A Haven for Vee

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Lil's House


The strangest thing happened to me as I was browsing through Country Living's Living Room Gallery last night. Up popped this picture, which tossed me back to the late 50s and early 60s when my great-grandmother's cousin was still living in the shabby home of her childhood directly across the street from my great-grandmother's home. (I've written about my great-grandmother's home ages ago *here.*  ) This is enough of a likeness to remind me of Lil's Federally styled home and those quaint rooms all filled with treasures from the Victorian era. Even the walls and ceilings looked much this way as the house fell into disrepair.

Lil was bedridden at the time and probably well into her 90s. My great-grandmother, in her 80s herself, was Lil's caregiver taking her three square meals a day and probably doing light cleaning and perhaps personal care as well.

We visited Lil whenever we were in town. She had treats on a table beside her bed for such occasions...shortbread cookies with marshmallow toppings covered in coconut. It was like having tea using someone's bed as the dining table.

Lil had married, but never had any children. Now I find myself wondering if having all my great-grandmother's grands and great-grands about ever tried her patience. I don't think so. She had many stories to tell and I remember her telling one about her father who traded rifles with the Indians. In the winter when it was cold, he allowed them to sleep in the house. Lil found it delightful to tiptoe around sleeping Indians to get through the parlor to the dining room for breakfast. Now I find myself wondering what Lil's father was getting in return for the rifles.

The front door to Lil's house was a Palladian style window with either one or two side windows along the door. The front hall was small with a curving staircase to the left. On either side of the front hall were parlors. The one on the right was used for Lil's bedroom in the years that I knew her. Directly behind the parlors were the dining room on the left connecting with the parlor on that side and the old-fashioned kitchen on the right. Behind the kitchen was the shed, which connected to the barn beyond and behind and all around the back of the house were apple orchards.

Those apple orchards were wonderful places to play Hide n' Seek with all of us cousins running wild through the evening shrieking and having great fun. I wonder what Lil thought of all that. I hope that we weren't too loud.

The house was literally falling down around Lil. It was sad even for a young child to see for I certainly did understand that it wasn't good. Eventually Lil passed away and the house sat there looking forlorn for years. What my parents didn't know was that I was a regular visitor there. I used to slip in through the back shed door and wander about through those rooms even going upstairs where I had been strictly forbidden to go. I remember that there was a bedroom with a hole in the floor where I could look right down to the room below. In that bedroom were old books strewn about. I vaguely remember some hymnbooks that my mother gathered up once. There was also an old trunk filled with ancient clothes.

Oh yes, I've had an interesting wander down Memory Lane...

Edited to Add 8/26/2010: Answers to some questions have been given in comments...look for Vee. :D

33 comments:

  1. Vee, what a story! I'm waiting to hear more! Your account is saturated with visual details and I was walking through Lil's house with you! No wonder you have such a love of beautiful keepsakes. What became of all her things? Does the house still stand? What memories, even for you, exploring the place on your own! I would have done the same.

    Hope there'll be another chapter to this post! Thank you!

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  2. Vee,

    Lil's house sounds mighty wonderful through your recanting. We just spent two days rambling through rural countryside wondering over all the abandoned houses. I love old houses and my dream is to restore one and live in it. Every time I see one run down or neglected I start to make it over in my mind. You think my mansion in heaven will be a reno? Have a sweet day!

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  3. What a lovely, lovely walk down Memory Lane. Thank you for letting us tag along with you.

    Mmmmm, have you written all this down, somewhere in pen and ink, for future generations? I think it sounds like one of those memories, which it would be simply awful to lose. Do you perhaps have a book of your Mother's memories, and/or of Nan's memories, to which you could add it?

    Or better yet, start one of your own! You're young, and still willing to share. Methinks I remember that some older folks, lost their desire to share memories. Sad... [Haven't you asked in your own family, for memories, and not been rewarded?]

    Oh and I am sooooooo *jealous* of your memories of such a once grand house. I only have memories of very simply abodes, of my Great Aunts...

    Gentle hugs...

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  4. Please, get to writing, Dear One.

    What a fun project.

    And add pictures, like you used on this lovely post... For illustration. :-)

    Gentle hugs...

