the beginning
this is the beginning. i have recently moved back into my father's house. ah, but this is a good thing for many reasons one being a necessity for each other. my dad is super cool and so is his house. he grew up in it, i grew up in it and now my daughter will grow up in it. but i digress, i shall start from the very beginning...
sometime around 1939 my grandparents, peter and mary petrillo, purchased our house and 40 some acres for a mere $6k I am told (or round about - I get conflicting amounts from different relatives) none the less - the amount is mind boggling in terms of today's $4 a gallon of gas prices.
at that time the house had no inside plumbing outside of a well pump in the kitchen and i am half sure it had no electric. my grandparents were currently living in the city of newburgh and decided to move to the country, i believe that my grandfather wanted to start a farm. they also owned a restaurant in the city which i want to say they supplied with the bounty from the farm but i am not a 100% on that. i believe that the house was vacant before they moved here and had to install plumbing (the only running water in the house was a well pump in the kitchen) and electric. my dad remembers running outside in the night to use the outhouse and i actually remember the outhouse in the back yard. they didn't knock it down! weird.
anyway that's how the house came to be petrillo's farm but even further back - the house was originally built as an inn and was called Maple Lawn. there is a rock in the front yard that on it is inscribed the names of the builders of the house along with the year 1847.
i have pictures of some of these things, like the original postcard for the inn, and the inscription on the rock that i'll post later.
my family and i have embarked upon renovating some of the house - it's been up to date on a lot of things but some hasn't so we're working on it piece by piece and finding interesting things along the way! this being my first post i will leave it at that until i can get the photos uploaded. until then Ciao!
sometime around 1939 my grandparents, peter and mary petrillo, purchased our house and 40 some acres for a mere $6k I am told (or round about - I get conflicting amounts from different relatives) none the less - the amount is mind boggling in terms of today's $4 a gallon of gas prices.
at that time the house had no inside plumbing outside of a well pump in the kitchen and i am half sure it had no electric. my grandparents were currently living in the city of newburgh and decided to move to the country, i believe that my grandfather wanted to start a farm. they also owned a restaurant in the city which i want to say they supplied with the bounty from the farm but i am not a 100% on that. i believe that the house was vacant before they moved here and had to install plumbing (the only running water in the house was a well pump in the kitchen) and electric. my dad remembers running outside in the night to use the outhouse and i actually remember the outhouse in the back yard. they didn't knock it down! weird.
anyway that's how the house came to be petrillo's farm but even further back - the house was originally built as an inn and was called Maple Lawn. there is a rock in the front yard that on it is inscribed the names of the builders of the house along with the year 1847.
i have pictures of some of these things, like the original postcard for the inn, and the inscription on the rock that i'll post later.
my family and i have embarked upon renovating some of the house - it's been up to date on a lot of things but some hasn't so we're working on it piece by piece and finding interesting things along the way! this being my first post i will leave it at that until i can get the photos uploaded. until then Ciao!
posted by kp at
12:22 PM
1 Comments:
Dude, it is so freaking cool that your renovating the old family homestead. That is a dream project of mine. I actually helped my Mom renovate the house she grew up in and now lives in in the Village of Montgomery but I never did document it. Wish I did after reading your posts and seeing your pics. Good luck. Such an awesome project to take on. Please let me know if you ever need an extra pair of hands. I love DIY.
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