I remember Grandma’s house since we lived there until 1952 when I was 8.I’m not sure how we fit Grandma, Uncle Ed, Mom, Dad and three children in a three bedroom, 1 bath house, but we did. I remember one night Ed and I were sleeping in the back bedroom when a bat flew in. The back bedroom had no closet but it did have eight windows surrounding it. We called it the sleeping porch. The bat got in one window but couldn’t find its way out. Dad and Ed chased it with two tennis rackets and trapped it in the bathroom. I never learned its fate but I can guess.
The house was a three bedroom, one bath house with a stone foundation. The front porch was covered and spanned the entire width of the house. At some point Grandma had is screened but initially it was open. In those pre-air conditioniong days, we spent lot of time out there. I even remember sleeping there on hot nights in Summer. Inside the livinbg room was the entire front of the house. Off the LR to the right was a dining room with a beautiful oak built-in buffet. To the left was a hallway with steps to the second story , the door to the basment and, at the end of the hallway the kitchen. I know the house wasn’t huge but we managed to have family breakfasts in the kitchen and big dinners in the dining room. Upstairs were two big bedrooms with walk-in closets and a single bathroom in addition to the sleeping porch. It was a great house and a lot of memories were made there. My daughter Melissa bought a very similar house in Baltimore in 2000, in a sad state of repair. By the time she moved over a decaade later it had been restored to its former glory.
Recently brother Larry asked about the plantings in Grandma McElligott’s yard. Here is Uncle Ed’s reply:
At the SE back corner was a liac bush; along the N side line in back yard were irises (flags); along the N side of the house were lilies of the valley; on the frontW. edge was spirea and miniature roses; azalea on the S front yard and W same side was a peony; orange blossoms along the S back line; morning glories front W edge; trumpet vine S front porch edge and clover and dandelions and sweet clover all over. All beautiful in their time, just as mother nature intended.