Big house, little house, back house, barn

The expression in the title refers to a style of New England architecture. It's a uniquely North American expression of the connected farms found in England and Wales, adapted for New England farmers' needs. In the beginning, at least, the big house was the main living area of the farmstead and the little house was a connected kitchen. Behind these comes the back house or carriage shed and the livestock barn. I've read that these units often were built at different times, but connected to ease winter chores. Over time the units might have been given other uses, including housing cottage industries that provided income in winter.

The image at top was of a connected farm in a small village in Maine. The second is in a town in Vermont, a reminder that in the 19th century and before even city folks kept horses for transportation.

We have no such configurations in the southern mountains, although we see echoes of it in architects' rendering of modern homes using a New England style.

Sunday morning

Silent Saturday

Ancestors

Somewhere in this cemetery I have ancestors buried, although there are no gravestones to mark the exact spots. William and Rebecca came to North America from North Ireland in 1736. By 1737 they had settled in the Cumberland Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, in what became Antrim Township, and are buried near where they lived. Their children moved on to the Carolinas, and the next generation fanned out from there; Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Texas. Counting William and Rebecca as the first generation, I'm the eighth generation. I've now been able to find and visit the burial places of each generation except the third. Ichabod (yes, I'm glad I did not inherit that name) is buried somewhere in Floyd County, KY, but so far no one has found the site. Since it's unlikely there was a headstone with his name on it, it may never be found.

Michaelmas Festival 2012

Yes, we know the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels was last Saturday, but for scheduling reasons, our annual Michaelmas Festival is this coming Saturday, October 6. And everything is ready to welcome you.

Kingstone Lisle, the founder's house, is bedecked in its fall finery.

Newbury House B&B has a freash coat of paint and new shingles on its Mansard roof. The rooms were refreshed earlier (see here).

Christ Church has been freshly repainted, as well.

And Mother Nature is working hard to welcome you.

There will be gospel and old-timey music in the church, a tea to die for with sittings at noon and 2 pm, crafts in the church yard, English country dancing on the lawn, and much more. The event is free, except for the teas, which are only $10/person. For tea reservations, call (423) 628-1282.

Breaks Interstate Park

When I was a child, my father told me about "the breaks of the Big Sandy," a spot he had traveled to as a young man. He never took me, and I never got around to going for myself. That changed a couple of months ago when, traveling through western Virginia, my wife suggested we take a side trip. I'm all about side trips.

It's called the breaks because the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River "breaks" through Pine Mountain as it flows north to the Ohio River.

The gorge it carved is 1,000 feet deep and there are sheer cliffs at its sides. There is a roadway on one side of the river and a railroad track on the other.

Where there's no room for either, tunnels have been cut through the mountains.

It's a stark, beautiful land.

While we watched, a train crawled from a tunnel far below us.

Two CSX diesel locomotives pulled a string of loaded coal cars at a snail's pace. They were heading upstream, and undoubtedly were climbing a grade that was steeper than it looked from our post. If you can see them, there are gated chutes along the bottoms of the coal cars through which the coal will be dumped. These cars are of an older design than the ones (shown here) designed to be dumped from the top.

At the end of the train were two more diesel locomotives, pushers to help the train climb the grade.

Breaks Interstate Park is operated by a joint commission between the states of Kentucky and Virginia. It's located just south of Elkhorn City, Kentucky. It's operated as a resort park with lodging, food service, camping, recreation, and a gift shop. We bought a miner's helmet with an attached lamp for our granddaughter. (Shhh! It's a surprise.)

There's a swimming pool for the kids and a small lake.

Right now should be a good time to visit. I'll bet the colors are really good.

Rugby Pilgrimage 2012

This past Saturday Historic Rugby, Inc., held its biennial Pilgrimage which, with the Christmas Tour of Homes in alternate years, is the only time private homes are open to the public. Houses open represented a mix of historic houses, historic reconstructions of houses previously lost to fire, and new houses built to look like they dated from the 1880s.

Having 1884 Ingleside open was a special treat, since the owners are aged and in ill health. They graciously let a friend show the house for them.  I got my first pictures of Ingleside interiors, so I'll have a post devoted to the house sometime in the future.

Oak Lodge was built in the early 1880s as overflow space for the Tabard Inn and continues to be available for overnight lodging. Shown is the second floor sleeping porch which now is set up as a sitting area, but in the 1880s would have been filled with beds in summers without air conditioning.

Another treat was Uffington House, home of Margaret Hughes, mother of founder Thomas Hughes. Progress has been slow on restoring Uffington House, but two bedrooms have now been furnished based on historical photographs. The room above was occupied by Thomas's daughter Emily, who lived with her grandmother until Margaret's death in 1887.

Wren's Nest was built in 1887 behind Adena Cottage to house the manager of Mr. Wellman's chicken business. It has been extensively restored and modernized by Bob and Mary, formerly of Nashville and Vanderbilt University.

Visitors are greeted by Rita and Carman at Inis Fal Cottage, a newer home in Rugby's Beacon Hill development.

There is so much to see inside Inis Fal that we'll have to pay a return visit soon.

I find Amherst Cottage to be one of the architecturally most-interesting houses in Beacon Hill.

Here owner Lisa greets visitors from Crossville, Tennessee, on her wrap-around porch. Maybe we'll take an in-depth look at this one later, as well.

At Hester Knolle, Jody greeted visitors at the front door,

while Harry presided over his elaborate "man cave" in the basement.

But this is Rugby, after all, and nothing gets by without a little drama.....

The Pilgrimage was scheduled to start at 10, so promptly at 9 the water main broke leading into the village. Several event volunteers brushed their teeth with bottled water, but the cafe had to stop serving, but worse yet, there were no bathroom facilities that worked. But this is Rugby, after all, and history came to the rescue.

A quick-thinking board member just as quickly cleaned out an old "necessary" and visitors proved to be very adaptable. Fortunately water was restored early to three open houses at the northwest end of the village, and these proved to be among the most popular with our visitors. And water was restored to the whole village by 1 pm and the cafe was able to start serving late lunches.

As Shakespeare said, "All's Well that Ends Well." Our good ending included a brief scene from an original play about 1880s Rugby that will be premiered in April as part of Historic Rugby's second Quilt Show.