With military precision, my engineer husband grasped the Woodstock Historical Walking Tour booklet and led us on a forced march in the oppressive heat and humidity of a muggy late St. John River post-rain afternoon, up and down the not insignificant hills of the first incorporated town in the province of New Brunswick. I lagged behind with my camera, placing blame for my slow pace not on the blisters forming on my heels, nor the heat, nor friendly folks who wanted to supply details about the buildings I was snapping, but on the appreciation of the classical wonders of yet another fine maritime frame house which hadn't made it into the guidebook.
Woodstock N.B. was settled by Loyalists in the late 1700's, built up along its two rivers, suffered two fires, saw its milling and industrial eras come and go, changed with the coming of the railway, and endured all the the ebbs and flows of political power common to evolving towns. It has a place in my own personal history as the hometown of a work friend met in the 70's in North Vancouver and as the location of her family's warm maritime hospitality shown to both me and my brother at various times. It is a lovely leafy front-porch kind of town.
L: Charles Connell House (1839 - National Historic Site) - Greek Revival style
R: George Connell House (1868) - reportedly Woodstock's best example of high Victorian style
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