When a house becomes a home
Earlier this week I learned that a local house had changed ownership Just a detail really except for one thing. I know this house, well. Constructed by my grand father during the First World War. At that point the house changed into a home. My father was born in an upstairs bedroom. My grand father died in the living room. And I lived there when I first started teaching so many years ago. I never contemplated owning this house although I would be curious to know what the current value is. The transfer did not involve a realtor, so I do not know. It was a well constructed house although the stairs were too steep for average people. Apparently the banister was carved by hand by my grand father. I did visit the house after I moved away and the next owners made several minor changes to the floor plan but the house remained solid. It still is. In fact there are two houses in PEI that were owned by my two sets of grandparents and, they’re both still in use. I cannot say the same thing for the homes of my great- grandparents. Nor do I have any idea if this will be said about my current home. My grandfather’s house probably remained due to the changes in heating technology, preventing it to be the victim of a fire. All of the barns are gone from my grandparents’ properties. No need for oversize structures when the cows have gone home. In the case of both homes, the lawn was well cared for and everything was carefully built with locally sourced wood.
