Ellen and I recently spent part of a weekend in Bayfield, Wisconsin. We had a lovely drive there through Wisconsin stopping at several small towns along the way. Bayfield itself is not a large city, about 700 people. It sits on the edge of Lake Superior where the Apostle Islands start. The views of the lake are spectacular—lots of sailboats.
As I generally do on our trips I examine buildings and architecture along the way. In Hayward I found a Carnegie Library put to new use. Like many small towns Hayward was given funds from the Andrew Carnegie foundation to construct a public library. Some years ago the town outgrew the library and constructed a new library in a different location. The old library ended up being sold to an individual who created a place for some retail shops. I was very impressed with the adapted reuse for the old Carnegie library.
Bayfield has many beautiful older homes on the hillside overlooking the lake. This home has very detailed carpentry on the roof and siding. The bay window on the gable end comes to a gentle point. The shingle siding flows in and around the window in a very graceful pattern.
On the another gable end the siding was installed in a
manner that creates a diamond pattern in the center of the gable. The detailing on the roof overhang was also very nice, bending and flowing with the roof itself in all areas. I can appreciate the amount of time it took to create these homes. I can also appreciate the effort that current owners take to preserve and maintain these lovely details.
We took a ferry out to Madeline Island, a 20 minute ride across the lake from Bayfield. Only about 200 people permanently live on the island but that swells to about 3,000 when temporary summer residents join them.
Here I found an old log house. The log corners were fit together tight and true using a dovetail detail. Many of the Apostle Islands were logged in the late 1800’s and the residents created log structures like this one, now in use as part of their museum.