We found this house in 2009 when searching for a September rental after the sale of the family refuge that my grandparents built on Cape Cod. It has been our late-summer escape since. It’s one of the last of its breed, an old-style Jersey shore house, unpretentious and comfortable, with a kitchen and table ready for beach nights. (2014)

For the first 10 years, this radio sat on a side table in the living room, prominent among the relics of old beach houses — warped coasters, missing checkers pieces, take-out menus from the 80s, books left behind by distracted readers. Last year the radio was gone, presumably taken up by the owners, who knew a good artifact when they saw one. (2016)