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Next came the Davis Family who were farmers from the Concord, Massachusetts area. The Davis clan had many years of enjoyment at WeSeekaNook with the waterside BBQ and the subsequent homemade meals shared while lazing on the generous cantilevered deck over the sparkling waters of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Now a little bit about the house... Its a house that may have arrived by boxcar, complete with thousands of parts, a quarter ton of nails and a thick instruction manual. Known as a 'Sears' home, and put together from a kit, it was one of thousands of Sears kit homes that were built between 1908 and 1940. From the early 1900s, several companies offered catalogs of houses, from simple cottages to grand, two-story Victorian mansions. Customers could order a house kit, complete with a variety of options and some 30,000 or more parts, for much less money than a ready built home. The kits were delivered by rail, flatbed truck or even by barge to a building site and an experienced carpenter, or an amateur handyman, would assemble the home. Sears estimated that the average man could build a kit house in about 90 days – in good weather. Although the unknowing might cringe at the thought of living in a mail-order house, those familiar with kit homes know that the sturdy homes were designed to last and generally featured large rooms, tall ceilings and generous windows. Modern Conveniences Sears helped popularize the latest technology available to modern homebuyers in the early part of the twentieth century. Central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity were all new developments in home design that Modern Homes incorporated, although not all of the homes were designed with these conveniences. Central heating not only improved the livability of homes with little insulation but it also improved fire safety, always a worry in an era where open flames threatened houses and whole cities, as in the case of the Chicago fire. Indoor plumbing and electrical wiring were the first steps to modern kitchens and bathrooms. Sears Modern Homes program stayed abreast of any technology that could ease the lives of its homebuyers and gave them the option to design their homes with modern convenience in mind. For more information about the Sears Modern Home program, check out http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/ |
The history of WeSeekaNook begins with the Brante family, who were the original purchasers and developers of the land. It was the Brantes who in 1912 purchased the original Sears 'Modern Home' Kit #202, (shown in photo from catalog at right), making some modifications to the design to accommodate the lovely setting they had picked for it on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith, NH.
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