A Quiet Corner: formerly "Home in the Hollow"

As I mentioned earlier, in 2003, we bought a hand hewed log home built in the 1800's. It was located on 20 acres in "the hollow". In the living room (shown below), there was a river rock fireplace and even more interesting are names etched on the right wall (right under the goose). Shortly after we moved in, a neighbor of ours, came over and once he saw those names, he remarked, " I knew him, JP...he just passed away and he was close to 100!"

The floors on the lower level of the house were replaced long before we bought it. However, the bedroom on the second level still had the old wide plank flooring!

The "fella" I spoke of earlier also gave us a brief explanation of why the logs on the bottom layers are made from chestnut where the upper logs are from poplar. Chestnut is a much harder, sturdier wood to stand the test of time. And it had!

One day, while gardening, an elderly couple was driving by very slowly...first up the mountain's gravel road, then back down again...then up and then down. Finally, when they were on their way down, I asked if I could help them with something. The elderly gentleman driving pointed to the "Mrs" in the passenger seat and said, "she was born here". I invited them in. They couldn't believe how the original two story cabin had been expanded! I told them that the dining area, kitchen, first bathroom were added on in the 40's, along with the creation of the mudroom (scroll down) which simply took the place of the backdoor.

The master bedroom suite was added in 1998 so that was the "new end", which we tried to age with all the modern conveniences. Old is great! I've always thought that there is so much character to "old." For instance, in the hallway and in the master bathroom, I asked my husband to add beadboard along with chair-rail. I chose a very deep river green stain, putting it on sparingly in spots to give it that worn/weathered look, letting those sparsely covered areas picks up the honey maple stain of all the doorways.

Then I re-did the cabinets in the bathroom to change the newer, shellacked finished wood to something more reminiscent of Colonial days gone by.

That 1998 addition also includes a 2 car garage, a spare bedroom, an office and a family room.

Speaking of the family room, here it is. The double doors at the far end take you out onto the deck. The doorway on the left takes you out to the small porch which has become Moon and Copper's. I loved this house and felt blessed to be here...:)

This was the spare bedroom on the first floor, part of the addition put on in 1998. I put my mother's mahogany bedroom set in this room and I treasure it. It is the only thing I have of my mother's. The stone wall is the back of the river rock fireplace located in the living room! Cool, huh? And, as you can see, the room is spacious enough to have a small table so if guests choose to have their coffee in their room, they can.

Here's the 2nd story bedroom located in the original cabin. Can you imagine the stories this room could tell? I found this old metal bed frame at a place called "Mr Happy's" (sort of a giant tag sale). What we didn't realize is that the darn frame is so small it only holds a full size mattress and who knew that beds back then couldn't accommodate a box spring?!? Apparently the mattress is supposed to sit directly on the frame. I wasn't having that! But, using both the mattress and the box spring meant...

you either have to have really long legs or use the little step stool to get in and out. The mattress is so high that when you swing your legs over the side of the bed, you get a running start across the floor...LOL!

As you see, the 2nd story still had the wide plank flooring which I loved. This area had so much character and it made a great sitting room when you want to curl up on the loveseat to read or to address cards at the desk and gaze out the window when the snow is falling and daydream!

This is the loft above that 2nd story bedroom. The grand kids liked to sleep up here when they come to visit so I decided to give it a try. It's AWESOME! You can't hear anything up here and it's nice and dark. Sometimes I would take an afternoon siesta up here or just bring up my book to chillax! It's like having your only little retreat without traveling!

This was the first bathroom that was added on to the house. We think that happened in the mid-forties. Until then, they used the outhouse located over the creek. Although small, it had room enough for all the necessities. I wish I was blogging when the Pres replaced the shower. What a nightmare that was!!

Here is the illustrious mudroom. To the left is the washer/dryer; to the right is a small boot bench. We had three cupboards made to fit in this room and then found some old hickory cabinets for $50.00 that we hung above the washer/dryer and use for storage.

On our 20 acres, we have 3 creeks that are fed by mountain springs. Our house was gravity fed by mountain springs that went into a holding tank, which was then purified until last year when we put in a well. So, as you can see and imagine, this place has so much history that one of my things on my bucket list is to research it with the help of the Historical Society. But, that's another story. A story told to us by people who used to live here. He was in his eighties this year (2011) and lived here as a boy.

He spoke of:

moonshine and hillsides planted with corn;

cows that grazed the mountainsides;

a bench located near the front creek where the women were courted as the smell of wild climbing roses surrounded them;

the first bathroom added on in the mid forties;

the neighbors;

the names etched on the living room wall;

and of working the land.

Then, much to our surprise, one Saturday (as the For Sale sats in front of the Home in the Hollow) four gentleman stopped to visit. They were from Massachusetts...a Bluegrass Band called Acoustic Blue . Larry had bought this house in 1991 and lived here for one year before returning to Massachusetts. When he sold the house to Bill (who had the addition put on after he and his wife discovered they were expecting twins) he sold it "furniture and all." Now when we moved in, we found a dresser in the attic. It belonged to Larry!


Larry's Dresser 1991

As we make our plans to return to Connecticut, the Home in the Hollow will live on, continuing to evolve, just as it as for over one hundred and fifty years.

Although we were just a small part of it's life, we loved it. It was good to us.

We thank God for the chance to have had it in our lives.

On June 26th, 2012, we sold the Home in the Hollow...

but the legacy lives on!