VACATION HOMES IN THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES: SEASONALITY IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1970.tb00734.x

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Wiley InterScience

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

Volume 60 Issue 3, Pages 447 - 455

Published Online: 23 Feb 2005

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VACATION HOMES IN THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES: SEASONALITY IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

RICHARD LEE RAGATZ ¹

¹ Dr. Ragatz is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

¹This paper is part of a doctoral dissertation in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University which was entitled. "The Vacation Home Market: An Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Population on a Seasonal Basis." It was funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

²Vacation housing is defined as permanently located single-family housing used on a private-personal basis for seasonal outdoor recreation. The occupants must have some other primary place of residence, and the vacation home must have been originally constructed for the purpose of leisure-time activities.

³Three important studies on the journey-to-work include D. Carrol, "The Relation of Homes to Work Places and the Spatial Pattern of Cities," Social Forces, Vol. 30 (1952), pp. 271–82; J. Kain, "The Journey to Work as a Determinant of Residential Location," Regional Science Association Papers, Vol. 9 (1962), pp. 137–60; and W. Y. Oi and P. W. Shuldiner, An Analysis of Urban Travel Demands (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1962). One of the earliest and most comprehensive studies on daytime-nighttime migration is G. W. Breese, The Daytime Population of the Central Business District of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949). Studies on outdoor camping include C. Crevo, Characteristics of Summer Weekend Recreational Travel (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1962); W. F. LaPage, "Successful Private Campgrounds: A Study of Factors that Influence the Length and Frequency of Camper Visits" (Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1967); and G. Owens, "Outdoor Recreation: Participation, Characteristics of Users, Distance Travelled, and Expenditures" (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, Departments of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, 1967).

⁴For example, see J. S. Chiu, "A Statistical Study of Second-Home Owners" (Seattle: unpublished study conducted for Weyerhaeuser Company, Department of Economics, University of Washington, 1966); Vacation Home Consumer Study for Western Wood Products Association (Portland, Oregon: McCann-Erickson, Inc., 1966); and Survey of Vacation Home Purchasers (Baltimore: Sidney Hollander Associates, 1965).

5 For example, see R. L. Carroll, "A Social Analysis of Southold Town, Long Island" (Ithaca, New York: Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University, 1965) and W. Thompson, "The Urban Fringe: First Thoughts on Sociological Perspectives" (Ithaca, New York: Department of Sociology, Cornell University, 1961).

6 For example, see Chautauqua County Planning Board and Department of Planning, "Second Homes and Their Impact on the Economy of Chautauqua County" (Mayville, New York: Chautauqua County Planning Board and Department of Planning, 1966); I. V. Fine and E. E. Werner, "Private Cottages in Wisconsin" (Madison, Wisconsin: Bureau of Business Research and Service, School of Commerce, University of Wisconsin, 1960); and R. Snyder, "Seasonal Recreation Properties in Minnesota" (St. Paul, Minnesota: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Minnesota, 1967).

7 For example, see I. V. Fine and R. E. Tuttle, "Private Seasonal Housing in Wisconsin" (Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin Department of Resource Development, 1966); W. W. Graham, "Cottage Development in Rural Areas" (Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Geography, Carleton University, 1967); and R. I. Wolfe, "Summer Cottages in Ontario" (Toronto, Ontario: Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 1950).

8 B. G. Jones, "The Theory of the Urban Economy: Origins and Development with Emphasis on Intraurban Distribution of Population and Economic Activity (Chapel Hill: unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina, 1960), p. 141.

9 This estimate was derived from an unpublished nation-wide survey by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, "Survey of 9,231 Bell System Telephone Users" (New York: American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1965).

10 This estimate was derived from results of various surveys, articles, and discussions with suppliers of the vacation home market.

¹¹Results from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company survey in 1965 showed that the average size of vacation home families was 3.7 members; the estimated average size of all American families in that year was 3.4 members.

12 For example, see: Carroll, op. cit., footnote 5; Chautauqua County, op. cit., footnote 6; and Stanmar, Inc., "Market Analysis of Vacation Home Potential in the Boston Area" (unpublished study conducted by the company, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1962).

¹³American Telephone and Telegraph Company, op. cit., footnote 9.

14 The number of vacation homes was determined from the 1960 Census of Housing by adding the categories "Other Seasonal Vacant Units" to "Units Held for Occasional Use" and subtracting those "Vacant for Migratory Workers." Total housing units included both vacant and occupied units.

15 The North Atlantic Region includes the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

16 J. Gottmann, Megalopolis (New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1961).

¹⁷The vacation home quotient for counties is defined as:

18 Unpublished survey conducted by the author, 1966.

19 American Telephone and Telegraph Company, op. cit., footnote 9.

20 Stanly Works, "Survey of Vacation Home Plan Consumers" (unpublished study conducted by the company, New Britain, Connecticut).

21 Chautauqua County, op. cit., footnote 7.

22 B. G. Jones, "Land Uses in the United States in the Year 2000,"Man's Environment in the Twenty-First Century, Publication No. 105 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Public Health, 1965), p. 231.

23 Jones, op. cit., footnote 22, p. 231.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT.

The vacation home market is emerging as a major force in shaping urban and regional development a result of the seasonal redistribution of the population. Existing urban and regional theory has accounted for the distribution of population only in accordance with the permanent place of residence without considering how this distribution varies on a seasonal or semi-permanent basis. It is estimated that some three-quarters of a million vacation homes currently exist in the more rural areas of Northeastern United States. The seasonal occupancy of these units has important implications for fluctuations in economic base, requirement of community services and facilities, and other factors relating to regional development.

Accepted for publication September 24, 1969.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1467-8306.1970.tb00734.x About DOI