Fernside is a Georgian house finished in the federal style. The house is set on the east side of Little Wachusett Mountain and faces Mountain Road about two miles from the center of Princeton. The west side of the house facing Mountain Road is 2 1/2 stories and the east side is 3 1/2 stores and faces east with an expansive view of the Greater Boston area, some fifty miles away. This clapboard house consists of three offset rectangular sections roughly in a north/south line. The north and south sections are set back from the center section giving the appearances from the front of a T-shaped building and a U-shaped building from the back. There is a large piazza built in 1994-5 to replace an earlier similar structure.
The rectangular center 2 1/2 story section of the house has a 5 bay symmetrical façade with a center entry. The exposed north side of the center section is 4 bay asymmetrical with an entry in the 2nd bay. The side gable roof has 2 chimneys centered on the ridge line. There are three large gabled dormers facing west. The center section has a covered porch that is attached to the north, west and south sides. The center section windows are double hung six-over-six and there is a Round-Head window with tracing centered on the second story.
The rectangular north 2 1/2 story section has a 5 bay asymmetrical façade with an entry in the 5th bay. The roof is side gabled and has a single chimney off center of the ridge. There are two gabled dormers facing west. The windows are double hung six-over-six.
The rectangular south 2 1/2 story section has a 4 bay symmetrical façade. All the windows are double hung six-over-six. The roof is side gabled and there is a single gabled dormer facing west. There is an external iron fire escape on the south east face of this section.
The original house (center section) was built in 1835 as 2 stories (plus basement and attic) with four rooms per floor. The original house is on a large stone foun
dation with massive buttresses supporting the fireplaces. The north and south sections were built circa 1870. In 1890 the south section burnt and was quickly rebuilt.
A hall with a curved archway in the main section runs west to east from the front to the piazza. There are Rumford Fireplaces in each of the four rooms of the main section.
This house, formerly know as the "Princeton Vacation House for Working Girls," will open for the season on Saturday, July 1. It is conducted exclusively for the benefit of women wage-earners, over seventeen years of age, and is in Princeton Mass., beautifully situated on the side of Mount Wachusett. The house is in perfect order, the table ample, with fresh vegetables daily from the garden. The mountain can be ascended in two hours from the house.
Each person is expected to aid in the care of her bedroom and to do her share of the table work. The price for board is $4.00 a week, and the railroad fares $1.90 for the round trip. Reduction is made sometimes for those greatly needing a change of air, but unable to pay the above prices. Each person is expected to remain two weeks.
All board and railroad tickets must be obtained from the "Fernside Agent," and paid in advance. She will be at the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, No. 264 Boylston Street, every Tuesday and Friday evening, from 7 to 9 o'clock, beginning Tuesday June 13th. A deposit of fifty cents is required at the time of application; this will be deducted later from the regular board.
The parties, twenty-one in each, will leave every Saturday from South Station, and are met at the Princeton station by the "Fernside" carriage. Applications should be made early, as the house accommodates but forty-two.
All are requested to bring their clothing in bags, as transportation of trunks from the station is difficult. As there are no conveniences for personal laundry work, it is well to bring a supply of underclothing to last during the stay.
Miss M. J. Allen, President
