Regular readers know that I have been slaving away this past year over a new manuscript that was just published by History Press on summer cottage communities. The book is called Summer Cottage Communities: Chautauquas, Camp Meetings and Spiritualist Camps. Having grown up in southcentral Pennsylvania, I am very familiar with places like Mount Gretna, Mount Lebanon, Eagles Mere and Ocean Grove. These were early summer communities established in the 19th century to provide both physical and spiritual refreshment and rebuilding. In the course of working on the book, I found several fascinating references as to how summer cottages were decorated. Most of the cottages were designed in one of a small number of styles that ranged from the Victorian era shingle look to the Adirondack bungalow. The rooms inside tended to be small, which was off-set by the large porch that served as an outdoor parlor/living room/family room. The famed muckraker journalist from Titusville (Crawford County), Pa., Ida Tarbell, wrote in the early 20th century about how homes looked like picnic housekeeping. The reference pointed to how a mix of furniture was pulled out of attic storage to decorate ones summer home. A Federal card table might get re-used for puzzles on the porch. Or a Victorian era bureau might be painted white to fit in with the Arts and Crafts look of a bedroom. And at the center of Tarbells description of picnic housekeeping was the ubiquitous rope bed turned into a bench. Auction goers in most of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland know exactly what I am talking about. This is a spindle (sometimes called a Jenny Lind) bed where the headboard and part of the rails are re-used to make a stubby little porch bench. As a boy, I recall many of these still in use on porches out in the Lebanon Valley. They were a way of re-using the bed after its original use fell away. These converted beds to benches were very popular in summer cottages throughout the region. Other decorating elements included the use of Navajo weavings. At Mount Gretna in Lebanon County, dealers in Native American rugs advertised locally to attract cottage buyers. There is even the story of how one cottage in Mount Gretna still retains is original Navajo rugs on the floor despite the house having been sold several times since the original owners. As we come into the summer season, I would encourage you to take an evening and visit the cottage community nearest you. Chautauquas and camp meetings abound in the mid-Atlantic. They are a true window into a slower and more relaxed world, a place where you can attend a lecture, go to a hymn sing or just sit quietly on your porch and listen to the crickets. And if you go to Mount Gretna, be sure and walk around and see if you can still spot some of the beds turned into benches that Ida Tarbell was talking about. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.