Uploaded for the Vintage Photos Theme Park theme of: DISTINCTIVE HOUSES
My mother-in-law, Joanne's, "Folly".
By the time she reached her 60s, circumstances had left her with a very limited income. Her father died and she sold his house in Vermont for a few thousand, and bought this house in New Hampshire - with no hope really of being able to keep or even maintain it, but she was charmed with the idea of owning it.
It had been an Inn in its heyday, and still had a highly polished, enclosed wooden telephone booth in the living room.
The cupola was fun to climb up to, but with the sun coming in on the windows of all four sides, it was always boiling hot, so we never stayed up there.
She furnished much of it with trips to the local dump, where they enjoyed helping her out by setting things aside. I can remember marble top tables and a Victorian fainting couch.
She told us she bought it with grandkids in mind.
Highly doubtful, as she wasn't much of a kid person - but it's true that kids would have loved exploring it. I think it had 18 rooms. Next to the house, there was a short sandy path that led to a lovely lake.
She was sort of a "lady's companion" and had a job where she spent winters on one of the islands with her rich friend. It would not have been possible for her to stay at Cupola House in the winter.
I forget how long she lived there, but it was a few years. At one point there was a family wedding in the late fall.
She eventually sold it very cheaply and bought a much smaller house nearby.
Not long after that, the entire house burned to the ground - and we heard unsubstantiated rumors of insurance money. (It was a great location.)