My sister used to live in a 100+ year old pioneer home. One day someone knocked on her door and handed her old photos of her home and told her stories about when their ancestors had lived there. Our home is not quite as old (built in 1938) as that house, but from the time we moved in until now I fantasized about the same thing happening to me. I think everyone who lives in an older home longs to know the history and the little stories of their house.
I received a Facebook Message on my blog page from a lady whose father who grew up in this house! She had these photos and some information for me. After living here almost 9 years, I finally got my story :)
Her grandfather had this house built by Chase Lumber. They would walk down the street a few blocks to pay Mr. Chase the monthly payment of $20. Can you imagine paying that much for a mortgage!
There were three sets of twins and two single births. Eight kids in all! The room that my all my boys share now was also the boy room back then. That made me smile. My office was the parent's bedroom.
You can see the coal shoot in this picture. It is now a window. The coal room is our down bathroom.
I love seeing the clothes they wore then as well. How cute are those sweet little kids?!
Her father is now 83 and lives relatively close. He would like to come and visit. I sure hope he does because I would love to hear more.
If you live in an older home, do you know its stories? I would love to hear your home's history!
My home was built in the 1940s, and the couple that built it are my neighbors on one side, and their daughter lives on the other side of us. The house has been remodeled since they lived in it, but it is fun to get to hear the history direct!
Oh man! That is so cool! I bet they are happy you are loving it and taking such good care of it.
Oh man, that is just the coolest!! I do hope he comes for a visit. It would be awesome to hear more details about the family and their memories of your cute house!
That is so cool! My home was built in 1913 and I would loooooove to know more about it.
The oldest home we lived in was on Chanute AFB. I would have loved to known the stories of the families that lived in our house before us. It think the housing was built in the 20's or 30's. Same with our house on Randolph, AFB.
I bet there are some very neat (possibly very sad) stories from those families!
Our house was built in 1908, and my grandparents bought in the 1930's. I have a list of the people who owned it prior to that, but no information about them. When we remodeled, we did find some hidden treasures from the very early years, like postcards and two old paintings. I hope the lady's father comes to visit you!
Oh that is so neat! We didn't find any treasures in walls or the attic and I was a little disappointed. I love that your home has been in the family for so long :)
This is neat, what a treasure! I always thought it would be neat to meet the person who built our home. The house isn't that old, built in 1965 but the land has history. Then one day this lady came to our gate and introduced herself, she was the daughter and grew up in our home her Dad had built. Prior they lived in a shot gun house on the property that was placed in one of our sheep pastures. She eventually moved back on some of the land nearby that was being sold off; our farms are now connected. Anyways to make a long story short its been really neat getting to know her and listening to stories. I hope you eventually get to meet the father, it's a wonderful thing to discover history.
I love that she is your neighbor! I hope he comes too. I would love to hear anything he has to say. Even little details would be fun :)
Although I've lived in it for only six years, my house was built in 1920's and I would love to have pictures and stories about it 'back when'. Apparently, one of the previous owners live not too far away, but they've never stopped by. I'd gladly welcome them if they did!
My neighbors have been in their house since 1976 and every now and then will share tidbits about the area. It's hard to believe the area can change so much.
A lot of our neighbors have been in the area for about that long too so they still refer to our house as the "Herbert" house. They have told us what it was like to live back in the 60's ad 70's here. In a way, I wish our town had not grown. Fingers crossed your previous owner stops by!!!
This is such a lovely story.....how fortunate that you can still speak with the original owner. Thanks for sharing the photos....what a treat.
I grew up in a beautiful cape cod in Indianapolis. My parents were only the second owners of the home. My current home is in NJ and last spring my family had occasion it go back to Indianapolis. My children were so excited to see where their mother grew up. We knocked on the door of my old home just to ask if we could take a few pictures of our family in front of it. To our delight, the new owner invited us in!! The feeling of being back in my old home with MY family actually made me cry. It was so fun telling the new young family the stories of growing up in their house and how things used to be. It was a visit I will cherish. The owner and I are now Facebook friends so I still get to see glimpses of my old home. They have done a beautiful job updating and caring for it. Hope you do get your visit! It is such a neat connection to share. So happy for that memory.
Oh I just love this! I love that your perspective is from the other side. What a beautiful story!
What a sweet story and photos. I never would have thought to contact someone who lived in one of the many places I've lived, but it's a nice idea. By chance, we had a coworker who lived in our house a long time ago, and the brother of a friend of mine also had lived there (alas, I can't meet him). No charming photos though. Just love those photos!! You did say that you both were drawn to your house by a special force. I think it was the special aura of previous inhabitants inviting you there.
I think you may be right :)
I live in a house that was built in the 1950's, I know it is not that old but it has a lot of history. I live on a mountain in Georgia, it is the elevation point in the county where I live. The mountain top was owned by a family and they used to farm the whole mountain top. They had children and slowly the land was developed into homesites. I bought my house from the grandson of the man that developed most of the property. My house used to be a small barn. Later it was renovated into a home and the Grandfather raised his family in our home. I bought the home as a fixer-upper. When we moved in there was a board on the wall that had markings of two of the children's height as they grew. As the years have passed, I have found out that an old wooden bridge in town was torn down and replaced with a concrete bridge. The wood from the bridge was used to build our home. The wood is very dense and hardened. While remodeling and renovating, we have discovered the wood was covered in a "creosote" to preserve the wood for the bridge. So the wood is almost like petrified and will dull a saw blade quickly. Recently we have been renovating our kitchen. When we tore a wall down to open up the kitchen and dining room, we discovered that the wall used to be the outside of the original structure. There was shiplap oak siding under the shingle type siding and all of this was under our sheetrock! It is amazing what you find while renovating an old home.
How wonderful to live in a home with such history. The old photos are so neat! Looks like happiness went on in that home and continues to be so! :)
That is wonderful that you received so much info and the pictures are priceless ! My own home is just about 200 years old and it's the house I grew up in . The original family who built it was The Brown family and a great grandson married my grandmothers sister . In the 40's my great uncle and his wife bought the home and my grandparents were married here on Christmas Day in 1942 . During renos of our house three years ago we uncovered some original beams and although we kept some , a few had to come out . Our carpenter made them into a giant cross and we donated it to the little church on our road . The same church that David Brown ( the original owner of our home ) also helped build ❤️. Many members of the Brown Family still live in the area , of course a few are my fathers cousins . During the dedication of the cross one of the great grandsons stoppped in to visit . He was 89 years old . Priceless .