(For the View From Your Window contest, the results below exceed the content limit for Substack’s email service, so to ensure that you see the full results, click the headline above.)
I would love to get a copy of the book to proudly display. And I would like to provide a bit of encouragement for those who find this contest difficult. For many of the views, I’m uncertain of which continent the photo was taken, let alone the country or city, so I am living proof you can win.
Thanks for the contest. It’s always a highlight of the week.
Here’s a related highlight from the super-sleuth in Augusta, GA:
GeoGuessr (which I know the View has talked about before) recently held its second “World Cup” in Stockholm, and I must say that those players are truly in a league of their own. Here is the final showdown, between France’s “Blinky” and the USA’s own “MK”:
Perhaps a glimpse into the future of the VFYW?
Here’s a followup on last week’s competition from the “Georgetown Sleuth in Training”:
And there I was, thinking I had scored a century on debut (cricketing metaphor, sorry) — especially since you used my “yonder window” reference in your feedback title. Was not the circled window on the White Swan Hotel in my submission verily a winner?! Was it because I said UK rather than England?!
The Bard, of course, nails it: “Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it promises ... ”
Dashed expectations have spurred me to try this week’s VFYW, and to my amazement, I think I may have a(nother) winner. See my next email for that one!
Newcomers very rarely win the VFYW, since the tiebreaker usually goes to a sleuth with a track record of near-wins. Regarding our recent contest in the Chicago area, the owner of Cohasset Punch sets the historical record straight:
Hello! I have a Google alert for “Cohasset Punch” and noticed that it got a mention in a Weekly Dish article from a few weeks ago. Though I couldn’t read the full article, I do want to issue a correction for the snippet that I saw.
Cohasset Punch, though named for the town in Massachusetts, was in fact created in Chicago. Lewis Williams (not Gus) was a Chicago bar owner and liquor wholesaler, not a bartender-for-hire. Actor William H. Crane was an old family friend, not his employer, and he was visiting Crane’s Cohasset estate for a long vacation. According to a 1902 article in Bonfort’s Wine & Spirit Circular, Williams overheard some of Crane’s other guests discussing how the best rum punches, and being a competitive sort, he sent a telegram to his business partner Tom Newman back in Chicago to create a better rum punch. Newman created the drink at their bar in the Chicago Loop, sent a cask of it by railcar to Cohasset, and when Williams and Crane wired Newman their thanks and asked what the drink was called, Newman wired back “Cohasset.”
Credit for left side: “Left image courtesy of the Cohasset Historical Society, Cohasset, MA.” / Credit for right side: “Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum [I-027840]. Photo by Glenn E. Dahlby, March 29, 1957.”
Williams & Newman began selling Cohasset Punch in bottles by 1899, and when they retired in 1916, the rights passed to the Ladner Bros. saloon, also in the Loop. The Ladners revived Cohasset Punch after Prohibition, and it remained in production until shortly after the bar was demolished for real estate development in 1986.
This year I actually acquired the rights to the name and revived the brand for production, and bottles of Cohasset Punch are once again available, so far only in Illinois. A good deal of research went into getting the formula just right, as the original was stronger and more complex than the recipes found online and in old cocktail books.
I’m sure this is more information than necessary, but I wanted to set the record straight!
Now I’m really curious to try Cohasset Punch. On to this week’s view, a recent winner writes:
My prediction last week was that the next view “is going to be a doozy,” and I feel my prediction was correct. But at least the American flags allow me to predict the correct country. The bit of leaf coloring in the picture would indicate it’s a relatively northern city, and I just don’t have time to do any research on the bell tower in the background, so I’m going to throw out a guess of Colonial Williamsburg and let all the professional sleuths laugh at how bad my guess is!
Another sleuth sees “lots of clues, but I have no idea!”
My best guess is that this is a Civil War era “village”. I think the closest flag has 35 stars, which would suggest 1863-65. I couldn’t find an image of the three-brick basketweave paving in the garden area, but it also “felt” older than the Civil War. So I’m guessing Colonial Williamsburg.
The super-champ in Berkeley scrutinized the same flag:
The Stars and Stripes hanging at the garden gate might have indicated nothing more than the photo being snapped on a patriotically significant date, if it weren’t for the pattern of the stars on the flag. The three partial horizontal rows we can see on it are aligned with each other perpendicularly, each star directly above its nearest vertical neighbor. That means whatever we’re looking at, it’s not the current US flag, on which the 50 stars are arranged in nine staggered rows. So the banner on the gate must be one of a half-dozen or so historical versions of the Stars and Stripes:
Another sleuth has a personal tie to Williamsburg:
The American flags immediately narrow it to the USA. The architecture is peculiar; it could be colonial-style. And your covering of the top of the faraway steeple — that’s probably the main building on William & Mary’s campus, built by Christopher Wren. I met my former wife in the Wren Chapel, so ... mixed feelings, but vivid memories.
A previous winner living in Alexandria attended William & Mary:
Greetings from Austin! We’re here for a wedding and having a wonderful time wading in Barton Springs — mentioned in contest #407 — and eating cactus tacos :)
The window looks out on, I’m guessing, Williamsburg VA. I went to William and Mary and forever link colonial architecture with lanyards for tourist passes. We trespassed on the Governors’ mansion grounds when I was a freshman at night but never got caught :)
I can see what I think is Bruton Parish in the distance, so maybe this is taken from the Lumber House Ticket office on DOG street? Not sure, and I’m too lazy to do the sleuthing, but thank you for a fun contest as always!
