Today's weather vane was photographed in Massachusetts.
Do you know the location of weathervane post #326? Scroll down to find the answer.
This weathervane was photographed above the central tower of
Dunster House on the Harvard University campus, from a boat in the middle of
the Charles River.
Like Hogwarts, Harvard University has houses for the
students (they are not known as dorms). First year students live in Harvard Yard. Upper class students participate in a lottery
to live in the houses (again, the Hogwarts comparison to the "sorting hat" ceremony). Along the Charles
River are the River Houses known as Adams, Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland, Leverett, Lowell, Mather and Quincy
Houses. The three Quad houses are
Pfohozeimer, Currier and Cabot. There are a total of 12 residential houses on campus, and
a thirteenth house, Dudley House, serves graduates and non-residents.
The house system was instituted in the 1930s at Harvard. Each house has about about 350 student residents. There are living quarters, as well as a dining
hall, libraries, common rooms, and rooms for activities. Each house has about 20 resident tutors.
Dunster House was named for Henry Dunster, the first
president of Harvard. The houses of
Harvard all have specific colors, and so the tower roof of Dunster House is
red. It’s mascot is a moose. It was completely renovated in 2014 - 2015,
and the weathervane is looking especially shiny now above replacement cupola
(the old one was crumbling away).
Dunster House is located at 945 Memorial Drive in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
This is a traditional swallow-tailed banner weathervane, based on medieval designs and popular in colonial America. It appears to be newly gilded or perhaps a new replacement altogether since the Dunster renovation.
Stay tuned for a few more weather vanes from Harvard Houses
in the next few weeks!
Harvard Housing and Residential Life link: https://osl.fas.harvard.edu/residential-life
Wikipedia information on Dunster House: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunster_House
Weathervane Wednesday at Eliot House:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/weathervane-wednesday-another-harvard.html
Weathervane Wednesday at Lowell House:
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Above a famous University", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 30, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/08/weathervane-wednesday-above-famous.html: accessed [access date]).
Interesting how many of the universities have them. I'm working on the Yale University ones... and need to get back down there for the rest of them.
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