Do you know what I love almost as much as exploring cemeteries?
Exploring old houses & buildings!
This has a bit of a personal touch, since this house / barn / property used to belong to my aunt (Dad's sister) & uncle, some 40 or so years ago. It's even more personal to my sister, Laurie since he got her first horse here and spent a lot of time here with Aunt Carol & various cousins & Grandma who passed away so long ago, I don't remember her.
In fact, all that I remember of this house is the play room, which was in the sunroom. And fighting my cousins for the rocking horse. I'm sure I wasn't even in kindergarten then.
Anyhoo. The house is for sale by owner, so Laurie called and the couple selling graciously came over, unlocked everything and let us explore and share some stories. We even got to check out the house, altho it is condemned.
We didn't get to explore down here.
We don't know who Don is, but Jim is my Dad's name and that sure looks like his writing!
Where the sunroom used to be.
The outhouse that you can use with a couple friends!
The barn was in surprisingly good shape. The owners had done some work to it with the intent of opening an antique store. I didn't get any pics of the inside, because of that.
I thought this fallen tree was cool with everything cut off except for this branch.
I'm so glad we went at this time of year when it was warm & sunny, but the trees & vines haven't leafed out yet.
Here's how things look in color....
The blue & burgundy paint scheme was done by the woman who first bought the house from Aunt Carol & Uncle Rex. I'm sure it looked really nice, back then!
I love this!
The smaller picture is of Laurie and her horse, Nibbs.
She's standing in the exact same spot.
Coincidentally - the day we visited would have been Nibbs' 46th birthday.
This is the only pic I took inside, since I was using my phone as a flashlight.
I did remember these doors to the sunroom!
You could see where the original lathe & plaster had been on the walls & ceiling.
But it had been torn out, as well most of the walls (including load bearing!!)
It looked a lot bigger from the outside.
There was still a steep & narrow staircase to the second floor. I thought about going up them ~ for all of about 3 seconds. The stairs seemed solid, but I wasn't sure about that second floor!
I kind of wish I'd made a video of the doorbell! It still worked and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was in the middle of the back door and looked like a key from a wind up toy or something. And you turned the key to make as much or as little noise as you wanted.
Exploring old houses & buildings!
This has a bit of a personal touch, since this house / barn / property used to belong to my aunt (Dad's sister) & uncle, some 40 or so years ago. It's even more personal to my sister, Laurie since he got her first horse here and spent a lot of time here with Aunt Carol & various cousins & Grandma who passed away so long ago, I don't remember her.
Anyhoo. The house is for sale by owner, so Laurie called and the couple selling graciously came over, unlocked everything and let us explore and share some stories. We even got to check out the house, altho it is condemned.
We don't know who Don is, but Jim is my Dad's name and that sure looks like his writing!
The outhouse that you can use with a couple friends!
There was a large, surprisingly bright studio apartment up in the upper floor (up a long, narrow, steep, creepy set of stairs) and the main 'store' on the main floor.
There had been 6 stalls for the horses in the bottom level.
I thought this fallen tree was cool with everything cut off except for this branch.
I love my maple trees, but oaks are simply magnificent!
I'm so glad we went at this time of year when it was warm & sunny, but the trees & vines haven't leafed out yet.
Here's how things look in color....
I love this!
The smaller picture is of Laurie and her horse, Nibbs.
She's standing in the exact same spot.
Coincidentally - the day we visited would have been Nibbs' 46th birthday.
This is the only pic I took inside, since I was using my phone as a flashlight.
I did remember these doors to the sunroom!
But it had been torn out, as well most of the walls (including load bearing!!)
It looked a lot bigger from the outside.
There was still a steep & narrow staircase to the second floor. I thought about going up them ~ for all of about 3 seconds. The stairs seemed solid, but I wasn't sure about that second floor!
I kind of wish I'd made a video of the doorbell! It still worked and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was in the middle of the back door and looked like a key from a wind up toy or something. And you turned the key to make as much or as little noise as you wanted.
