American Dream: An Artist's Studio or House in Noank, CT

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American Dream: I Think I'll Take the Studio

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

I promised a few shots of some great houses in Noank. You'll get them. But first, if you like my blog, sign up to follow it? And RT the link that brought you here? Thanks!

Great houses behind the lobster pots, a true sign of the Connecticut coast.

This one is on the water's edge.

Here's the view out its windows (almost).

I wouldn't call it a great house, but what a fantastic artist's or writer's studio it would make! Except it might smell of lobster...

Beyond the pier, some great houses, one with its own tower.

Another view of the same place. I like the covered gazebo overlooking the water, too.

American Dream: A Wooden Boat on the Coast of Connecticut

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American Dream: A Boat to Putter On

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

Hundreds of rocky promontories comprise the coast of CT.  The town of Noank clings to one of them. I explored it one day. It's full of glamorous houses (I'll show you a few in another post). But it's got its own seafaring tradition, and I homed in on it.

Now here's a wooden boat for you. 

It would take several years to scrape the peeling paint off.

A close-up of the elbow grease this job requires.

Here's a nearby boat shed, the shingles dry and curling in the intense sun and salt air.

What boats do in these waters: set lobster pots, with their markers floating on the surface.

Here's the lobster traps.

Here's a boat in better condition. What a relief!

The pilot house (missing two walls) of a working lobster boat in Noank. How about you? Do you want to have a seafaring tradition? Comment below!

Bits of Wood Boats in Old Mystic, CT

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American Dream: Working as a Ferry Pilot?

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

Say, if you like my blog, would you sign up to follow it? Thanks!

As a lovely ferry boat approaches you on the dock on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, you wonder if it wouldn't be a far better life if you were a ferry boat captain...

I've thought it! How about you?

I found a place in Old Mystic, CT that repairs wooden boats. There are also parts of wooden boats scatter all over.

The Bobby D must have served Watch Hill, Rhode Island, or maybe Watch Hill, Fire Island, both waterside communities. It must have been a handsome boat.

Here's another pilot house from a grand old ferry that used to give people who couldn't own a boat the pleasure of being on the water.

The pilot house of the Anne.

There's a few other wooden structures around the place, this one a bath house...

And this one just for fun. Imagine a wooden gazebo in your own yard! How about you? Do you feel nostalgia for a grand time in American history, when wooden ferry boats plied the Long Island Sound? Maybe a time that never was? Comment below! 

American Dreams of a Wooden Boat -- or part of one?

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Bits of Boats Would Make Interesting Backyard Follies

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

At a boatyard in Old Mystic, CT that I stumbled upon purely by serendipity, I found not only interesting wooden boats but also interesting wooden structures, some made out of bits of boats (see previous posts). 

Wouldn't one of these be cool in your backyard?

What is it? Take a guess in the comments section!

This is the pilot house of a former ferry named the Anne.

The insides of another pilot house -- guarded by an owl.

Cute isn't it? But what's it for?

Here's another relic of the boatyard, though it's mostly metal.

Here it is, like an owl, guarding two wooden hulls.

How about you? Any serendipitous discoveries in your neck of the woods? Comment below!