WELLSBORO, PA:  The sizzle-crack of cinders grinding under bike tires rolls my mind back to a childhood of riding winding cinder roads in Delaware Park in Buffalo. That same sound is ready to be released by the cinders of Pennsylvania’s Pine Creek Rail Trail, a public treasure about an hour from Wellsville. You can bike, walk, ride a covered wagon, post on your horse or wait for winter to cross country. It’s well designed and maintained and it’s free.

                Rick and I have carted our bikes to Pine Creek on several occasions to ride the popular trail. We drive over Route 6 in Pennsylvania to access the trail. Route 6 was once a destination itself and, while during the last 2 years many businesses have disappeared, there are a few interesting places along the road. If you like watching kids feed deer or “mine for gems” or if you enjoy an afternoon of antiquing, Route 6 is still worth a drive. On warmer Saturdays, there’s a large flea market with a Mennonite bake stand that generally catches Rick’s eye.

                Just after turning south from Route 6 onto Route 362 (the road to Wellsboro), you’ll see the Darling Run Access Area. While the parking areas seem large, they are often nearly full on weekend afternoons. It’s a nice staging area with composting toilets and some shady parking spots.

                The rules of the area are posted. From Darling Run to Tiadaghton Campground, horses are welcome on the gravel road while bikes are given the cinder path. Horses tend to put the odd obstacle in the way of bikers so it’s lovely that there are 2 paths following Pine Creek on the century old rail bed.

                Other than that, one might sum up the rules as, be nice. No drinking.  Ride single file on the right but listen out for people calling “On your left” when they want to pass you.

                The herds of teenagers we saw needed no additional warning sounds to announce their arrival. We knew they were behind us the way we know to watch a gaggle of geese ski onto the creek.  

                We rode a total of 25 miles from Darling Creek past Tiadaghton and back last Thursday afternoon, passing about 107 distinct riders, mostly couples. Sometimes we passed people heading north while we were going south and then found them again when we both returned so we tried not to double count people. Often it’s easy to remember outfits (a couple in black shorts, yellow shirts and orange helmets or a multi-generational Mennonite family) or bikes but some people may have been counted twice. 

                That same day we saw 9 walkers, most with dogs, and passed both the morning and afternoon covered wagon ride.

                This week we went again but arrived late on a Tuesday and rode only a few miles after setting up our camp. There were a few bikers and some afternoon picnickers with kids playing in the water but they all left by dusk when the bullfrogs began their ruckus.

                We shared the Tiadaghton Campsite with 2 other tent parties. Both of them camped with what they carried on bikes while we had arrived by car. Cars are not allowed to park in the forest overnight so had to drive to a public road. Saying that we parked on a road may cause an elevated image of what is available. It was a steep, pitted, gravel path suitable for people who tent camp. The road, chiseled out of a hill, was made with no thought of future paving, Glamping or RV travel.  

                In the morning, we started riding south, passing nobody for half an hour. The sun skipped on the creek where deer waded but the shady trail stayed pleasantly cool. We steered around the huge Narceus americanus centipedes struggling across the path and stopped to photograph a rattlesnake as it glided and sidled in the weeds.

                We rode, rested, ate, drank and watched as we covered about 16 miles before finding the wisdom to head back. On that ride we saw about 115 bike riders, several in groups of 8 or more. Serious bikers sped, Amish families laughed, groups of teens raced, fishermen and campers trundled their kits but only 2 walkers were out.

                Some bike riders rented rooms or cabins or camped in RVs. One couple hadn’t ridden the trail for 15 years and remarked that more of the rail bed had been developed so that it is now 63 miles long instead of just a short ride. They also said that shade trees had grown nicely and that the businesses along the way are new.  

               One of those businesses is Ole Covered Wagon Tours that offers both waterfall rides and covered wagon rides.  We found some interesting little stores. At Blackwell the main draw may be ice cream. Their weekend was so busy that they were still out of some favorite flavors but they had other snacks and offered house, cabin, room and inner tube rentals near the hotel. They also sold water, campfire wood and hand woven work.

                Further south at the Cedar Run Access Area are other accommodations including a bed and breakfast, a hotel, restaurants and a charming store with ice cream, drinks, lunches and the most unusual round ice box just inside the front door. A sign stated that public restrooms were 3 miles away on the trail but their shady porch and bike racks could be used.

                Signs for rafting businesses and accommodations are sprinkled along the trail as are signs regarding private property. Even though much of the surrounding land is private, Pine Creek Rail Trail is a wonderfully manicured area open to anyone.

