Ca. 1895 photos of Weirs Beach cottages and buildings

[Vermont Interloper]

I have been methodically going through the photos in the Oren W. Hills collection recently posted by Digital Vermont in collaboration with the Vermont Historical Society. Many of these are sadly unidentified and so I've been using all of the tools at my disposal in order to identify as many of them as I can.

I came upon an image of the Aquedoktan in the collection. It is the only image identified as being at Weirs Beach either by the photographer or the person scanning in these glass plate negatives. It helps that the name is prominently written both across the roof and on a sign hanging on the deck!

As I went through the 140 glass plate collection I would stumble across houses that just screamed vacation house, lake house, getaway cottage. I wondered if the photographer may have taken more images at Weirs Beach so I started searching Google Street views and history pages for images that would match the ones I was seeing.

I did! I found 6 images in the collection that are from Lakeside Avenue, many are identified, some are no longer with us, and a couple I'm hoping for a little help identifying. I figured this would be the right place to go. I think it will be easier to load each one as a new reply/comment so that I can put the specific information with each image. I'm hoping that isn't a cumbersome way of doing this.

As it's winter in Winnipesaukee right now, maybe this would be a good project for folks!

[Vermont Interloper]

The first building, may favorite building, and the one I'm using for my avatar, is Lake View. I'm including the link to the original image (which you can REALLY zoom in on) here: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4915

Sometimes it's hard to get a precise address using Google Maps Street View but I think this one is at 53 Lakeside Ave. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I include the historic image plus a screenshot from Google. This place seems to have changed quite drastically over the years. Probably no surprise for a building that is used expressly for rental purposes.

This building is now known as Romeo's Balcony

[Vermont Interloper]

I believe the address for this is 176 Lakeside Ave. This building does not have a sign giving its name but that anchor shield in the upper gable is pretty distinctive. Here is the link to the original image:https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4924

This is right next door to the Lake View (now known as Romeo's Balcony).

Here is the historic image plus the image I've pulled from Google Maps. The original glass plate negative appears to have had quite a bit of damage, luckily the image of the house itself remains intact. This one could clean up nicely in an app like PhotoShop.

[Vermont Interloper]

If you zoom in closely you can see the name of this building on a little sign over the front. It says Clyde Cottage. I believe now this building is known as Clyde House. This one seems to have changed the most and is also the most difficult to get a decent picture of on Google Maps. Here is the original link to the page: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4988

[Vermont Interloper]

Sadly, this building is no longer with us. Though from looking at images of it online from the 1980s to when it burned down as a saloon in 2010 I'd say its historical integrity wasn't really being looked after. There are many historic images of this online, but this one is by far of superior quality: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4926

[Vermont Interloper]

Sadly this building burned down in 1991. Originally called Story's Hotel it later became Weir's Hotel. From what I could see online this was between Clyde Cottage and Lake View (Romeo's Balcony). Here is the link to the original image: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4916

Here is the historic photo plus an image of the now empty lot where it used to be. Can it be that this is more useful as an empty parking lot? It seems it has been this way for over 30 years...

[Vermont Interloper]

This turns up as 425 Lakeside Ave. Not really sure how the numbering works here. This is the Cavalry Headquarters building and does not appear to have changed much over the years. Here is the original link to the image: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/5020

Here is the historic image plus an image of how the building looks now from Google Maps

[Vermont Interloper]

This is one I have yet to identify. It resembles the Veterans building at Weirs, looks like similar architecture and materials with building shape similarities, but it isn't quite. Here is the link to the original image: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4964

Can anyone identify this building?

[Vermont Interloper]

Here is a building that I cannot seem to find. It is identified as "Oakland" by the sign over the porch. This looks like in keeping with other Weirs Beach properties though granted, it could be elsewhere. Here is a link to the original image: https://digitalvermont.org/files/original/75/4930/G-2414_Oakland.jpg

[Vermont Interloper]

I'm not convinced this is at Weirs, the style of the building, the exposure of the image, and the trees surrounding the house aren't like the others but I figured it was worth a shot. Here is the original link: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/5048

[Vermont Interloper]

This appears to be Weirs Beach and while it is not of a building, it appears to be in-between two buildings, perhaps the location could be identified? Here is the link: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/5049

I did alter this one a bit, I had to drop the exposure and sharpen it up a little...

[Vermont Interloper]

This could be any number of vacation summer places on a lake or pond. Given how many photos are taken of Weirs Beach I'm just going to include this one here in case it is and someone can identify these buildings despite it being so heavily wooded. Link: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/5051

[Vermont Interloper]

Those are all the photos that seem relevant. Of course I've posted all the links so if you know how to navigate you can always look at all the other photos in the collection and see for yourself. The photos were attributed to photographer Oren W. Hills though that doesn't make any sense given he was born in 1891. I believe these images were just in his collection. I actually believe these may be photos taken by Frederick Charles Eaton who lived and died in Barre, Vermont. He took commercial photos for the granite industry (and you'll see that MANY photos in the collection are of granite quarries), and so I wonder if he may have also taken some commercial/advertising photos for Weirs Beach as well. He originally came from the Boston area, being familiar with Lake Winnipesaukee makes sense. Any information that anyone has is appreciated. I'm just glad that there is a place where all these images can be put together and studied by anyone who wants to

[fatlazyless]

Sadly this building burned down in 1991. Originally called Story's Hotel it later became Weir's Hotel. From what I could see online this was between Clyde Cottage and Lake View (Romeo's Balcony). Here is the link to the original image: https://digitalvermont.org/items/show/4916

Here is the historic photo plus an image of the now empty lot where it used to be. Can it be that this is more useful as an empty parking lot? It seems it has been this way for over 30 years...

Believe the one or two lots were dug out of the hillside to become a commercial pay parking lot, sometime maybe in 2001 or 2002, when the Laconia Planning Board voted yes on the site plan approval. One of the Planning Board members was quoted in the Laconia Citizen as saying something like "It's their property, and they can dig out the hillside to become a parking lot, if that's what they want to do!"

[tis]

Those are great. Thanks for posting!

[pondguy]

Boardwalk Bluesboy would know a lot more about these buildings he may even own a few of them.