriptions of some of the homes. This year, as most of you already know, my own home is on tour. The time has been changed to this coming Sunday, so visitors will be able to see gardens, and homeowners can avoid what can be bad weather in December. I’m primping and polishing, pruning and pinching, so that the house will be nothing less than stunning. (And asking myself why I agreed to do this!)
Please come by! Tickets are for sale this week at the library, and at various other locations around town – Eight Cousins Bookstore, Woods Hole Market, Uncle Bill’s Country Store, West Falmouth Market, New Wave Printing and Design, and Village Trading Company.
On Sunday, tickets will be on sale at the library, along with the brochure showing the homes and addresses, and describing the unique features of each property. Tour hours are 11:00am – 4:00pm.
I read about this book somewhere, but when I heard about it, I thought it would be only an ok book written by the person who, with her husband, spent 15 years building a replica of an amazing house. I was sure passion would be there, but I didn’t expect that the author would be a talented writer who could recreate a long-ago world with such interest and clarity. Jane Goodrich has done it.
The story behind the story is that Ms. Goodrich saw a photo of this house in a book when she was 12 years old. She came across it again when she was in college, and she and her then-fiance, who became her husband, set out to find it. When they got to Manchester-by-the-Sea, they found out that the house had been demolished in 1929, but the plans were still at the Boston Public Library. That led to a professor of architectural history at Northeastern, who had the blueprints, and gave them to the young couple. So began a 15 year journey.
As they searched, built, and bought everything to make an exact replica of this home on Swan’s Island in ME, Ms. Goodrich became more and more drawn into the enigma of George Nixon Black, the man who commissioned the house. As if building a 19th century elaborate mansion wasn’t enough, Ms. Goodrich began to research the life and times of Mr. Black. “The House at Lobster Cove” is like a New England version of “Downton Abbey”, complete with Brahmins and ordinary people, the powerful and those who served them, families, struggles, wars, trade, architecture, and politics. This is an imagined life of Nixon Black, including his struggle with being gay at a time when that would have been scandalous.
I loved the book, and its world, and apologize to the author for assuming it wouldn’t be well-written and captivating. Kragsdale, originally architected by Robert Stearn, is more than a house. It’s a world, both in the past, and remarkably, in the unlikely present. If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy being lost there while you read and the characters and times come to life. And then you’ll remember that this author and her husband have built this very same house. Amazing!
Apparently the albies (false albacore) are running at Old Silver Beach tonight. At least these fisher-persons think so. Not a bad way to end a lovely September day.