NOTES:      Pennsylvania State Forests campsites are free but require permits from the appropriate office. Explore the website for details. Camp areas have tables and food poles (for hanging food bags off the ground). These tent-only camp grounds are smooth, flat, nicely-mowed fields.  There are water pumps where a minute of vigorous work will reward with a few minutes of water flow but the water is not tested and not deemed potable. There are composting toilets with hand sanitizer. Areas are carry in/carry out with no trash receptacles.

                Bugs may be wildly numerous and active while cell phone service is nil. A GPS bike map app will work. There is no electricity, no lights. After noon the trail is sunny and warm. If you park at Darling Run and ride south, the closest place to buy food or water will be 16 miles south (slightly downhill) in Blackwell.

                http://www.visittiogapa.com/railtrailmap.pdf  or search www.visitpa.com

ice box  - The ice goes in the top segment.

Model Town Reflects Childhood

WELLSVILLE: Sometimes people can’t wait to retire. Their bucket list gets out of control. Sometimes people amble around for a while, looking for a focus, something to dedicate their days to and sometimes, if that retired person is married their spouse comes home with an idea that clicks them into a joint project.

                Diane Fosberg was shopping for Christmas gifts a few years ago when she saw a model train set for sale in a mall. Her husband Alan had grown up in a house near the train depot in Knoxville PA and liked trains and, since he was newly retired, he needed a hobby.

                Diane noticed that the price was reduced by 20% but she brushed the idea away since Alan hadn’t ever talked about having a model train. While she shopped, workers changed the sign so that when she passed the train again it 50% off.  Well, maybe this was worth another thought. She considered the train for its hobby-potential, scooped it up and started what turned into a decade of tinkering in her basement.

                That house that Alan grew up in was the center of play in Knoxville. Twice a day trains would come through and the kids would and could climb up into the engine to say hello and check out the view. If the train was late, the station agent would call to the next town and ask why and the answer would be, “Tell the kids we’ll be along in another half hour.”

                Bothering the station agent, seeing the trains, climbing on them and checking things out were all mainstays of life for a kid in 1950s Knoxville PA when the Wellsville – Addison – Galeton line chugged and pulled through the area.

                When the model train was presented to him, Alan proposed to recreate the entire WAG train line but that would have meant taking over the basement and even wending the tracks around the stairs, an idea not warmly embraced. Eventually the plan became to recreate Alan’s hometown so for 10 years that’s what’s been growing in the Fosberg basement.

                The Fosbergs took many photos of the town as it was when they started their plan. They also called people asking for details such as house colors in the 50s. They map the town out on a grid of roads made of tarpaper.

                They started with building kits but decided early on that kits wouldn’t do. They wanted the model to reflect the houses that all the kids rode past on their bikes. They wanted the actual shape of the old post office and bank and even the greenhouse so they used photos they took or found, sketched the houses on graph paper, made cardboard patterns, checked that they looked right and constructed the houses using materials they purchased from Judy Cornelius at the Dyke Street Depot in Wellsville.

                The 50s era fire truck was a challenge. It started out as a match box car but was cut and restructured over a period of 3 weeks to be transformed into the shiny red vehicle parked outside the model fire hall.

                In 1950, the town had 70 structures but 18 no longer stand and others have additions or are different colors. In the 50s there were 900 people but now the population is 600. The old bank became an ice cream store and the old Post Office burned. From time to time someone gives a try at running a restaurant but the gas stations and grocery stores are long gone. The town does have a bank, a Post Office and an Agway.

                The model is a day in May with the elder Mrs. Fosberg hanging wash on the line, a pile of kids’ bikes on the lawn, someone working in the greenhouse, kids running out of the school and a woman talking in the old phone booth. The baseball field is ready for the Knoxville Merchants to play against another town team and, sitting in his office/home, is the town constable waiting for anyone to call with a problem.

                In the belief that the project is finished and it’s time to move, the Fosbergs are donating the entire development to the Knoxville Library where it will be on permanent display. This will make it easier for residents and visitors to Knoxville to stroll the tiny streets and visit their own memories from the 50s.

                               

Mother's Day in Scio NY

SCIO: As a child it always seemed to me that the best reason for my new Easter outfit was to ensure I’d be well-dressed on Mother's Day because Mother’s Day meant Grandma Anna Day – a drive out of the city to bring flowers and hand-drawn cards to the silver-haired, smiling, bundle of love at the center of our family.

