Small town, two lakes
Center Harbor covers about 16 square miles, and a fair share of that is water. About a mile of shore is on Winnipesaukee, the harbor the town is named for. Several miles are on Squam Lake to the north. The town center sits where Route 25 meets Route 25B and rises gently from the shore.
That split matters for stone. A house on the Winnipesaukee side is close to the village, the boat launch and the summer traffic. A Squam house is more likely to sit in the woods on a quiet cove. They look different, so the stone on them should too.
Under Sunset Hill
Sunset Hill, at 1,121 feet, looks down on the town center from the west. Homes on its slopes and on the roads between the two lakes are built on hillside and ledge. On a hillside lot the downhill side of the foundation shows the most concrete, and that is exactly the wall natural stone veneer is for.
Cut granite, like the pieces in the photo above, gives a squared look that suits a newer house with clean lines. Rounded fieldstone suits an older cape or a camp. Kevin can talk through both.
Stone for a Squam cove
Center Harbor's Squam side takes in Dog Cove and the Chamberlain-Reynolds Memorial Forest, more than a mile of shore kept in woods. A house on that side is seen through trees, from the water and up close from a path, so the fit of each stone and the width of the joints matter more than a bold color.
Stone work close to the water in New Hampshire can come under the state's shoreland protection rules. Veneer on an existing house is one thing. A new wall, patio or path near the shore is another, so check with the town and the state before that kind of work goes in.
An old town with some history to it
Dudley Leavitt published his first almanac from Center Harbor in 1797, and the first Harvard and Yale boat race was rowed on Winnipesaukee here in 1852. Older houses near the center have been standing a long time. Stone added to one of them should look like it was part of the plan from the start.
Also in Center Harbor
Outside of veneer, Kevin builds fieldstone and retaining walls, stone steps and patios, lays flagstone paths, and paints houses inside and out. Any of it can be priced alongside a veneer job or on its own.
