By Andrea Cronin, Reader Services

The transition to autumn marks the end-of-summer close for many New England communities. Bustling summer destinations pack in, close up, and settle down for the upcoming winter. The long days of summer heat and noise grow cool, quiet, and short. New England foliage bursts with rich colors like a fireworks finale before surrendering to fate of the homeowner’s rake. Seasonal homes are winterized and summer residents return to their urban homes. In September 1921 Henry Daland Chandler supervised the winterizing of his family’s summer cottage, the Palace, in North Haven, Maine.

Among the earlier Bostonians to choose North Haven as a summer destination, the Chandlers’ presence on the island took the form of three summer cottages. In 1884-85, architect Francis W. Chandler designed the clubhouse called Paralyso for summer residents from Boston. This building later became a cottage. Frank also designed and built a family summer home named the Palace a few years later in 1887. A decade after the construction of the Palace, he completed a third cottage called the Anchorage in 1897.

This 15 September 1921 letter from architect Henry Daland Chandler, called Daland, to his parents, Frank and Alice Chandler, describes occurring and proposed improvements to the house and includes a beautiful illustration.

Here is what I had in mind for the alteration to the Palace: the large window to be plate-glass despite all the canons of architectural design. The dormer that you see peeping out on the north side of the house is an enlargement of that stuff room, and, though it doesn’t perhaps improve the appearance of the north side of the house it certainly would make that particular room more habitable in every way than it now is.

The house moves on apace here, and I really look forward to having the painters, and everybody out of here about the twentieth, so that it will be possible to have the cleaners in, and I may say they will have something to clean as this painting process isn’t the neatest thing in the world.

The correspondence within the Henry Daland Chandler papers documents the family’s return to their various homes in Massachusetts within the month. With summer drawing to a close, Daland returned to 40 Central Street while his parents arrived at 195 Marlborough Street in Boston. All good things must come to an end.