Mother’s Day holds many such personalized meanings, meanings with an almost unimaginable range of activities and emotions since it is celebrated through much of the world. In Panama, Mother’s Day is on December 8 and also honors the Virgin Mary while in Thailand it is in August, on the birthday of Queen Sirikit who has reigned as long as Queen Elizabeth.

In Britain, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, families travel to their main cathedral for family reunions on Mothering Sunday.

Mother’s Day impact on the economy is huge. The average American spent $162.94 on Mother’s Day gifts in 2013.

A group of local crafts people and artisans would like you to know that you can spend less on a one-of-a-kind gift, carefully made by hand in Allegany County, much of it made with mothers in mind, by mothers.

On May 2, 3 and 9, from 9-4 at 4402 River Street near the traffic light in Scio (The old Mr. Frosty’s) four local studios will offer their work.

While some see wool as a winter only fabric, many know that quality wool is for year-round wear. Kellogg's Alpacas will have lightweight scarves, nuno felted scarves, fingerless gloves, felted flowers and hats, as well as flowery headbands for moms. 

For kids they’ve made teddy bears, crocheted animals, lightweight booties and spring hats. Work is made with hand dyed yarns and their natural colors. Some yarns are blended with silk; some with bamboo. They also offer soft woven rugs and rug yarn to make your own.

            American Heritage Artisans will have Infinity Scarves for mom as well as new items, Ruanas and Cocoon Wraps. These items are great for cool spring and summer weather and easily dress outfits up or down.

They will also have a great assortment of cutting boards, prints mounted in hand-crafted picture frames, home décor items such as mirrors with storage drawers and what-not shelves and gorgeous gardening baskets.  All of the home items, including a bench that was once a crib,  are upcycled wood, hand-crafted in Scio.

            Feel free to come hungry because the Torrey Family Jams and Bakery will be ready for you with homemade jams and jellies along with an assortment of mouth-watering baked goods. Come early because baked goods sell out quickly.

            Need a Mommy Vase? Maybe a Grandma Vase or a Sister Vase? That’s a handmade item with a story and gift wrap for $5. StoneFlowerPottery has been making Mommy Vases and more for decades. There will be mugs, bowls and spoon holders – all food safe and handmade.

            You might find some earrings to go with that new scarf. All the ear wires are high quality, nickel free from which will dangle objects that other people might never notice are beautiful in color or shape. Mostly one of a kind – colorful, pretty, interesting and surprising,.

            President Woodrow Wilson officially set aside the second Sunday in May in 1914 for the celebration of Mother’s Day in 1914 making this the 101^st Mother’s Day in our county. The person most responsible for the holiday is Anna Jarvis who hoped that it would be a day of quite visiting between mothers and children.

If you choose to shop for Mother’s Day, for yourself or for any of the mothers in your life, consider stopping for a visit with your neighbors and shopping for handmade work. Bring your mother or your children and look at the enormous variety of locally made gifts. Open between 9-4 on Saturday May 2 and 9 and Sunday May 3.

Call 585-610-6769 or go to Facebook and search out StoneFlowerPottery or Handmade Holiday Shop for more information.

 

Alfred University Senior Thesis Shows 2015

ALFRED:  An art show can be exciting and thought provoking. A person’s work can make other people see ideas and materials in new ways and the memory of that experience can hide in a mind ready to pop out at any time and demand attention.

        Art shows in Alfred generally draw large crowds of people ready to look, listen and reflect as they swarm through galleries. A great opportunity to experience the work of about 90 graduates is set for Saturday May 9 from 3 till 6 pm.

        All 90 students are about to graduate with Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees. They will be on hand, often offering refreshments, sometimes introducing their parents and always ready to engage in conversation. Three such students are Ryana Lawson, Drew Schenck and Brooke Tillotson.

        Ryana came to Alfred from Rochester to pursue a BFA with a concentration in ceramics. Her show will be in the Painting Studio, 2^nd floor of Harder Hall.

        AU’s reputation in ceramics drew her to the university. She was concerned about attending a small school in a rural community but looks back now on the experience as a good fit.

        “A college is all about community and my community here has been fantastic,” she said. “I worked intensely here and feel satisfied.”

        Ryana will show plates, cups and cake plates of terra cotta clay, covered with white slip and embellished with brightly colored plants and animals.

