Lovecraft created Kingsport before he saw its real-life model. When Lovecraft visited Marblehead in 1922, he became enamored of the town and wrote with much feeling in 1929 concerning his experiences there. Lovecraft wrote of seeing the snow-covered town at sunset and of experiencing his "first stupefying glance of MARBLEHEAD'S huddled and archaick roofs". He also remarked that "that instant — about 4:05 to 4:10 pm., Dec. 17, 1922 — the most powerful single emotional climax during my nearly forty years of existence."