Summer by the Seaside: The Architecture of New England Coastal Resort Hotels, 1820-1950 [Hardcover]

Summer by the Seaside is a lavishly illustrated work on the origins, evolution, and gradual decline of the resort hotel phenomenon and its architecture along the New England coastline and on its offshore islands. In this indispensable, breakthrough volume, Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., the recognized expert in this popular field, examines the landmark hotels, extant and not, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Together these hospitality enterprises helped define the upscale tourist industry and key aspects of New England social, cultural, economic, and architectural history between 1820 and 1950. Exhaustively researched and beautifully assembled, this stunning and informative volume is the definitive work on the history of travel and tourism in coastal New England during this period.

BRYANT F. TOLLES, JR., is Professor Emeritus of History and Art History at the University of Delaware, where he served as Director of the Museum Program from 1984 to 2006. He has written and edited many books, including Resort Hotels of the Adirondacks (UPNE, 2003), Summer Cottages in the White Mountains (UPNE, 2000) and The Grand Resort Hotels of the White Mountains (1998).

List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The American Resort Hotel and Its Expression on the New England Coast Connecticut: The Long Island Sound Shoreline Rhode Island: Narrangansett Bay, Watch Hill, and Block Island Massachusetts: The South Shore, Cape Cod, and the Islands Massachusetts: The North Shore New Hampshire: The Beaches, New Castle, and the Isles of Shoals Maine: From Kittery to Cape Elizabeth Maine: From Casco Bay to New Brunswick Notes Bibliography Index