        “The sweetness of the drawings attracts people,” Ryana said pointing out plates that vibrated cuteness. The shiny white slip looks like melted marshmallow with sweet birds and other creatures but when one looks closer other thoughts creep in. Some of the animals are dead and the mushrooms may be tasty or poisonous. Are they safe?    

        Ryana wants that atmosphere of uncertainty to be there. She is interested in the cycle of life and death and enjoys seeing the variety of reactions from people who take time to look deeply at her drawings.

        After graduation, Ryana will spend some time at Haystack as a Teaching Assistant. She has applied for some post-bachelor programs and apprenticeships but she’s not certain of her next long-term position.

        Drew Schenck’s thesis show doesn’t have a shred of cute in it though he does have carefully shredded clothing. Drew was drawn from his home in New Orleans to Alfred for the ceramics program but his BFA will have a concentration in sculpture.

        “I came for ceramics but stopped being loyal to one material and started exploring sculptural works,” said Drew.

        Like Ryana, Drew was concerned about feeling isolated in a small town but said that the close relationships he has formed with faculty and students here made Alfred great.

        Drew’s work will be on the 4^th floor in Binns-Merril Hall. When we talked he was still working on his statement but the elements he willdraw together surrounded him.

        He used parts of a mannequin to form molds to make a series of body parts. He had a number of body segments lined up on a cart, some smooth, some written on, others with texture. He also had some clothing parts. What was once a shirt was only the collar, the button placket and enough of the side seams to hold it together and give one the sense of a shirt, the shadow of a shirt.

        Why parts of a body or parts of clothing? Drew believes that our memories are in bits and parts, often more of an impression than a detailed full story. Sometimes memories are about scent or touch - senses he feels are more personal than the visual.

        Drew’s sculptural works will be hidden inside of frosted Plexiglas boxes. Holes in the boxes will allow his guests to reach inside to explore the work and try to gain a sense of it through touch. There will also be waxed posters scented with essential oils ready for fingertip exploration.

        The work is a vehicle for conversations and he’s looking forward to watching and listening to the reactions to his work. After graduation Drew hopes to find an internship or residency for summer and beyond.

        Brooke Tilloston went to high school in Canadigua where her guidance counselor, an alumna of AU, suggested that Brooke might be happy in Alfred. After a campus visit, Brooke declared Alfred to be a “golden nugget” and decided not to apply to any other schools.

        She will graduate with a BFA with a concentration in graphic design. “Alfred forces people to experiment in new media. That’s the purpose of foundations class. Everyone does everything. The first week we made a puppet show and then we made cardboard coral reefs. We all worked on our own projects but worked near everyone else so we all talked, learned, thought and taught together.”

        Brook hopes that Alfred will find a way to increase the faculty in the graphic design department. Last year there was one faculty member and one adjunct but now there is just one person. This limits the experience brought to students and spreads that one faculty member stress-fully thin.

        Brook’s thesis show will be on the second floor of Harder Hall. The focus of Brook’s show is “a charming story book with nostalgic text and images.” The main character is Annabel Lee, a nod to a character created by Edgar Allen Poe.

        Brooke has long loved the works of Poe and views them as not frightening stories but as wispy dreams. She blended Poe’s stories into her own dream experience, illustrated them and created a young adult book. Her book will be available for order at the show for the Blurb price of $30.

        There will also be broadsides for each of the main stories: Fairyland, The Raven, Sleeper, Black Cat and Annabel Lee.

        Those familiar with senior thesis shows will notice a change in the placement of shows. Instead of having two students share a small space, groups of 4-7 will display in a large area. Shows are set for Harder Hall, Binns-Merrill Hall and the Cohen Center (behind the Cohen Gallery on Main Street). The goal is to allow for a better traffic flow within in the buildings and fewer hidden, out-of-the-way spaces.

        All shows are open to the public with students on hand from 3-6 pm on Saturday, May 9. Parking is always limited so expect to walk.

        Harder Hall is the building near the traffic light in Alfred and that’s a good place to start. There may be maps of gallery areas posted but it always works to blend into the crowd and flow through the spaces with everyone else. Some work is offered for sale and all is offered for discussion so feel free to talk with everyone you see.

Corning Museum of Glass opens new wing

        CORNING:  For many people in this city, the Corning Museum of Glass is more like a pal than a museum. On March 20, CMOG opened its new contemporary glass wing and thousands stopped to see the ribbon cutting and stroll through the expansive elegance that shines under the glass roof of this admired community member.

