Tender Tourist Trap

 I've wanted to photograph these Queen Anne beauties in Wellington for a long time. One day last week, it was warm enough to wander the Main Street of the village, despite the icy breeze from the lake. An advantage of the early date was that the old trees which give the street its old-fashioned character and charm had not yet burst into leaf. But it's close, as the buds at left can attest.

 Wellington took advantage of those very breezes around 1875, when folks began to build summer homes overlooking the lake. In keeping with the genteel and  leisurely pace of summer fun in the day verandahs, porches and shaded lawns prevailed.

The Queen Anne lace-iness of this famous trio of old summer homes must capture every photographer's fancy at some time. They exhibit all the style's showiness: irregular rooflines, decorated gables, a wide variety of windows, verandahs and porches, decorative wood shingling- the blue trimmed house has fishscales!




I love the brackets supporting the two gable ends, which curve to form little ogee hoods above the windows.

Notice that the blue-trimmed house and its neighbour are twins?