The old house that my parents bought when I was a teenager. It had holes in the roof and had set empty for 50 years before they purchased it.
It unfortunately burnt down in the 1980's but was located in Crawford County, Ohio. This house was great! I have many fond memories of playing and helping with the repair of this house. The repairs had been done and we were going to move in the following week when it burnt down.
-It had a cupola at the very top where you could see out all around.
-The top 3rd floor was entirely open and we were told that it was a "ball room". As kids, we had a lot of fun running away in the open space.
-History includes this house been a stopping point for the stage couch. And later the trolley went right across the road.
-Just down the road, there was supposed to be a place where people who were not staying the night could stop and water their horses.
-There was supposed to have been a hide tanning building that was supposed to have been powered by the nearby river. And evidence of that building was found, foundation stones, etc.
-On the upper floor, there was many bedrooms, and an inside restroom with a cistern that collected water from the roof.
-Out back, there was an outhouse with 3 seats inside. Two the seats were adult sized and there was a shorter, smaller seat for children.
- The barn out back was added later, and the auditor's office confirmed, that the barn was a "Sears barn". Back in the time, the store "Sears" actually sold barns! The barn is still standing but Dad moved the doors and windows, and made many repairs to the structure.
It unfortunately burnt down in the 1980's but was located in Crawford County, Ohio. This house was great! I have many fond memories of playing and helping with the repair of this house. The repairs had been done and we were going to move in the following week when it burnt down.
-It had a cupola at the very top where you could see out all around.
-The top 3rd floor was entirely open and we were told that it was a "ball room". As kids, we had a lot of fun running away in the open space.
-History includes this house been a stopping point for the stage couch. And later the trolley went right across the road.
-Just down the road, there was supposed to be a place where people who were not staying the night could stop and water their horses.
-There was supposed to have been a hide tanning building that was supposed to have been powered by the nearby river. And evidence of that building was found, foundation stones, etc.
-On the upper floor, there was many bedrooms, and an inside restroom with a cistern that collected water from the roof.
-Out back, there was an outhouse with 3 seats inside. Two the seats were adult sized and there was a shorter, smaller seat for children.
- The barn out back was added later, and the auditor's office confirmed, that the barn was a "Sears barn". Back in the time, the store "Sears" actually sold barns! The barn is still standing but Dad moved the doors and windows, and made many repairs to the structure.
There was "wings" on both sides of the house. Note the location of the front door. Just inside the door was a curved staircase. If you look to the right, you will see a "window" just before the side doorway area. The window was covered with shutters. The small "room" only included a space under the stairs. No door to actually enter the house. Hidden in the floor were boards that could be removed and there was a small space about 15x15" that you could slide down into the basement. Our family thought it may have been an underground railroad hide-out, but we have no proof that it was used for that.
The above section that has collapsed to the ground is what was left of the "summer kitchen"
This is me when I was young.
One of many fireplaces in the house.
This door was super tall, either 9 or 10 feet tall.
This house had two sets of stairs. This was the formal, fancy curved stairway just inside the front door. Wish I had a picture from the bottom of the stairs. The arch in the center of this picture was a cut out about half-way up the stairs that I believe they would have put a statue or something in. On the other side of the house were another set of stairs, we called the servant's stairs. They were not open, floored in on both sides. We used to run up the front stairs and race across the house, and race down the servant's stairs, and reverse. Oh, to have all that energy back again would be so great.
Below are two pictures that I found somewhere over a decade ago. I do not remember where these came from. If I ever find the source back, I love to give the site credit.