Fall River Painted Ladies

At the very west end of Prospect Street, just before turning left onto Rock Street, there is an amazing home, a neighbor to the Dana Brayton House.  The Italianate house received a facelift late last summer and now boasts gilded pillar capitals, stained walnut balustrades and a very impressive double set of stained wooden front doors and roof corbels. The two pretty sisters side by side command the attention of passers-by!

The Dana Brayton house next door

As luck would have it, a visit to New Bedford’s antique mall on the cove yielded this post card of the gazebo discussed below which is on Maple Street behind the Easton tea house.  Unfortunately this is not a color card, but it is clear that the paint scheme today is quite different from the postcard.  Miss Brayton, incidentally, was one of the ladies who accompanied Lizzie Borden on her Grand Tour in 1890.

 

 The star of the garden must be the original gazebo cast by the New York firm of Chase and Company Ornamental Ironworks in 1869.  It is a favorite spot for families, honeymooners and wedding parties to gather for a photograph both now- and in 1869.

A glorious day in May

The view from the Historical Society porte-cochere

The corner of Maple and High