An Old Howard Johnson's Weathervane

 This weathervane was photographed in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  

This "Simple Simon Met a Pie Man" weathervane is a giveaway that this building is a former Howard Johnson's restaurant at 795 Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts.  It probably had an orange roof and ice cream parlor with 28 flavors of treats, like most of the HoJo's in years past.  This building is currently a jeweler and an insurance office.  By coincidence, there is a Howard Johnson hotel across the street and few hundred yards away at 213 Main Street.  

In Massachusetts, years ago, the most famous Howard Johnson restaurants were located on the Massachusetts Turnpike, offering sit down meals and a rest stop to travelers.  These restaurants were eventually replaced with quick service fast food outlets.  The last known Howard Johnson's restaurant closed in Lake George, New York in 2017.  

Most of the Howard Johnson restaurants had the "Simple Simon" or the lamplighter weathervanes.  Some featured the little dog you see to the side of the lamp, some were missing the lamp post, and some were missing the dog.  All of these weathervanes were simple, two dimensional designs cut out of sheet metal. A few had a three dimensional lamp post.  Occasionally these weathervanes come up for auction, and a Google search will show you that they are highly collectible. 

If you see a building with one of these weathervanes, you know it was a former Howard Johnson franchise. I've blogged about these weathervanes in the past, check out this link:

2014 - West Boylston, Massachusetts (still has the orange roof and the lamplighter weathervane!):

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/weathervane-wednesday-old-familiar-sign.html 

Click here to see over 425 other weathervane posts at this blog:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "An Old Howard Johnson's Weathervane", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 29, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/07/an-old-howard-johnsons-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]).