What kind of tent was this?
February 15, 2010 2:18 PM Subscribe
Tent House?
Someone once described a summer beach site that he went to on the Massachusetts shore when he was a kid (about 30-40 years ago). He described the houses as being one small room that had a kitchenette and a bathroom. This room would hold an enormous tent that was pulled out and set up for the summer season, ( still attached to the small room with plumbing). At the end of the season the tent was dismantled and stuffed back into the room. Has anyone ever heard of or seen this sort of set up? I would love to know what is called.
Someone once described a summer beach site that he went to on the Massachusetts shore when he was a kid (about 30-40 years ago). He described the houses as being one small room that had a kitchenette and a bathroom. This room would hold an enormous tent that was pulled out and set up for the summer season, ( still attached to the small room with plumbing). At the end of the season the tent was dismantled and stuffed back into the room. Has anyone ever heard of or seen this sort of set up? I would love to know what is called.
Ocean Grove NJ has a summer tent colony with over 100 tent houses, and they are set up exactly the way you describe.
posted by xsquared-1 at 2:47 PM on February 15, 2010
posted by xsquared-1 at 2:47 PM on February 15, 2010
These were plentiful at one point on Cape Cod. My grandparents' cottage was not far from a cluster of these, but by the early 80's they all had been modified to fully permanent structures. I don't remember any of them still being used in such a manner, but the additions were generally obvious and it was explained to me that the houses used to have seasonal tents (which sounded awesome to me as a child.)
If you are near Chatham, and want to see some of the modified tent houses, they may still be standing around Stillwater Pond. However, given property value trends since the early 80's, they might well all be gone or modified to the point that you can't tell that they used to be two-room shacks.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:50 PM on February 15, 2010
If you are near Chatham, and want to see some of the modified tent houses, they may still be standing around Stillwater Pond. However, given property value trends since the early 80's, they might well all be gone or modified to the point that you can't tell that they used to be two-room shacks.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:50 PM on February 15, 2010
The operative word does seem to be tent houses. Here is a link that looks a lot like beagle's except that it was all the way across the country. This claims that the Hyannis Normal School used them for housing especially during hte summer. That said I'm not sure if these are convertible houses as you remember, or just tents used as houses which was also popular for tuberculosis patients.
posted by jessamyn at 3:51 PM on February 15, 2010
posted by jessamyn at 3:51 PM on February 15, 2010
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posted by Bengston at 2:27 PM on February 15, 2010