What a May Day!

Hello Everyone,

In regards to my "Lovettsville Tollhouse" Open House on Saturday May 16th:

It was a GREAT DAY! OH MY GOSH! Many of the people came during the first 3 hours. If my contractor had not stopped by, it would have been ridiculous the number of people that I would have had to keep up with. Even with him there, though, it was what I would call "almost hectic". After that initial swarm, it was a variable trickle until about 4pm, and "a few drops" afterwards until about 6 or 6:30 pm. How about that? :)

Someone said they purposely postponed by some hours a trip they had planned just so they could make it, and someone else who came after 4pm said they had just arrived back in town and couldn't have made it any earlier. I even had a visit from a professional photographer who gave me a very nice shot of the house on a bright sunny day (WhistlerStopPhotography). What a gift!

Tollhouse Cookies!

If you were not able to make it to the Open House, you also missed the Nestle Tollhouse cookies that my girlfriend (Debbie) had made, in the Tollhouse, for the occasion. She said some visitors were consuming them as she was baking new batches, which is what I was hoping for. I did not mean for it to be that much work for her, but it was and I will make sure she knows I am eternally grateful! The Open House gave my new oven its first real workout; Dishwasher too.

People can email me at kurt_20120@yahoo.com (or post on the http://www.lovettsvilletollhouse.blogspot.com/ website) if they'd like to arrange to see the place at a more convenient time.

I am very impressed by the people who did come by and who were very polite and eager to see a place that they (and I) had waited so long to get finished. Many were recounting how they were eager to observe the progress of the project as the weeks and months rolled by during the restoration. In addition, there were a number of people who themselves were working on older homes and doing much of the work themselves. These are truly some of the heroes of the community as they will use the same "do-it-yourself" ethic similar to the forefathers who started it all. I am very greatful people appreciate the efforts and costs incurred to get this house as it is today.

I will have another "Open House" in which all the relics that were discovered will be on display on the front porch (maybe in July?). My contractor was just on the phone and said we could also have a presentation by the Lovettsville Historical Society on the relics found. I would add we could also have a presentation on something else relevant to the area, like perhaps history of the bridges and ferries that used to cross the river. I will announce the date the same way as before: a homemade sign out front.... and on here too of course :)

Debbie did a great job planning the furniture arrangement and provided some of hers that really accented the place, so I am hoping to keep it all the same for some time. I'd like to show some pictures of what I'm referring to, but let me put you on a virtual tour of the whole place and I'll show that to you on the way. :)

One lady who came by was a family member of the family I bought the house from. She remembers the house while visiting her aunt who lived here back in the 50's I believe. She indicated what rooms were where originally and was amazed at the difference. As I show you the house, I will point out what room you are in and what it used to be "back then" according to her.

As you enter the front door, you turn to the right and this is what you see:

This is the kitchen and the area used to be a 'bedroom' for the last 50 or so years prior to my owning it, with the front wall about where the line you see in the floor going from left to right.

To the left of the kitchen: The kitchen window (or what likely used to be a bedroom window). Look how thick the sill is, reflective of the 18 inches of thick stone wall. You could put a mean apple pie out to cool on a shelf like that ;)

My mother Anna provided the potholders and Debbie provided the ceramic container and candle.

To the right of the refrigerator is a half-bath:

Now, if we had made a LEFT turn inside the front door, we can see what used to be (and still is) the living room:

Debbie provided the two tables on either side of the couch and the wooden chair. She and I went out and bought a pretty decent lamp for the decor look she wanted. And it worked! I take credit for the small woodstove. Just a tad small but it does the job, as I've used it last year to heat the place. Oh and the clock my sister Fern (currently in S. Korea) gave me a couple of Christmases ago somehow seems to work, hanging on the beadboard wall hiding part of the staircase going upstairs.

If we turn around and look where we came from...

... we see the front door. Just inside the front door, on the right, is a mini-closet for hammer, broom, mop, etc. This is built into the wall behind the mirror in the half-bath, and also shares space with the laundry chute going down from the closet upstairs to the basement below.

Looking straight ahead from the front door:

We notice the 'back door' which, if I had not run out of money, would have lead out to the deck behind the house. Right now, it leads to a nice 4 foot drop to the back yard.

Next to the door, is the gas heater, useful for keeping the house from freezing while away.

So now we're ready to go upstairs, which are seen going up on the left.

The first thing we notice after arriving upstairs is the table display straight ahead. This is where one of the upstairs bedrooms used to be:

This is my holy shrine showing all of the phase permits I had to go through to get the house finished. I am extremely reverent here because progress was painfully slow, and waiting for the progress to begin (the orange building permit) even MORE so.

Also on the table is a pamphlet from the Lovettsville Historical Society. I really hope people tried to read through it a bit and will consider visiting the Lovettsville museum in front of Town Hall in Lovettsville. It's open from 1 pm to 4 pm on Saturdays during May through October. I personally will be running the museum on some of those Saturdays.

Turning left and going into the rest of the room, we notice on the right is my humble entertainment center, along the same wall as the above table. The center got caught in the rain while it was waiting outside for me to bring it in last August:

It's not in too bad shape, though you can see that the top shelf bends right where the vertical divider meets it. It still does the job and that is good enough for me. Incidentally, the old book laying on the top shelf is entitled "Health and Longevity". Several people remarked about it. I think it belonged to Debbie's grandfather or great-grandfather. It was sold by a doctor in Baltimore (or maybe some society of doctors) back in the 19-teens who provided health services for those who bought the book for up to two years. Either that was one expensive book or they had GREAT deals back then! The white wall to the left is the right side of the closet, and right behind that wall is the laundry chute to the basement floor. The chute is accessible from within the closet.

Opposite the entertainment center is where I took its photograph from: my bed. Next to my computer and desk....

I bought the bed from a previous landlord as I was moving out (well, traded the bed in exchange for him not giving me my deposit money back). The pink/brown covering is a quilt my mother Anna made from extra material she had. It looks really nice! and it was the perfect blanket for the 'in-between' months when the house was no longer cold, but not quite warm enough to sleep with a thin blanket. The desk was sold to me by my contractor and is unique to me because it has a desk-wide bookshelf in the front (not seen from this angle). Never seen a desk like that!

Continuing through the room past the bed/desk on the left and the entertainment center on the right, we come to the end of the room, in what used to be a single bedroom, but now the left side is a full bath and the right side is the closet with laundry chute.

The toilet is the Sterling dualflush 1.6/0.8 gallons. There are two buttons on top, the larger for 1.6 and the smaller for the 0.8. I will leave it up to the viewer as to which option is appropriate. This is a water-saver toilet and is appropriate for the Tollhouse since the surrounding soil will not support a septic field, so a Pump and Haul tank is in use here. Since it costs money to pump the tank out, the less water used the better!

The wooden box next to it is another nice touch by Debbie!

Mirror Mirror, on the wall.

My sister Faye had this mirror resting behind her couch and I thought it was the perfect size for the bathroom wall here, so there it went. You can see the bathroom skylight reflecting in the mirror. There is also another one above the computer desk, but it was not in the photo.

The sink/pedestal was from Lowe's for (I think) $106.00

Had to save money where I could, and didn't have much room to put anything else there anyway.

Below is the shower. Note the "hookless" shower curtain. You can put the curtain on the bar after the bar is installed. Debbie was impressed! :)

Another view of this side of the bathroom. Just wanted to throw this picture in for good measure.

I am very greatful people appreciate the efforts and costs incurred to get this house as it is today.

Stay tuned folks!