This is Naskeag Harbor on Wednesday. For the familiar visitor, there’s always plenty to see and think about here.
It’s one of those gray March days that is neither winter nor spring or, perhaps, a little of each. It’s chilly, but there’s no wind to speak of. There are a few patches of snow clutching the ground and the tide is rising perceptively. The captain-owner of Fishing Vessel Tarrfish apparently has decided to sleep in early today rather than chase scallops. It’s part of the freedom within a more independent life.
The summer residence on Harbor Island remains unoccupied, but some of the details on that familiar house always catch the eye. Today, its arched attic window and steep roof make me wonder whether it was influenced in part by the American Carpenter Gothic style movement of the late 1800s. That’s when house builders got steam-powered saws and started creating quaint homes with Gothic details made of wood instead of stone.
You may remember that also is the style that influenced Grant Wood to paint his famous “American Gothic” masterpiece in 1930. That’s the painting of a farming couple in front of their Carpenter Gothic house, which has a Gothic-arched upper window and steep roof. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on March 9, 2022.)