The closest thing to an Old Homestead is my maternal grandparent’s house. My grandpa died when I was 4, and my grandma when I was 9, but yet I remember many things about their house. My strongest memories involve the kitchen and the large yard.

William and Pauline McCallum lived in the country, about 30 minutes from our house, in the house my mom grew up in.

I remember their house being green with white trim. Although they had a front door, we always entered through the shop alongside the garage. We spent a lot of time outside in the summer.

They had a sprawling yard with a large garden and a barn.

I would pick dandelions in the yard and present them to my grandma, who would always place them in a vase in the kitchen window.

They had a large garden as well, growing all sorts of things.

As she got older, my grandma became a hoarder. She had stacks and stacks of newspapers in her living room, so that room was always off limits. After she died, we spent weekends there for months, and as stuff was removed, I was able to see the details I missed. I especially remember the wooden beams across the living room (and watching “Captain Planet” on the old tv in the room on Saturday mornings.)

The house and property was sold as part of the estate, and now it is a part of a housing development. In the last couple years I went by for the first time since it was sold, and was shocked to see the small yard that was left.

Thank you for reading! This post has inspired me to better categorize my photos and scan them! I know there are so many more photos I would love to preserve.

If you are interested, you can find the rest of my 52 Ancestors posts my clicking the tag at the top of the post.

Until next time,

Meredith