        The new wing is not only exquisite in design and function but the staff of CMOG was gracious in every way. Admission was free all weekend as were celebratory snacks and beverages and a legion of volunteers was on hand to answer questions and beam with pride over what their community has created.

        The new wing is spacious enough to allow 3 dimensional works to be viewed from all sides. There is room to step back or to lean forward. The light of the day filtered through the glass roof, reflecting on work and people.

        For the grand opening, many of the artists stood with their work answering questions and telling what it meant to them, how they made it, what they are doing now. That’s just one more way that CMOG shows how it is a museum with a personality.  

        In keeping with the idea that this museum is a community member there is a page (http://glassapp.cmog.org/#/social) specifically for visitors to post a photo of their favorite image. The images of personal connections shows friends posing with art to attractions, images celebrating color or texture, of course, the many interesting reflections and shadows that a museum full of glass, under glass can offer.

        In keeping with the personal, my favorite was Continuous Mile (2006-2008) by Liza Lou. From a distance, it’s a large, coarse rope. Upon approaching, it’s a glittering landscape of black, glass, seed beads. Looking inward, it is a story of patient hands and many people in a world thousands of miles away.

        The rope is made of millions of tiny, black glass beads sewn onto a continuous mile-long cotton rope, coiled into a circle. In leaning over the glass and walking around and peering and wondering, there seems to be not one bead out of line with the others.

        Lou spent years working with a team of bead workers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa but she did more than create Continuous Mile. She listened to the women talk, in the way that women once talked as they quilted in a cabin. She learned about their lives and taught them about hers.

        She employed them and did so with the intent that the rope would be created in a labor intensive, slow motion, mile long journey, allowing time to reflect and to see changes in the lives involved in the project. She made a work of art that is as much story as it is glass, as much purpose and influence as it is visual.

        The Corning Museum of Glass is open most days of the year. Children and teens are always free and there is a significant discount for people living within Allegany County.

        Visit CMOG to look at thousands of years of history in glass or contemporary visions of glass. See hot glass shows in a magnificent hot glass arena or make your own at The Studio. CMOG.org

The History of Our House

     The story of our house stretches into the foggy past with tentacles of fact and fiction lacing through the years. After talking with Joanne Allen and Jane Pinney at the Historical Society Library, I decided to record some facts and try to pin down a few bits of fiction.

           We always thought that our house was built by William Middaugh in the 1800s but a reading of the deed makes that sound unreasonable. William bought the property on April 26, 1879 but the first mention of the house is in a record of his son, William C Middaugh, selling the house in 1895. The style seem more of the type popular in the 1860s and evidence in the records seem to lean toward it's being constructed in the late 1860s but we just don’t know.

            The house, as of 1895, was on about 5 acres of land but the lot reached its current size (1.25 acres) when it was sold in 1907.

            What confused us was that our house came with a copy of a page from William Middaugh’s story for his children. Clearly he lived here.The story included an image of our house with a man, most reasonably William Middaugh, standing on the porch. 

           He can’t have been the builder. Timing just doesn’t work out so both the date of construction and the person behind the building of our house remains a mystery

            The photo shows some tiny pine trees. The one near the house now towers over our house with a trunk of 160 inches circumference at the base. The title of the picture is “The Last Home."

            In the picture, the house stands proudly with the front door under a 3 story tower. The tower's top floor has double, round-topped windows on each side. Two of those windows are in our basement but the third level of the tower is long gone. Chopped off, cast aside, and discarded for whatever reason we have often thought it would have been fun to have it reproduced but the cost and turmoil has made that not so.

     The paper we had was part of a story written by William Middaugh to give to his children. We only had one page of the story though Joanne Allen recently found the entire story on file in the Historical Society Library in Wellsville. We have no idea what book it is published in. This is the part given to us when we bought the house:

“I have to think I can leave my children with all the property necessary to help them through this world. They have a second time been deprived of a mother’s care and counsel, my second wife being buried just twenty-five years from my first wife’s burial. I hope as my children read this over and see the trials and afflictions I have passes (sic) through in my life to secure the property I now leave for them, they will appreciate it and keep and protect it from debt and mortgage and hold it as I have done as long as they live.

