Our weather changed, as predicted.  We've had scattered rain showers today, but temperatures haven't gotten out of the 30s.  As you can see in this picture of West Shore Road, there was a snow/ice surface.  The main roads were bare, but back roads could be a little slippery.  However, we found both Cabot and Walden had done a good job of sanding.  
    We didn't find anything very exciting - a crew is working on a new garage at the Talbot's on W. Shore Rd.  There was a misty rain and quite a lot of wind.  The men looked cold and wet, but looked very busy, so we just got a passing shot of the upper level.  Unlike most of the garages along West Shore Road, this one will be slightly above road level.
      We hadn't seen Lauren VanDeren's new home on Otis Drive, so we went on that road.  Nice spot, next door to her brother, Larry Rossi, and there are several other year around neighbors on Otis Drive now, so she shouldn't feel too isolated. 
     There are highway cones on fence posts along parts of Old Homestead Road as a guide for plowing this winter.  I heard there is some talk of asking the Town of Danville to help out on that road since there are so many year-around residents now.  I haven't heard how that is going, but I know towns are reluctant to take on more road responsibilities.  I think residents might have to pay to bring the road up to certain specifications such as width, ditching, culverts and possibly material used, before the town would take over.  Those laws change all the time, but perhaps each town has some leeway in interpreting the state guidelines. It would be quite a process to get that road up to third class standards, I expect.
     We took a little ride to Danville and then up Route 15 mid-morning, just to see what, if anything, is going on around the pond. 

     I had another "mission"  today, and that was to investigate a house on Route 15 that originally belonged to James McKillop in the 1800s.  McKillop was John Moore's (south shore of Joe's Pond, off of Route 2) great grandfather.  John told me there was a cement "foundation" beside the road that had been damaged by plows.  Today we found there is a cement retaining wall fitting that description in front of the house above.  The wall has been uncovered by the recent resurfacing of Route 15 this summer.  I believe this is what John thought was part of a foundation of his great grandparents' home.  Mr. and Mrs. McKillop came from Ireland, and their daughter, Rose, married John Gamble from Cabot.  The Gambles lived where David Covell does today.  They were good neighbors, back in the day.  I never knew the McKillops, but I have information about them from researching for the West Danville History book.  What I'm trying to establish now is if this present day house (above) was originally Lake View Farm, owned by the McKillops.  They ran a boarding house and also had a boat livery.  The shoreline land they owned was likely where some of Island Drive properties are.  Dot Larrabee and I remember the Wallace Griggs family lived there in the 1940s.  That may be part of the several clues we will follow to discover the ownership of Lake View Farm.

     We have tried in the past to identify the picture of Lake View Farm, but nobody seemed to have any knowledge of where it was located.  There seem to be distinct similarities in the houses, so I believe we may have solved the mystery.  The Lake View Farm is not to be confused with Lake Side House (above), owned by O. B. Flint, at the head of North Shore Road, however.  Both were in operation about the same time, in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Next stop, the town records!