As Seth and I shut the door on our apartment in South Carolina, I remember feeling a sense of loss. The small two bedroom apartment overlooking the pool was the first place we had lived as a married couple. Almost all of the memories from the first two years of our marriage had taken place within those walls. In many ways the places we live become like members of our families.
Back in August it was time to say goodbye to such a family member...it was time to say goodbye to the home where my father was raised. I have to admit that I don't have many real memories of the house. I was just three years old when my grandfather passed away and my grandmother sold the home not long after that. The only memory I have is of sitting in a blue chaise lounge chair next to my grandfather.
I wanted to collect a little history of the home. I found out that my grandparents purchased the home from John Henry Robinson shortly after they were married. They lived in the home for forty-three years. They welcomed five children into the home, watched those children grow, sent those children off to college and on missions and eventually watched grandchildren totter into their home. My grandmother wrote in her personal history "We changed the style inside and out and made it very livable and pleasant." Below are two picture of the home when it was the original red brick.
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| (L-R, Malcolm, Harriet, John (Dad), Mary Louise) |
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| My grandmother, Golda pictured in the middle. |
At some point the house was painted gray.
Later on vinyl siding was put on over the brick.
Sometime after my grandmother sold the house it was turned into a duplex. It was neglected and eventually abandoned. For years I have driven by the house just to check on it. I have dreamed of buying it and restoring it to its former glory...unfortunately I never found a money tree needed for such a task. Before the house was torn down, I was able to walk through it. It was not the house I had dreamed of. I realized that the home was far beyond being saved. A family of raccoons had burrowed their way into the upstairs rooms...the floor was covered with their droppings and the smell was unbearable. At one time vandals had broken in and smashed the glass out of the bookcases that flanked the fireplace in the front room. It was sad to see the house in such a state.
There was one thing very much worth salvaging and that was the four stained glass windows that adorned the home...it is remarkable the vandals had left them untouched. My dad was able to arrange for our family to remove the windows. I tagged along on the trip with my brother Jeff and my dad to remove the windows.
I was also able to get a picture of my dad and Phin outside the home.
And a picture of them in the shade of the front porch.
A week or two later we returned on demolition day. If Phin were old enough to care he would have loved watching the crew take down the house.
Here is a picture as the front porch came down.
In this picture you can see the red brick exposed.
This picture made me think of a dollhouse as the upper rooms were exposed.
I love this picture of my dad and Aunt Becky watching the demolition. I can't help but think that maybe they were reminiscing about the home.
At about this time in the demolition I saw a raccoon high tail it out of the second level.
And then the house was all gone.
You would think that with the house gone that I would stop driving by...but every time I am in Farmington, I can't help but to drive by.
