Author: God's Morning

Weather Vanes and Slate Roofing

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament at the highest point of a building. Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional cockerel design with letters indicating the points of the compass. Other common motifs include ships, arrows and horses, or as in the case of this one in Annisquam at Lobster Cove, a lobster. The word ‘vane’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘fane’ meaning ‘flag’.

Slate roofing was used in the eastern part of the country prior to the American Revolution. Despite this, the slate industry did not gain prominence here until the mid-nineteenth century.  A number of factors contributed to the industry’s development including the advent of cheaper forms of transportation, first by canal and later by rail. An increasing U.S. population (which almost tripled in the years from 1830 to 1860) increased the demand for housing and building materials.  Architectural tastes also contributed to advances in the slate industry. The prevailing architectural styles of the mid-nineteenth century placed strong emphasis on prominent rooflines. Slate, laid in multi-colored decorative patterns, and was particular suited to the curved or straight Mansard roofs of the Second Empire style and the steeply pitched roofs of the High Victorian Gothic. Installed properly, slate roofs require relatively little maintenance and will last 60 to 125 years or longer depending on the type of slate employed, roof configuration, and the geographical location of the property. Some slates have been known to last over 200 years.

Did you know about Wovels?  I’d never seen one before I took this photo of a woman woveling her snow on River Road in Annisquam.

Here’s a little info about them.  People with bad backs or heart conditions might want to look into getting one of these before the next blizzard.  “Sno Wovel wheeled snow shovels are designed to greatly reduce the physical strain of shoveling and the related risks of back and heart injuries. The Sno Wovel wheeled snow shovel was the subject of an independent study by the University of Massachusetts (Bryan Buchholz, PhD, Professor and Director, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology) which focused on lower back stress and overall exertion as compared to traditional snow shovels. The results are quite compelling, finding the Sno Wovel virtually eliminated lower back stress … ‘comparable to simply walking – representing an impressive 85% and more reduction in lower back disk compression.’ Overall exertion (which is one of the major factors in heart risk) was found to be reduced by a factor of 3x or more. ..and with 72,000 annual emergency room visits annually in the US attributable to shoveling with snow shovels and snow blowers, the Sno Wovel has earned its reputation as the World’s Safest Snow Shovel.”

Most of the kayaks stored in the rack at Lighthouse Beach went on solo journeys during the storm.  Some found their way over to Cambridge Beach.  If your’s is missing, you might want to check for it there.

Did you know that a 19-foot lighthouse tower and a keeper’s dwelling, both made of brick, were built on Straitsmouth Island in 1835, replaced by a second 37-foot tower in 1896, automated in 1967, and is still in operation. The first keeper was Benjamin Andrews, chosen because he was not likely to “serve as a juror, or to perform military duty.”  (Would love to know why.)  John Davis became keeper in 1841 at a yearly salary of $350. After inspecting Straitsmouth Island Light in 1842, engineer I.W.P. Lewis called the station a “specimen of contract work of the worst kind.” Straitsmouth Island was owned for many years by the naval architect William Francis Gibbs and his wife, New York socialite and opera supporter, Vera Cravath Gibbs.  The island was left to the Massachusetts Audubon

Society following the Gibbses’ deaths in the 1960s.