A view of “The Street” when it was lined with elms.
the street
“The Street,” says Bill Badger, a Manchester architect and preservationist. “It was
just called the street.” He’s talking about a short section, barely two-tenths of a
mile long, that runs north-south (it’s also Route 7A) from the Equinox Hotel to the
top of the lane that leads to the Ekwanok Golf Course. Badger tells great stories
about the houses in this neighborhood because during his prolific career he has
restored, studied, drawn plans for, or been invited into many of the properties
along the street. Nearly 40 years ago, Badger had a hand in the preparation of
the nomination to list this area in the National Register of Historic Places as part
Why go to the bother and
expense of buying and laying
costly bricks or pouring concrete
sidewalks, when the most
abundant material around just
happens to be the most elegant
and attractive?
of the Equinox House Historic District.
“This is the oldest part of Manchester,” he says, “and ‘the Street’ was widely
known even as early as the 1850s when the town began to welcome what
were known then as the summer people.” In fact, “the Street”—with its tall
trees, tightly-clustered buildings representing a mix of residential, commercial,
civic and religious–was considered to be the main attraction of the Village and
townspeople forthrightly promoted it as such.
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