            I have tried to do my duty by my children as I saw it as near as I could –although you may not realize it – and I hope they can and will make good use of it. I again entreat of you to hold and not sell these old family farms that I have cherished so much. Now children while I do not wish you to labor as I have, I do entreat of you all to be honest, industrious and straight-forward. Be true to yourselves and then you will be true to others. I say again be saving and not squander what has come to you so easily, for my experience teaches me, that it is no easy matter to accumulate property and keep it without experience and economy. When I say be economical, I do not mean be little and penurious. I would have you be benevolent when it is a duty as many cases it is, and aid worthy objects. I have always meant to practice that in both prosperity and adversity, which is the duty of all good citizens.”

            William died in this home, referred to as "The Last House", on August 22, 1881 and was buried at Knights Creek Cemetery in Scio, NY. One of his children said, “Father was a man of kind and forgiving heart, was always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need.”
            On the land that roots this house, there are also the remains of a farm’s apple orchard. Most of the trees are in the neighboring yard. (That now belongs to Rob and Tammy Christman.)

           One year a balloon’s ropes became tangled in one of those apple trees. It happened to be while Dr. Jim Edmonston had a “cherry picker” truck at his house so he drove it over and used the cherry picker to undo the ropes and set the balloon free.

            Another possible farm feature is the towering pear tree near the road. It is an ancient variety of pear that would have been harvested by Native Americans. These pears, dense golf-ball sized fruits that we stumble over in the fall, must be cooked to be edible and even then the taste does not match the expectation of a pear.

            Ethyl Richardson was our neighbor when we moved into this house in 1989 and it is her house that now shelters the Christman family. Ethyl told us that our house once was used by a doctor. This may not be true because the house that was on that property prior to the existing house was said to be owned by 2 doctors and how many doctors would there have been on this street? (However, a few years ago, Dr. James Edmonston lived across the street from Dr. Andrew Colletta while Dr. Aziz lived down the road on just this side of the Scio town line so, well, maybe then too.)

            When we moved into our house, it was a structure of doors. The front porch had 4 doors facing the road. Two French doors could be opened from the living room, likely to air the house in the summer and certainly to admit drafts in the winter. They were replaced with windows looking toward the road.

            Another was the front door to the house that opened into the front hall and the fourth was the door on the side of the wrap-around porch that entered into the office. One entered that office (I can picture a huge oak desk and a swivel chair but that is totally my imagination at work.) and then advanced to the examination room which led to a choice of doors – household kitchen or lavatory (now laundry room).

            There were 4 doorways from the dining room. Why cannot be imagined. One was an open archway to the living room. Another was a swinging door to the kitchen. Sensible, reasonable points of passage, these remain.

            There were 2 doors from the dining room to the doctor’s office. That office also had a door to the front hall, the living room and what was the examination room. Someone must have loved doors or disdained walls. Whatever the original intent of the floor plan, there are now fewer doors.

            Leonard B. and Edna M. Jones bought the house on June 6, 1955 and lived at 3180 Riverside until they sold it to Robert H. and Louise H.  Walpole on July 27, 1965. They left the pine tree behind our wood shed. It was planted to celebrate Leonard’s hole-in-one at the golf course down the road. Ethyl said that Leonard was the one who enclosed our back porch to enlarge the kitchen where he installed a wood burning fireplace. 

            The Jones family sold the house to Walpole family. Robert Walpole cheerfully commented that he never had to do a bit of maintenance on the building for the entire 25 years he lived there. When Rick and I bought it, it was time for change so we gutted, redesigned and reconfigured the space.

            Gutting a house opens up pages of history. We didn't find anything valuable in the walls but we did find details.

            The following things we know from personal experience - The rear bathroom was an odd shape. There was a space unaccounted for, a space about the size of a shower. Rick thought that maybe someone's Aunt Matilda was buried in the wall but when he opened it, he found a shower. It seems that there was an issue with the drain so the water was cut off and the shower was encased in drywall turning a full bath into a half bath and eliminating further plumbing work.  

            We also found that the house had undergone a major renovation in 1912. The drywall used in the house was labeled with those dates. We think that’s when central heating was installed. Clearly there were chimneys in most rooms at some point and we removed one more. 

            In 1989 the furnace was a huge metal box designed to burn coal and later natural gas. The pilot light was a 2-foot pipe with holes the length of it so that it burned significant amounts of fuel just to keep a flame at the ready. We replaced the furnace and the radiators with a hot water baseboard system, cutting fuel consumption considerably and then replaced it all again 2013. Our new system constantly measures temperatures inside and out and keeps the house cozy for 1/3 less fuel.

            More interesting was the laundry room. Ethyl told us that Leonard Jones put that little room on the side of the kitchen. She didn’t tell us that he did it by recycling some other house. When were taking those walls down, something under the plaster didn’t look right.

