Squam is its own kind of lake
Squam is smaller and quieter than Winnipesaukee, with wooded shores, about 30 islands and old summer camps, several of them on the National Register of Historic Places. Part of Squam lies in the east end of Holderness, Little Squam sits in the middle of town, and the Pemigewasset River runs along the northwest edge.
The houses that fit Squam best do not shout. For stone veneer that means natural fieldstone or weathered granite, colors that match the ledge at the waterline, and joints that do not draw the eye.
Old camps and cottages
Where an old camp has been closed in for year round use, the foundation or the posts under the porch are often bare block or concrete that was never meant to be looked at. Facing them in natural stone, or wrapping the porch posts in fieldstone, makes an old camp look finished without changing what it is.
Kevin sets the stone tight and keeps the bottom course up off the ground, which matters under a porch where leaves and snow collect and stay damp.
The village and Little Squam
Holderness village sits along Route 3 near Little Squam, and Routes 25, 113 and 175 all run through town. Village lots are closer to the road and to each other. Front foundations, entry steps and porch columns are where stone shows on these houses.
Holderness School is in town, and the Holderness Free Library and Trinity Church are both on the National Register list. On an older village house the first question is what the foundation is made of, stone, brick, block or poured concrete, because that decides how veneer attaches or whether it needs veneer at all.
Up under the Squam Range
Route 113 runs along the north side of the lake under the Squam Range, where Mount Webster is the high point in town at 2,076 feet. Houses along that road look south across the lake toward the islands. Up there a fieldstone fireplace wall inside gets as much use as anything outside, and Kevin builds those as well as stone faces for the foundation.
Getting stone to a Squam property
Some Squam places sit at the end of narrow camp roads or down a long path from where a truck can park. Stone is heavy and arrives by the pallet, so tell Kevin how close a truck can get when you text. That one detail shapes the whole plan.
The flagstone path in the top photo shows another side of the work, stone laid toward the water. Retaining walls on a slope to the shore, fieldstone walls, stone steps and patios are on the list too, and Kevin paints inside and out.
