38 Acres
During those same years of struggling with JT's anger, maybe because of my unhappiness over the situation, I was also increasingly unhappy with our growing neighborhood. We built the house in 1968-69 and by 1976 another house was built further back in the woods behind us. Now that area wasn't as available for the boys to play in or run the Tri Rod on. I hadn't been happy with houses across from me or beside me, but having one behind me was too much. This country girl was feeling smothered. And, W felt the same way.
We had talked about someday building a log home. Now the talk was progressing to exploring the options. Then we found 38 acres that was perfect for us. This time we reasoned, no one could build too close. There were 14 acres of tillable land and the rest was all woods with a wild little creek that was fed by lots of natural springs. There was even a 2-3 acre wetlands in the back corner of the property.
We chose a site near the creek in a pine woods that had been planted by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp. or Roosevelts Tree Army) over 30 years earlier. The house would set on the side of a small hill overlooking the creek, allowing the garage to again be under the house. (Houses here are taxed partly by outside dimension. A garage underneath means more house and less taxes.) The tillable land was above the hill and beyond the pine woods, extending to the east border and wrapping around behine the cabins woods. Behind the tillable field was a woods of hardwood trees, with the wetlands in the far northwest corner. The property was deeper than it was wide and we owned on both sides of the creek, which also ran through woods.
We started to clear enough land for a log home in the fall of 1976. We picked our spot because it would require removing the least trees and give us a gently rising driveway. Our closest neighbor lived across the road and on the other side of the creek about a half mile away. It was the old couple who had owned the land for 3 generations. Though our piece of land had been sold years before, we didn't learn right away why. Ken W was also the local historian. He knew everything about the whole area and we never got much done when he stopped to talk. He was fascinating to listen to, even talking of Indian camp sites and arrowheads he'd found as a boy, and I learned a lot from him. He must have been in his 70's when we met him.
We hadn't taken time to explore our 38 acres because we had so much we wanted done before winter set in. When a friend of W's asked permission to hunt squirrel, W told him to go ahead. Just not to be shooting when we were there with the boys or dog. (That would be Nony who has his own story posted on Feb. 6, 06) After just one hunting session, this man told us our property was too wild to hunt on. His words are still fresh in my mind. "Daniel Boone couldn't get through the tangle of brush in that woods." He also told us he'd tried to wade up the "wild little stream" and there were stretches he couldn't even do that. No one had been on that property (except the 14 acres) since Ken W's Grandfather and father gave up trying to clear it. We learned later that there were so many natural springs feeding the stream, they were never able to clear more than the 14 acres that were tillable. That was why this parcel was seperated from Ken's farm and let go. All of this was perfect news for W and I. We owned 38 acres that would always be wild country. Set apart from the farmland around us.
Then winter set in and we used the time to contact log home companies. A company in Vermont was offering to let me draw up my own plans and we set up a meeting to visit them. It was our first vacation together. W and I left the boys with Grandparents and we went to New England to visit the Vermont company and one in New Hampshire. Both companies took us on tours, showing us their process, some of the finished homes, and they answered W's questions on how building a log home differed from the house we'd already built. I loved every minute of that trip. We chose a company that cut the tops and bottoms of the logs to leave 6 inch high logs with front and back peeled. They accepted my plans and the logs were ordered.
We had talked about someday building a log home. Now the talk was progressing to exploring the options. Then we found 38 acres that was perfect for us. This time we reasoned, no one could build too close. There were 14 acres of tillable land and the rest was all woods with a wild little creek that was fed by lots of natural springs. There was even a 2-3 acre wetlands in the back corner of the property.
We chose a site near the creek in a pine woods that had been planted by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp. or Roosevelts Tree Army) over 30 years earlier. The house would set on the side of a small hill overlooking the creek, allowing the garage to again be under the house. (Houses here are taxed partly by outside dimension. A garage underneath means more house and less taxes.) The tillable land was above the hill and beyond the pine woods, extending to the east border and wrapping around behine the cabins woods. Behind the tillable field was a woods of hardwood trees, with the wetlands in the far northwest corner. The property was deeper than it was wide and we owned on both sides of the creek, which also ran through woods.
We started to clear enough land for a log home in the fall of 1976. We picked our spot because it would require removing the least trees and give us a gently rising driveway. Our closest neighbor lived across the road and on the other side of the creek about a half mile away. It was the old couple who had owned the land for 3 generations. Though our piece of land had been sold years before, we didn't learn right away why. Ken W was also the local historian. He knew everything about the whole area and we never got much done when he stopped to talk. He was fascinating to listen to, even talking of Indian camp sites and arrowheads he'd found as a boy, and I learned a lot from him. He must have been in his 70's when we met him.
We hadn't taken time to explore our 38 acres because we had so much we wanted done before winter set in. When a friend of W's asked permission to hunt squirrel, W told him to go ahead. Just not to be shooting when we were there with the boys or dog. (That would be Nony who has his own story posted on Feb. 6, 06) After just one hunting session, this man told us our property was too wild to hunt on. His words are still fresh in my mind. "Daniel Boone couldn't get through the tangle of brush in that woods." He also told us he'd tried to wade up the "wild little stream" and there were stretches he couldn't even do that. No one had been on that property (except the 14 acres) since Ken W's Grandfather and father gave up trying to clear it. We learned later that there were so many natural springs feeding the stream, they were never able to clear more than the 14 acres that were tillable. That was why this parcel was seperated from Ken's farm and let go. All of this was perfect news for W and I. We owned 38 acres that would always be wild country. Set apart from the farmland around us.
Then winter set in and we used the time to contact log home companies. A company in Vermont was offering to let me draw up my own plans and we set up a meeting to visit them. It was our first vacation together. W and I left the boys with Grandparents and we went to New England to visit the Vermont company and one in New Hampshire. Both companies took us on tours, showing us their process, some of the finished homes, and they answered W's questions on how building a log home differed from the house we'd already built. I loved every minute of that trip. We chose a company that cut the tops and bottoms of the logs to leave 6 inch high logs with front and back peeled. They accepted my plans and the logs were ordered.
posted by LeeAnn | 9:19 AM
1 Comments:
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