ADIRONDACK IMAGES AND TALES; A Private Cottage

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I helped build this private cottage. It was one of the last buildings that I worked on. That is me, way over there on the right hand side, sitting on top of a stump. These are the first guests of the cottage owner. He just opened it up, brand new. I stay in the groundskeeper section of the place. That is my new job. I can’t do heavy work any longer. I have my own private door.

I have no idea what these people were thinking.

Look at those fancy dresses and hats on the ladies. And the guys are dressed up in their finest also. That fellow on the left has his knickers and a fine looking sport coat. The older guy, I can’t remember his name right now, he has a suit and a bowler hat. He is a guest of the owner. Why they dress like this to come up to the woods is beyond me.

I think the crisscross hemlock work on the porch railing adds a little Adirondack class to the cottage. The matching crisscross work around the foundation finishes it off.

I think we made a big mistake on the foundation. I wanted to use fieldstone like I had on the other cottages and lodges that I worked on. I am not sure who made the final decision to use Black Swamp Pine. Now usually Black Swamp Pine is fine. If it is kept under water it will never rot. That is why we use it for some of the work around the docks.

But see right there? Under each jointed section where the logs meet each other. Those are Black Swamp Pine foundation pillars. If the ground stays wet the pillars will last for years. But I don’t think that ground is going to be very wet with the building standing over it; especially with those nice wide eves on the roof.

I have to say that the choice of leaded glass windows was a nice touch. They only broke two of them when the buckboard brought them in. The owner hired a fellow from Utica to come up and re-lead the new glass panes.

He got the window job done but lost all his earnings in a poker game that evening.