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  5. Vee, I think you should write a book! You have so many interesting stories to tell and I love the way you write. I feel like I was looking through that hole in the floor!
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  6. What? You disobeyed your parents and went into the house? Oh Vee.
    lol Kind of like your own clubhouse.

    A very wonderful stroll down memory lane.

    The cookies at the bedside made me think of Warren's Grandmother who loved to have visitors. We were always treated to root beer floats or crackers and cheese. She would not have dreamed of not offering us some treat.

    Becky K.

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  7. It's so nice to know that I've learned there is someone else fascinated by the stories of yester-year and those homes with so much history. I've always been fascinated by older homes which, to me, seems so unusual since my father was a building contractor and built some of the most beautiful homes in our town. I love the picture you posted.

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  8. Vee,

    What wonderful story! I have spent some time reading your blog and I am wondering if you are in Maine too?

    Have a great weekend.

    Carol

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  9. i loved this great grandmother story so much!
    what a treasure grandparents are. to think
    you sneaked back in after she passed on.

    the victorian era was so redolent with
    nostalgia. it must have been such fun to
    look through her collectibles.

    oh, and rifles to the indians! wonder what
    he did get in return.

    love,
    lea

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  10. HI Vee,
    I loved your post! Isn't it funny how a photo or smell can just drum up so many memories. The living room in Country Living is beautiful and so comfy looking..very charming!
    Have a sweet day, big hugs~Elizabeth

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  11. Sounds like an amazing old house. I'm sure Lil loved having you all there!
    What a great place to roam around in when you you were a kid! Great memories!

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  12. Vee, I do love your stories. A house like that would have been irresistible to me, too. Such scope for imagination, as Anne of Green Gables would say.
    Thanks for your thoughts for me regarding the wedding. Just 10 more days. Things are falling nicely into place.

    But I'm curious. What DID happen to the house?

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  13. Great memories! You painted such a good picture...I can almost 'smell' the old house. So whatever became of it?

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  14. I agree with what has been said already. Your story-telling has me walking through the house with you. Funny how something like a magazine picture can evoke a memory.

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  15. Oh my! What a wonderful time that house must have seen! And how fun (albeit dangerous!) an adventure for you to sneak in by yourself. How very sad that these old gems are forgotten about. Save those precious memories..

    PS - I think you SHOULD write a book, just like all the others have said :-)

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  16. That was a most interesting walk down memory lane. Lil's house sounds like a fascinating place. I would have been very intrigued by that hole in the floor as a child.

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  17. Well, heck...another great post and I have to go to work! I'll be back to read about your great-grandmother's house when I have more time. Have a great day! Cheryl

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  18. I love thinking back to my grandmother's house....and all of the treasures in each room! I love walking memory lane with you! ♥

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  19. What a wonderful piece you've written about those memories. I can picture myself standing in the room. My neighbors home has the Palladium window over the door and the double sidelights.

    Let me ask you, did the parlors have pocket doors? Don't you wish you had some of the old clothing? All the little old ladies I knew had treats for the children.

    Thanks Vee, this is a very special piece of writing. Comes from the heart as well as the mind.

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  20. What a beautiful story Vee, I savored every word, You must finish that book, that you started. You are so gifted in expressing your thoughts in written form. Lil's home sounds like one that I would so enjoy visiting.Enjoyed this memory with you.

    I read your post from yesterday, and it brought back a memory of our daughter being bullied by a boy, and her dad told her almost the same thing, needless to say the boy brought lots of toys for her to play with. lol
    Hope you are continuing to get better.
    Hugs,
    Sue

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  21. Great story Vee and Nice to meet you!
    Thank goodness we have a memory Lane to waltz down now and then!!!
    Had fun here will be back often.
    Stop over anytime...love to have you too!
    xoxo~kathy @
    Sweet Up-North Mornings...

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  22. Oh Vee

    What a great story, I felt as if I were reading a novel. I want the story to continue...

    Missed visiting with you this week. Hope all is well.
    Leann

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  23. Such wonderful memories of happy childhood times. How vividly you have remembered it, and I can just pictures this little girl exploring. WOuldn't you love to have all those Victorian treasures now?!

    Thank you for sharing this trip down memory lane. I enjoyed the details so very much!

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  24. You have a wonderful writing style, Vee. This was a wonderful post and I could just picture you walking through the house and looking through the hole in the floor!

