So Much to do...What should we tackle first?

We decided the best place to start was on the barn that was attached to house. Restoring the barn and making it into a workshop for Clarke so he had a space to work on the rest of the place made perfect sense to us. So tackle the barn we must, but where do we begin? We needed to clean out the spot before we could assess what all needed to be done. We think that the barn was built somewhere in the late 20's but must have 100 years worth of junk in it. This was a daunting task!

With the help of family and friends we got the junk cleared out. We also found some wonderful treasures left behind by our ancestors, Letters, notes, initials, shoes,bottles gave us a glimpse into the past. On a lid of an old wooden box we found this note "Low set Black Cow Fred L bulled June 19, 47" I guess it was common to write on anything that was handy.

After the barn was empty and all the trees and shrubs were cut away we began to see the extent of the damage. It looked like the barn was made of scraps of wood and we wondered how it remained standing all these years. All the footing was rotten, in one place it was rotten half way up the wall. We began to fear that it wouldn't hold until we could restore it.


Clarke and Jordan (our son) began to reinforce the walls so that they could jack up the building to pour cement for the new footings. It was a slow process.



By October 2006 things were beginning to take shape. The building withstood being jacked and leveled. We lost our fear of the building falling over and the barn was beginning to look more like a workshop every day.

This is the same part of the barn by the beginning of November.

The wiring and insulation was completed by the end of November. The barn was illuminated for the first time. Clarke's mom, Ethel said how glad she was to look down at the barn and see the lights on.

So close but not finished yet! Oh my if it is taking this long just for the barn how many years is it going to take us to do the whole house!

Nancy

How We Ended Up With The Place

The Wilson Homestead has been in my husband's family for approximately 125 years. Over that period of time pieces have been added onto it. The newest addition being 10 years old. Clarke's Great Great Grandfather (John Turnbull Wilson) built the main part of the house around 1878 or1879. The house was then passed down to his son, Willard around 1903. Willard made the most changes to the house. He added a piece for a store and then attached a barn onto that. He changed the gables of the house and he added on the "big" kitchen. The Homestead was a growing concern at that time with an active farm, a country store, gas pumps, boarders, post office, lumbering business and an outfitting business for Atlantic Salmon Fishing. Willard was also known as the local vet. Willard passed the house and the businesses onto his son Murray (Clarke's Grandfather). Shortly after Willard's death the store and the gas pumps were closed. Murray continued farming, lumbering and with the outfitting business. Karl (Clarke's father) joined his father Murray in the outfitting business and the house was passed onto him. Clarke's grandmother lived in the house until about 1984. Karl died in 1983 leaving the house and the Outfitting business to his wife Ethel. Clarke's brother took over management of the Outfitting business for Clarke's Mom. After Clarke's Grandmother moved out of the house, the house was only used in the summer as a dining room for the fisherman and was closed up in the winters. Two years ago the fishing business moved out of the house to a new dining room. The house was closed up and left unheated for two years. We sadly watched the quick decline of the house. We felt we could not watch this house deteriorate into the ground and watch all the history go with it. We approached Clarke's mother and she agreed to sell it to us. And so our work began.....

To Blog Or Not To Blog...That Is The Question?

After following several blogs over the past few months, I decided we needed to take the blog plunge. If for no other reason than to be able to say....I have a blog! or Did you read my blog? or It's on the blog! Actually I think it is a wonderful way to share our experiences. It is such an easy way for friends and family to keep up with the happenings.

While reading other blogs I find myself thinking what I could say about what we are doing and how I have the increasing need to share our old house experiences as well. I have learned a lot from following other blogs and really enjoy reading them. What really suprises me is that I feel like I know them personally!

Ok so here it goes...I've dipped my toe....I am ready to jump in!

Nancy