Here’s the latest fun visual from the super-sleuth in San Mateo:
Just as in the VFYW, in the Reimagined we enter a lovely garden via an interesting brick path under an arbor arch:
I should explain the water lilies. The shape of the arbor arch and garden scene in the VFYW brought to mind Monet’s garden and a wonderful visit my wife and I made to his home and garden in Giverny, France. I think you’ll understand if you look at Monet’s “Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies”:
In retrospect, perhaps the benches under the arch are too important to omit — so let’s restore the benches under the arch, add some benches elsewhere too, and add a lot more water lilies:
But is it Williamsburg? Here’s Eagle Rock:
I saw this week’s photo and instantly went, “That’s quaint-ass Colonial Williamsburg.” I used to live right by it, and I could totally picture that picturesque-as-fuck spot, just off Duke of Gloucester Street. There’s a house with that garden that’s just so goddamn charming, and the actual white picket fence, and that arch thingy. There’s probably even a nostalgic colonial flag with 13 stars just like the one in the photo. Don’t tread on me, bitches! The dirt paths, the expanses of grass, the architecture, the brickwork, all points to CW. Clearly, Dusty’s hiding the steeple at lovely-ass Bruton Parish Church. Damn, I’m good.
Except … there’s no parking lot near Bruton Parish, since DoG Street is closed to cars. Hmmm. And those trees at left look a little piney for CW. And nothing lines up correctly.
Sleuths, this is not quaint-ass Colonial Williamsburg.
From the super-sleuth on Park Avenue:
My initial take on Friday afternoon was, having just been there for a college visit: “Oh this one is easy — Colonial Williamsburg, at that little herb garden they have. I’ll get on Maps later and shoot Chris an email.”
Now, if any family member decides that they are into reenactments, I know where I can send them. It turns out there are fair few historical villages in the US! Since this was definitely in the Northeast(ish), I was easily able to rule out the ones in Arizona/Texas/CA/CO. But was it Sturbridge or Gettysburg or the original home of cancel culture — Salem, MA? No.
He eventually got to the right place, as did our super-sleuth in Bethlum, PA:
I represent a county election office, and I started looking for this view on Friday afternoon, right after filing a response in a Kings’ Bench petition before the state Supreme Court on an RNC petition that is requesting that the Court: 1) preclude voters from fixing their mail-in ballot mistakes (dates and signatures), and 2) ban the county from counting provisional ballots cast as allowed by HAVA by those voters who have made mistakes on their mail-in ballots, but have not been able to cure them.
Honestly, I was not in a great mood as a result of considering the possible consequences of this case, but then I realized that I have been in this VFYW town briefly for a lovely lobster meal. So, evening redeemed.
The view from Chini:
Another mentions my college town: “I think this is a view of Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC.” The super-sleuth in Albany names the right region:
We see an American flag, historic-y looking houses, non-Southern and non-Western vegetation, and touristy-looking people visiting. Something about it is giving “living history” vibes, of the colonial New England variety. The stars that we can see in the flag are aligned in a grid formation, not offset as they are today. It’s not Colonial Williamsburg, or Hancock Shaker Village, or the Cooperstown Farmer’s Museum, or Old Sturbridge Village. It just looks a little too urban, if that can be said.
Having exhausted the places I’ve been to or have heard of, it was time to look further afield. There are quite a lot of these places in the Northeast, but eventually I got to the right one.
The super-sleuth in Ann Arbor notices something from the last contest to this one: “From Old England to New England.” Another’s specific guess:
Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts? Just a gut feeling.
And another:
I think that’s the Shaker farm in Hancock, MA. But the decorative archway has me thinking twice.
Yet another Mass guess:
Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. Corner of Cooke and School streets!
One more stab at Massachusetts:
Hi Chris! I figure, if I am going to submit pictures, I need to increase my participation in the VFYW. I’m assuming I’m wrong with my guess this week, but who knows? Here’s my reasoning on guessing a location:
- Well, it’s America. We have a flag. In fact, it seems to be an exceptionally patriotic time, with not just one flag but two.
- Dusty is hiding an identifier on top of a building, and that identifier is not a national flag. I’m thinking it is some sort of university insignia.
- We have a tree starting to change colors in the background. That means I'm looking for a university town somewhere in the US that has fall foliage. That is much of the country, per this map from USA Today (red indicates foliage will be vibrant, light brown is typical and brown is dull):
That’s a lot of country. But let’s go back to those flags. When can you find people feeling patriotic when trees just begin to change? Labor Day! Per Almanac.com, this is what foliage looked like on Labor Day 2024:
But the foliage in our photo is just starting, so we really need to consider what’s happening a couple of weeks after Labor Day:
So far so good! I tried searching for a round arch in a campus garden in the relevant states. I saw a lot of nice pretty gardens, but nothing relevant for the contest. So I’m randomly selecting Wheaton College in Norton, MA as the location because:
- the roofs are the right color,
- it has the right sort of rural vibe,
- there’s another Wheaton College in Illinois that is bigger, so I’m giving the Massachusetts one a shout-out.
Let’s see how far off I am.
About 100 miles. A previous winner is also uncertain:
Providence, RI? It’s not much fun when your conviction on your VFYW guess is zero, but it’s more satisfying to be absolutely wrong and admit it than to be shamed into silently admitting you have no clue!
This next sleuth — drum roll — names the right place:
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