Friday, February 23, 2007

Staying on the historical theme, here is something Mimmie wrote.

The Old Hinkley House on Whispell Road

The cottage in the vail, as Elwyn called it. When we moved in this house the window glass was all broken. Some of the window frames were missing. The cellar wall was down completely on one side. Porch on back was falling down, the flooring on porch was gone completely. Some boards was missing on front porch. The windows that where missing where covered with roofing paper. Plaster was off walls in many places upstairs and down. Wallpaper was falling off in living room and bedroom. All room where full of old newspapers and magazines and other junk. There was 2 ton of lime in the kitchen and some other farm implement which was very large. In the living room was a large broken piano and an old organ. For one whole day we burned newspapers and magazines. The first week we managed to remove the lime, old piano, organ and othe things. The door knobs where all gone and some of the doors where off. It wasn't possible to get any water from the well as the pump was off and some parts missing. No outhouse or toilet of any kind. After the first rain the roof leaked and the cellar filled with water all most to the floor. The first summer we fixed the cellar wall, porches, pump and built the outhouse. Tarred the roof and papered all the rooms downstairs. After we fixed the plaster, the walls that where on when we came all had to be washed several times as they where covered with many coats of kalsomine to which paper will not stick. In the fall we fixed one room upstairs. The following year we fixed the second room upstairs.

Buddy put on a new roof and put a new porch on front by the kitchen. Next he put the water inside. Finally we had it wired. The next thing Buddy did was put hot water in and a toilet. One of the improvements was a cellar drain which kept the water from coming up to the living room floor when it rains. The rooms have been painted and papered many times to make the place look livable. Buddy also fixed the walk to the kitchen as there was an old porch there when we came on which the flooring was so broken that it was dangerous to walk on.

The old place became very dear to us and I was very grieved to move out after Elwyn died. I moved November 28, 1977.

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