            We were teaching all day and working on the house nights and weekends. This, of
course, left us so exhausted that we didn’t think well but finally it dawned on us that under a layer of plaster was plaster and lath and that plaster had dripped upward not down.

            Those walls were interior walls taken from another house, brought to this house and flipped upside down and then used to construct the exterior walls of a full bathroom which now is remade into a nicely insulated laundry room. Waste not, want not.

            The front of our house holds the living room, dining room and 2 offices on the first floor as well as 3 bedrooms (originally 4) and 2 baths upstairs. The rooms on the first floor are 11 feet tall but, thankfully, shorter on second floor. This part is held together with hand forged, cut nails.

            The back of our house holds the kitchen and laundry on the first floor and a large bedroom on the second floor. It is held together with machine made nails and the ceilings are only 8 feet from the floors.

            We reworked the upstairs floor plan to use the floor space of the small central bedroom. What was the bedroom door became a linen closet door and the rest of the room was divided to give the bedrooms on either side of it large closets and to make the master bedroom much larger.

          The closets hold some of Wellsville's history. When the Rockwell Department Store closed, they sold shelves and drawers. We bought several of them. Some are freestanding storage in the basement but the rest are built into the closets.

            We also reconstructed the front hall way. The space under the stairs was wasted. It is now a front hall closet. The closet is wonderful but I reserve 3 cheers for the stair aprons. We admired some in a building in Christchurch, New Zealand and when we returned home, Rick outfitted the front stairs.

           For most of the time that we lived here the front hall opened into the living room but after the children left that was just a drafty area so Rick built French doors between the hall and the living room.

           He made a leaded glass window to fill in the round arch above the doorway. This carries through the house. There is a rounded window over the front door, the one Rick made between the hall and living room, a stained glass window he made between the living and dining rooms and a fourth rounded window in the kitchen.

          The window in the kitchen is a half round window and we bought it from the Wellsville Central School System for $1.50. It allows an open passage of light through the kitchen.

          Schools change and toss out the old. Thankfully I was at hand to save this and that. There are two cupboards that were part of the Andover Central School. These are now our pantry. One side of each has a long door that had a coat rack and was used for the teacher’s coat and boots. There are holes drilled at the top and bottom so the coat could dry if it had rained. 
          The other side has a medium and short door and was designed for book storage. The books cupboards already has shelves so that was great but the coat cupboard side needed shelves and that was where the Rockwell Department Store helped solve the need. We have 2 of these cupboards, back to back, as our pantry.

            There is one story that begs addition. When Emilie and Jay were in elementary school, I was a Girl Scout leader and Rick and I were both adult Boy Scouts. There were times when we would have the entire scout troops for an overnight at our house.

            On one such occasion, the kids were running and screaming in the back yard when a NY State Trooper rang the bell. Rather politely, he asked what was going on.

            “Going on how?” I asked.

            Someone in the neighborhood, we never knew who, had called to report that they heard someone screaming that they were being killed.

            We went out to the yard and called everyone together. They were playing a rousing game of He’s Going to Kill Me. There didn’t seem to be any agreement on the rules other than running and screaming about being killed.

            The trooper left. The game continued. Home sweet home.

Below are some of the changes we made in the house -

This was also an open doorway on the side of the living room into the dining room and in 2014 Rick dressed it up with a new window. Most of the glass is reclaimed. 
       Look through the window to see the tin ceiling we installed in the dining room – with many curses per square foot.  It was a much more demanding project than one might imagine.    

     When we moved in, this was a large open, drafty doorway.Rick made the rounded window on the top, created the doorway and installed the French doors found at an antique shop. The side glass panels are etched in a vine pattern. The installations incorporates hundreds of pieces of wood, glass and molding.
     The banister of legends is visible through the French doors. Many young folks in the time of the Walpole's residence in the house recall having timed races sliding down the banister with the Walpole children. With the 12 foot ceilings downstairs, the length and height of the banister attracted the young and foolish and daunted those with more sense. Our children do not admit which group they belong to. 

     Rick recalls a "near-death time-dilation" experience while removing the ceiling plaster. He slipped and fell backwards while stretching out to pull a nail at the top of the stairs, leaving the crowbar hanging on the nail-head and wildly swinging over his chest and head while he slowly slid on his back down the stairs under it. He watched the crowbar in full expectation of experiencing the point end on, or worse, into him.
     Also through the widows is a view of the stair aprons.

