Hey, gang,
No doubt, many lifelong fans of Dark Shadows have fantasized at one time or another about actually living in the mythical New England fishing village of Collinsport, Maine. (I know I have!) And if you've ever travelled to Maine, you know what an incredibly beautiful state Maine truly is,
especially at this time of year.
However, if by some Twilight Zone-like twist of fate or fortune, you
were able to become a resident of Collinsport, where would you like to set up digs? I suppose many Dark Shadows fans/cousins would select the great house of Collinwood as their first choice of residence. And, many others might want to settle down in the Collins family's first home, that of the Old House.
Perhaps other fans/cousins might opt for one of the smaller residences on the Collins estate, including Matthew Morgan's old cottage, the carriage house (where the newlyweds Jeb and Carolyn Hawks lived for a brief time); then there's the House-by-the-Sea (which warlock Nicholas Blair rented from the Collins family for several months), and I believe, Seaview, where Vicky and Burke
were eventually going to move into after they were married. (Alas, we know that
that never happened.)
Other possibilities include the quaint and cozy Evans cottage, which, I believe, was KLS' favorite set on the show. You know, we never actually got to see the second floor of the Evans cottage. (It always struck me as funny that Sam and Maggie had their bedrooms on the first floor of the cottage. I'd have thought that their bedrooms would have been on the second floor?)
Of course, there's always the McGruder Mansion, which we got to see during Dark Shadows' final year on the air. That place (and I mean the real one and not the replica in the playroom) always looked like a Ken & Barbie dollhouse. And, then there were the apartment buildings in which Prof. Stokes, Joe Haskell, Tony Peterson and Jeff Clark lived in. While Prof. Stokes and Tony Peterson's apartments didn't look bad, it looked to as if both Joe Haskell and Jeff Clark lived in flophouses.
As to my own preference, well, I think that Collinwood, as magnificent as it was, was just
too darned big. (And, I'd always be concerned that I might accidentally walk into one of Collinwood's many secret passage ways, and get hopelessly lost, when I was anxiously "searching" for a "water closet" at about four in the morning!)
And, let's not even talk about how much it must have cost to keep the lights, water, heating, etc., on in Collinwood!
On the other hand, as cool as the Old House is, I don't think that I could ever handle the lack of electricity, hot-and-cold running water, central heating
and air conditioning, but MOST of all, I don't think that I could
EVER get used to "employing" the chamber pots and outdoor out house(s) which Banabas and Willie, no doubt, made frequent use of. (I venture to say that the lack of "facilities" in the Old House had to have been the toughest thing for poor Willie to accept/adjust to after he went to "work" for Mr. B.)
Oh yeah, there is also the late, lamented Dr. Eric Lang's house, which looks incredibly like the late, unlamented Rev. Gregory Trask's boarding school of Worthington Hall. (Dr. Lang's house also kind of reminds me of Herman Munster's homestead at 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Mockingbird Heights, USA, but I digress.)
So, I have to say that I like both the Evans cottage and the House-by-the-Sea, but I'd have to go with Nicholas Blair's former Collinsport residence. The thought of living by the sea is very appealing to me (barring any future Hurricanes Katrina or Sandy hitting the East coast.) And, the prospect of living in that isolated house with neither noisy nor nosy neighbors around to annoy me is
EXTREMELY appealing!!!
So, which Collinsport/Collinwood house (or apartment) would you like to live in?
Bob