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Here is a letter about the renting out of Fernbank in the summer of 1930, when Alma was in the middle of her 1929-1931 sojourn in India.
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July 15, 1930.
Mrs. Eva S. Evans,
8522 Germantown Ave.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Dear Mrs. Evans:
We are enclosing herewith our check for $8.67, which is one-third of the water tax, or Dr. Potter's share for his term of occupancy of the cottage.
We have intended to write you about the garage situation. Both Dr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were very nice about the misunderstanding. We tried several places where we thought they might house the car at night, but were unable to locate anything so Dr. Potter decided that he would leave the car in the driveway on clear nights and on stormy or damp nights put it in the Penzance Garage. I called on Mrs. Potter and she seemed very happy in the house.
Enclosed is your water tax bill so that you can send your check for same.
Very truly yours,
Walter O. Luscombe,
G.
WOL/G
Mrs. Eva S. Evans,
8522 Germantown Ave.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Dear Mrs. Evans:
We are enclosing herewith our check for $8.67, which is one-third of the water tax, or Dr. Potter's share for his term of occupancy of the cottage.
We have intended to write you about the garage situation. Both Dr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were very nice about the misunderstanding. We tried several places where we thought they might house the car at night, but were unable to locate anything so Dr. Potter decided that he would leave the car in the driveway on clear nights and on stormy or damp nights put it in the Penzance Garage. I called on Mrs. Potter and she seemed very happy in the house.
Enclosed is your water tax bill so that you can send your check for same.
Very truly yours,
Walter O. Luscombe,
G.
WOL/G
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1.
Walter Luscombe, who wrote this letter (though it looks as though in fact he dictated it to his secretary, G.) was an important Woods Hole personality in his day. I found a web page about him:
https://woodsholemuseum.org/old_businesses/pages/luscombe.html#:~:text=Luscombe%20%E2%80%93%20Village%20Entrepreneur-,Walter%20O.,for%20the%20Pacific%20Guano%20Company.
It begins:
Walter O. Luscombe was probably the most involved and successful businessman in the history of Woods Hole. He arrived in the village in 1878 to act as the deputy customs collector for the port, busy with imported material for the Pacific Guano Company. He worked in this capacity for 10 years and then became interested in real estate and other enterprises.
He died in 1939.
So Alma would have engaged Mr. Luscombe to deal with renting out Fernbank, and told him to correspond with Eva about it, since Alma would be in India.
2.
We have intended to write you about the garage situation. Both Dr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were very nice about the misunderstanding. We tried several places where we thought they might house the car at night, but were unable to locate anything so Dr. Potter decided that he would leave the car in the driveway on clear nights and on stormy or damp nights put it in the Penzance Garage.
It sounds as though Alma and Eva were not acquainted with the Potters, who rented Fernbank, since the Potters didn't know that there was no garage at Fernbank. (After The Great Raising of Fernbank in 1946, Fred would sometimes park his car in the shed, but at this time there was no shed.) I couldn't find anything online about the Penzance Garage, however. We've got another mention of it, in passing, in a Fernbank News:
3.
It sort of surprises me that Eva kept this letter, but I'm glad that she did.
Walter Luscombe, who wrote this letter (though it looks as though in fact he dictated it to his secretary, G.) was an important Woods Hole personality in his day. I found a web page about him:
https://woodsholemuseum.org/old_businesses/pages/luscombe.html#:~:text=Luscombe%20%E2%80%93%20Village%20Entrepreneur-,Walter%20O.,for%20the%20Pacific%20Guano%20Company.
It begins:
Walter O. Luscombe was probably the most involved and successful businessman in the history of Woods Hole. He arrived in the village in 1878 to act as the deputy customs collector for the port, busy with imported material for the Pacific Guano Company. He worked in this capacity for 10 years and then became interested in real estate and other enterprises.
He died in 1939.
So Alma would have engaged Mr. Luscombe to deal with renting out Fernbank, and told him to correspond with Eva about it, since Alma would be in India.
2.
We have intended to write you about the garage situation. Both Dr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were very nice about the misunderstanding. We tried several places where we thought they might house the car at night, but were unable to locate anything so Dr. Potter decided that he would leave the car in the driveway on clear nights and on stormy or damp nights put it in the Penzance Garage.
It sounds as though Alma and Eva were not acquainted with the Potters, who rented Fernbank, since the Potters didn't know that there was no garage at Fernbank. (After The Great Raising of Fernbank in 1946, Fred would sometimes park his car in the shed, but at this time there was no shed.) I couldn't find anything online about the Penzance Garage, however. We've got another mention of it, in passing, in a Fernbank News:
3.
It sort of surprises me that Eva kept this letter, but I'm glad that she did.
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This photograph has nothing to do with Mr. Luscombe's letter, but it shows you what Fernbank looked like when the Potters rented it from Alma. Of course, it looked different after the work that was done in 1946.
Fernbank before 1946.
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LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT PAGES IN THIS WEBSITE
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Related
- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
RELATED DOCUMENTS/PAGES:
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