Another Good Time at Chesters'

A "jolly crowd" of Jennie Chester's classmates and friends gathered at the Charles Chester house on February 6 to celebrate Jennie's birthday. They dined by the light of the birthday candles, then perhaps played games, or sang to the accompaniment of the Chesters' old Kimball piano. The Gazette finished its report with the remark that "those who were present had one more 'good time at Chester's' to recall," as if good times at the Chester house were a familiar local phenomenon.

That just struck me because these days the house looks a bit tired and forlorn and very, very quiet. It's hard to image it 90-some years ago, as the center of a prosperous farm, surrounded by outbuildings — chickens in the yard, maybe; dogs on the doorstep; cows in the fields; and a large and lively family and their many friends making the rooms echo with "good times."


Sources:
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 23 May 1902.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 9 Feb. 1917.