    I often have the same dream that I've had many times about a very large house I live in that has so many rooms that I haven't seen them all! Have no idea what that means. :)

    When I was young, I used to explore an abandoned house that was on some land across from my parent's farm. It was so much fun to imagine what it must have looked like in its heyday. And, you might guess, I wasn't supposed to be there either! I probably could have fallen through some loose boards or something. But what fun it was!

    Hope to read more of your walks down memory lane.

    Have a good Thursday!
    Cheryl

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  25. what an amazing time down memory lane. .and it started with a quiet look through country living. .I love it.

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  26. Hi~

    So often I've been asked a question and I seldom get back to answer. When someone asks a question, I believe it's from genuine interest and there's nothing much nicer than genuine interest. So I confess that I have been beyond rude and am hoping to remedy the situation a bit right here in comments.

    Let's start with the first one up from Gwen

    Whatever happened to Lil's old house? Well, it is a pretty sad story. It was taken over by the town for back payment of taxes. No one in the family could see the value of paying off the years of accumulated taxes and my great-grandmother certainly couldn't have afforded it so that was its end. The town tore down the house and put up a fire station.

    I vaguely recall the story about an unscrupulous antiques dealer who came in and haggled for some things, including my great-grandmother's coin collection at face value! There were gold and silver coins that her grandfather had given her from the 1820s and 1830s. She was a simple woman and all she knew was that she couldn't use them to buy her groceries at the IGA. She never thought that any of her cousin Lil's things had value. Of course, you and I know much different.

    Miss Sandy asks a rhetorical question about her mansion in heaven...Will it be a reno?

    Miss Sandy, so many of us have simple desires that I'm sure that there will be renos and cottages in heaven, along with cats and dogs and lions and lambs.

    Aunt Amelia asks about a memory book...

    No, Aunt Amelia, I keep no memory books except for this blog. It is my opus magnus. :D I crack myself up here.

    Becky says, "What? You disobeyed your parents?!" All the time, Becky, all the time. I was quite a naughty little girl who never had trouble believing that I needed a Savior. Truly. At a very early age, I knew that I was going straight to hell without some serious intervention.

    Carol asks, "Are you in Maine, too?" Carol, I used to hold onto the illusion that no one knew who I am or where I am. I really liked that illusion. Sadly for my little illusion, all one has to do is look around here and see that I am a daughter of Maine.

    Suzanne wonders if the parlors had pocket doors. No, I don't believe that they did, though I couldn't say for certain with this fading memory of mine. I believe that the parlor and dining room were separated by a heavy drapery, but the door leading from Lil's room to that side of the dining room was a regular door.

    That's another thing that cleared up in my thinking...both doors exiting to the rear from the front parlors took a person to the dining room. The kitchen was behind the right front parlor, but one entered it through a door on the right side of the dining room...

    Now, what other burning questions have I avoided?

    Oh! I almost forgot to say that I remembered what Lil's father was trading rifles for — furs. He gathered them up and sent them to Boston for the making of coats and hats, etc.

    Thanks so much for all the nice words and most especially for your interest!

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  27. Thank you for walking us down this memory lane with you, Vee.

    I do hope you consider turning your blog into books for future generations.

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  28. Really enjoying the details in this post. Lovely reminiscing.
    And thank you, so much, for your kind words of wisdom and understanding as we sent our new college student off this week. It's comforting to know that others understand and have been there! Consider yourself hugged!

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  29. What a sweet story. I love listening to my husband's 99 year old grandmother tell stories about her past. I love looking through her old things when she needs me to clean out something. The history of it all is so amazing!

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  30. I loved this. Thanks for sharing your memories with us. (I remember the big old Victorian houses that were Downtown in the town I grew up in. Sadly, they are all gone now.)

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  31. PS: Glad you are feeling some better!

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  32. What a great story Vee. When we are young we don't realize how much of an up keep a home is, or at least I never did. I wish someone could bring Lil's house back to life. Don't you just wish you could go back today and take another look at the fine books she must have had. The living room you posted is just lovely. Sigh.... A place I would diffinately love to live. You were quite a brave little girl to go into an empty house like that :>)

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  33. Fascinating and I do remember the post you did.

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