During recent interviews with Leslie Mann for Country Sampler
and Juday Condon, I was ask about my childhood home.
They both questioned me as to the type of house I grew up in.
Well, I spent most of my childhood living in a Salt Box style home.
Thing is it was never appreciated for it's beauty.
We had no idea the homes style even had a name, nor did we care .
It was the old house in the neighborhood.
An area that was once thrived.
Everything you needed within a block or two.
Grocery stores, dry cleaners, plant nursery, auto parts, furniture stores,
schools ,candy and ice cream manufactures, beauty salons ....
I could go on.
Homes and apartments everywhere, filled with my friends.
Yesterday, I along with my parents took a drive to the old neighborhood,
I wanted to take a picture of our old house.
Oh, so many memories
Built in 1875 this is how the home looks today.
It's one of the last homes still standing.All the businesses long gone, schools closed.
It made me so sad, to see how everything had changed.
My family lived in the house from the late 60's through the early 90's.
When we lived in the home, it sill had it's original slate roof,
and the old fashioned shake style siding.
My Dad tells me there are logs under that siding,
and I don't doubt it.
There was no attic and it had a stone foundation and the basement
floors were dirt.
You enter the basement through a trap door in the kitchen floor.
I remember as a child always trying to avoid the area for fear that
trap door might cave in.
There was no furnace, only three small free standing gas heaters.
Only about two feet of counter space, how my Mother made do
for all those years I'll never know.
One small bathroom, just big enough for the necessities.
Now that I'm aware of what a treasure the house is I wish I could rescue it...
move it to a final resting place,restore it to it's original glory,
before it too becomes a causality of changing times.
There's No Place Like Home....
even when it's no longer yours!
That made me cry. I always think about the swings grandpa made in the backyard, they were the best swings ever!
ReplyDeleteI have tears in my eyes, we didn't live in a saltbox but a ranch, early 60's! My dad built it plus his brothers helped, I went back once and stood and cried, I never went back again... to hard!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post today!
Rondell
It is sad so many old homes are going to be lost. I grew up in a home with a stone foundation - but not nearly as old as that one. It's too bad it takes so much money time and expertise to rescue them!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story about your childhood home. I spent 18 years in a beautiful old farmhouse and oh how I miss it still... Ahhhh memories.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever head my way (south)... you have to go to the Seraph! It's just west off 71. Very easy to find. You would absolutely LOVE it there. It's a beautiful store. I'll meet you there!
Being a native of New England I appreciate just how amazing a piece of architecture a salt-house design is. That's a lovely house...
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean though about the place you were raised having changed so much and the sadness surrounding that.
I come from a small town in the lakes region of New Hampshire that was once the ultimate example of a quintessential New England town..tree lined streets, a common in the center of town, children laughing in freedom of movement beyong their front steps,curious older women peeking out from behind lace covered, multi-paned windows..
Then the houses on main street were bought and torn down one by one to make way for a boat and RV superstore/marina.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience and reflecting on the changes in our lifetimes! :)
Such a beautiful story, thank you for sharing with us. My childhood house was an old house a little old Italian couple built. Everything was a little lower than normal, doorways, counters, windows. And we had a trap door in the dining area of our house that went into the dug-out basement.
ReplyDeleteI remember wanting to live in town instead of in the country and now all I want is to live in that little area with the fruit trees and the creek. Sigh.