While we were in Pennsylvania for Christmas, my mom was here to meet a previous resident of this house. Tina Owens is 40-something and lived in the house in the late 1970s as a young child. Her parents rented the house for a couple of years. Tina was ecstatic to see the house and got a bit teary-eyed describing how her parents used the various rooms.
With a winter visit, the warmth of the house was one of the key topics of discussion. Tina was impressed by how warm the house is now. My mom asked how they heated the house. She turned to the ceiling in the great room looking for the gas heater that had hung there.
“Oh, it’s gone. We didn’t use that, it was too expensive.”
Apparently some previous owner had installed a mammoth heater only to find out that it cost about $500 per month in 1970s dollars to heat the house. The top corner of a great room two stories high is not the most practical location for a heater if you want warmth at ground level. My parents never used the heater and removed it fairly early on in their time here.
Tina reported that the living room fireplace was their sole source of heat. Brrr. Most of that heat warmed the top of the chimney. Her father cut long logs to fit the massive firebox. She rolled them up to the front door and into the house when the fire needed to be stoked at the tender age of 7.
Tina also asked if we were living in the room with the ghost.
“Oh, you mean that room?” my mom asked pointing to what is now Sander’s office (formerly known as “The Red Bedroom”).
“No, that room.” She pointed to what is currently my bedroom.
“Oh?”
“Oh yes, my dad saw a woman ghost and followed her into that bedroom.”
“He followed her?”
“Oh yes, maybe she was the same woman who fell off the balcony and died years ago.”
??!!!
Oh Amanda, you are such a talented storyteller/writer!
I absolutely adore your site & blog. What a wonderfull house you have. I am absolutely jealous of the romantic history you are a part of!
Please feel free to invite us up sometime this spring/summer. :D
BLESSINGS! ~Melissa
Posted by: Melissa Hettick | February 16, 2006 at 12:38 PM