Before and after
These two views show the transformation at a glance. The project’s Instagram account holds the fuller record: photographs, videos, and moments from the people who helped bring the cottage forward.
Gloucester, Massachusetts
A little cottage.
A lasting story.
Virginia Lee Burton’s Writing Cottage was moved and restored so a place connected to her creative life could continue to be seen and shared. Follow the work from its early planning through the open house.
See the full story on InstagramFrom the local archive
A cottage saved for Lanesville
A Gloucester Daily Times article shared during the 2018 restoration tells how Ross Burton saved his aunt Virginia Lee Burton’s cottage and how neighbors, volunteers, donors, and the City of Gloucester helped give it a new home at the Lanesville Community Center.
Article from the Gloucester Daily Times · Shared by Dorrell-Jo MacWhinnie in Old Pictures Of Lanesville and Lanes Cove, July 27, 2018. Newspaper byline and original publication date are not shown in the shared post.
Read the shared articleAbout this website
The Lanesville Community Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, holds the restored cottage. The Burton family sponsored the original website for five years as a gift to the Center, then passed the renewal expense to its board. Ross Burton retains ownership of the vlbwritingcottage.com domain and has renewed this website to keep the cottage’s story available.
The project archive
Follow the journey, one post at a time.
Visit @vlbwritingcottage to see the planning, the move, the restoration, and the open house in photographs and videos.