New Hotel Weirs, Weirs Beach, NH (2)

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Another view of the New Hotel Weirs on Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach, around 1906-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The location in 2015:

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The first photo was taken sometime after 1906, when the New Hotel Weirs, as explained in this post, had another addition put on, this time to the left of the left tower.  The addition also included the Hotel Weirs Bazaar, which according to the sign over the right window offered “Souvenirs and post cards, novelties, cigars, cigarettes & tobacco, fine confectionery and Moxie, fishing tackle, rods, reels, hooks etc.” Other signs offer Indian baskets, “aluminum & Japanese goods,” Coca Cola, orangeade, phonographs, and post cards.  Visitors from New York could even keep up to date with a copy of the New York Herald.  As mentioned in the previous post, however, a disastrous fire on November 9, 1924 left much of Weirs Beach in ruins, including the hotel.  The site was later rebuilt as a motel and arcade, which is still there today.

New Hotel Weirs, Weirs Beach, NH (1)

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The New Hotel Weirs on Lakeside Avenue in the Laconia village of Weirs Beach, around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The location in 2015:

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The late 1800s was a period of great economic growth throughout much of the United States, allowing greater numbers of people the luxury of traveling and vacationing.  The era saw the construction of many large, resort-like hotels, and for the wealthy in the northeast, New Hampshire was a popular destination.  The Laconia village known as “The Weirs” was one such place. It is the place where the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee flow into Paugus Bay on their way to the Merrimack River, and its convenient location on the railroad line led to the construction of the Hotel Weirs in 1880, right across the street from the railroad station.

It was an age of great prosperity in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, and as other hotels continued to open, the Hotel Weirs expanded several times.  The original building was the far-left section, consisting of just the tower and several window bays on either side.  By the time the first photo was taken around 1905, the building had already seen two major additions in 1896 and 1899, and had been renamed the New Hotel Weirs.  It was a popular destination, and its guests included Theodore Roosevelt, who stayed at the hotel during a 1902 visit.

Over the winter of 1905-1906, probably the winter after the photo was taken, it was expanded even more, with another addition to the left of the original section.  However, like so many other grand hotels of its age, the New Hotel Weirs was destroyed in a fire, on November 9, 1924.  The same fire also destroyed a number of nearby buildings, and the hotel was not rebuilt.  The property was later redeveloped, and today it is the site of the Half Moon, which includes a motel, cottages, and arcades.

William King House, Suffield Connecticut (2)

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The William King House in Suffield, seen on February 17, 1938. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey collection.

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The house in 2015:

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Taken from a slightly different angle from the earlier photo in this post, the 1938 view here shows the house as it appeared when it was documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey.  Begun in 1933, the project was intended to provide work for unemployed photographers and architects during the Great Depression, in order to document some of the country’s historic properties.  These images and documents are now available online through the Library of Congress, and more photographs of the King House, along with detailed architectural drawings, can be found here.  The house hasn’t changed much in its exterior appearance in the past 77 years, and today it is used as a bed and breakfast, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

William King House, Suffield Connecticut (1)

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The William King House on North Street in Suffield, around 1920. Image from Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of Suffield, Connecticut (1921).

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The house in 2015:

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I have found conflicting sources on exactly when this house was built and who built it; apparently there were two William Kings who were living in Suffield at the time, one of whom was known as “Ensign” and the other as “Lieutenant.”  However, according to the book that I got the first photo from, the house was owned by Ensign William King, who was born in 1722 and built the house around 1750.  King’s first wife, Sarah Fuller, died in 1744, just seven months after their marriage, and in 1747 he married Lucy Hathaway.  They had nine children, and their son Seth inherited the property after William’s death in 1791.  It remained in the King family for two more generations, until it was sold in 1883.  Today, the historic house is one of Suffield’s many well-preserved 18th century houses.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is currently the Kingsfield Bed & Breakfast.

Posthumous Sikes House, Suffield Connecticut

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The home of Posthumous Sikes, on Mapleton Avenue in Suffield, around 1920. Image from Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of Suffield, Connecticut (1921).

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The house in 2015:

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The town of Suffield has an impressive collection of historic houses from the first half of the 18th century, including this one, which was built in 1743 by the curiously-named Posthumous Sikes.  The early Puritan settlers of New England would often give their children seemingly unconventional names, often preferring “Increase,” “Thankful,” and “Deliverance” to more Catholic-sounding names like Mary, James, and Peter.  In the case of “Posthumous,” it was often given to a child born after the death of his father, and for Posthumous Sikes, he was born in 1711, seven months after his father Jonathan died.  Posthumous married Rachel Adams around the same time that he built this house, and they had four children: Amos, Stephen, Shadrack, and Gideon.  Posthumous died in 1756, and his son Shadrack later owned the property.  The house appears to have remained in the Sikes family until at least the mid-1800s, and it was recognized as historic even at the time that the first photo was taken, although the sign on the tree provides the wrong date for the house.

First Baptist Church, Suffield Connecticut

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The First Baptist Church in Suffield, around 1920. Image from Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of Suffield, Connecticut (1921).

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The church in 2015:

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Baptist churches were rare in 18th century New England; churches could only be established with the approval of the colonial legislature, and citizens paid church taxes to support the official colonial church, the Congregational church. However, following the Great Awakening, other denominations began establishing churches, including the Baptists. The first Baptist church in Hartford County was built here in 1769, just across the street from the present-day church, at the intersection of Hill Street and Russell Avenue. This small settlement, some three miles from the main village of Suffield, became the center of Baptist activity in the area.

The original building was replaced in 1793 with a brick one, located on the same spot as the current one.  Because of its remote location, though, it was inconvenient for many people from eastern Suffield to attend, so in 1805, the Second Baptist Church was established in the center of town.  Their present-day meeting house was built in 1840, a large brick structure that contrasts with the small present-day First Baptist Church seen here, which was built in 1846.  The Zion’s Hill Cemetery is located the church, with gravestones dating back to the 1700s, including Joseph Hastings, the founder of the church.

The First Baptist Church continued to meet here until the 1920s, and for nearly a century the building has not been regularly used.  However, it is still occasionally used for special church services, which are limited to the summer because of the building’s lack of heat.  Today, the church is well-preserved, and it forms the centerpiece of the Hastings Hill Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.