Stair aprons added by Rick.

     Rick built new oak kitchen cabinets and added a mahogany top and molding to the fireplace.  Elaine came up with the idea of having the sink in an island to meet her remodeling requirement that it provided an outside view.  This resulted in a compact galley style kitchen, but made much better use of the floor space, allowing for an in-kitchen dining area.

     This led to another near disaster story. The very large (heavy) picture window unit with attached side windows where the counter used to be  needed to be lowered to table height.
     It was decided to knock out the wall under the window and reconstruct it a foot or so shorter. No problem so far. Next step was to cut all the nails holding the window unit in place and let it slide it down onto its new, lower wall.  

     There were lots of nails, including one that we just could not find that was holding it in place.  After much searching it was found and cut. Immediately the window started to slide – and was it heavy! Rick and his friend were merely to slow its inexorable downward progress but not to stop it. 

     As it slid, Rick noticed that a power saw was still sitting on the new lower wall. He yelled for a very young Jay to “MOVE THE SAW!” which resulted in a confused 6-year old wildly looking for a saw somewhere in the kitchen. 

      Since it didn't seem that Jay would figure out that the machine on the window was a saw and since their muscles were giving out, Rick did a last ditch karate kick, knocking the saw off the wall just in time. The window is happy – and intact – it its new position providing lovely views for those seated at the table

    Also in our kitchen is a half round window from the Wellsville High School, purchased for the grand amount of $1.50.

    Not suitable as an exterior window, it is great in our house because it allows the light to flow and is one of 4 round top windows.

   The vintage Toledo scale was salvaged from Alfred University, repaired and converted into a lamp by Rick.

     Elaine’s pottery is in evidence everywhere in the house.

     This is the new master bedroom. The window shown was once in what was a small bedroom but one dividing wall came out and we enlarged the master bedroom and closets, reworking the bedrooms to have walk-in closets and a linen closet in the hallway where the entry to the small v center bedroom was located.

       The original windows in the house were much taller, going to the floor and all were replaced with shorter, double-pane insulated windows in a more modern size. rick jokes that it made the house look newer (that would make it be early 1900s.)

     More 19th century lithos - these are John Gould Birds of Great Britain -and some of the Federal and first of State Duck Stamp framed prints cover the walks in this room. 

Drawers from Rockwell Department Store

This was the fireplace when we moved in.
After taking out the plaster over lath, this mantle
no longer fit so we cut it out and replaced it.

 

We stripped the white paint from the bricks leaving just a few traces of it. I made tiles with Jay, and Rick built the mantle of quarter-sawn oak and installed the tiles on it as well as on the hearth.

At Christmas, Emilie’s collection of nutcrackers tops the mantle.  Some of Rick’s 19^th century naturalist lithographs are on the walls – these are Audubon Quadrupeds.

On the floor at the right is a cricket forged by the late Charlie Orlando. It was meant to go on top of the big rock (named “Jon” in honor of Jon Ebling who installed it for us as a housewarming gift.) in the front of the house.  Fear of theft and not wanting the cricket to suffer the weather, the cricket has always stayed by the fire – well – gas logs, but it’s warm nonetheless.

     This likely won’t make any sense without a floor plan but let’s give it a try.

     The stove is set into an alcove. That alcove was where entry to the kitchen was granted. The stove sits on what was the top of the stair landing for the back door. One entered the house in the garage and walked to the back of the garage and came into the kitchen after climbing 3 stairs. 

     Wanting a more direct route, Rick cut a hole in the wall next to the basement door to grant entry to the house from the driveway and built a wall to divide the new entry area from the garage thus making a new back hall and mudroom/pantry/entry.

     As a side note, when we bought this stove we needed to make this space nearly 2 inches wider. We ripped out the walls from the other side, from inside the garage. We built a little ramp to slide the old stove out and the new stove in. Much easier that moving it through the kitchen.

     The chimney for the kitchen fireplace didn’t draw well so I made a terracotta chimney pot to extend it and Rick installed it as part of a chimney relining project.  Now it works fine providing added warmth to the house in winter. As a bonus, the addition of a screen eliminated the occasional unwelcome bird or bat coming into the house and wood ash helps the tomato plants.

     A recent rehab of the well-crafted Lopi wood stove insert replaced its interior firebrick and converted it to use outside air for combustion via the ash clean-out port of the original fireplace for even greater efficiency.