Ahead To The Past, At Last

So, continuing the saga of our week-end escape, the Weaver and I ended up here in Red Wing Minnesota, in a 19th century octagonal house:

An eight-sided house has, by definition almost, its quirks, and ours was no exception. Spiral staircases, a cupola and surrounding porches and vistas from the roof-top (note to self: return in the summer!) and rooms with an occasional 135° angle where the walls met all added to the charm of this historic dwelling. The topper for me, (satisfying my peculiar fascination with antique plumbing), was a porcelain "foot bath"- a small tub about 2'x2'x2' with its own special fittings- intended for podiatric hygiene. Civilized... < We were hosted by Penny Stapleton, who regaled us with vivid stories about the house over canapés and wine. We slept in luxury. Most Civilized, indeed. Red Wing itself, one of the first cities in Minnesota, is certainly worth a visit. Because many of the founding families lived there for generations many of the fine older homes and buildings have been preserved so that a walking excursion in the downtown and nearby residential areas brings many pleasant examples of architecture into view (more on that in a later post.) With a proud history of manufacturing (Red Wing™ shoes, Red Wing™ pottery) there is plenty of well-preserved local color worth at least a week-end of exploration.