One of our favorite posts in our entire archive is this one about hearing from our first house’s original owners. It was so much fun to see photos of their family in our house back in the 60’s, and we studied every inch of each picture and relished every detail that they shared in their letter.
We were also friendly with the people who sold us our second house, so although we never heard from the original owners, it was really great to know the sellers who had lived there for 22 years! So we always hoped to hear from the original owners of our current house. For a while… nothing. And then it happened! We actually met their daughter-in-law Chris at an event here in Richmond a few months back and big hugs ensued. There’s nothing better than hearing how special a house that you love is to another family, and she gave us permission to share some snippets from a letter that she sent us along with some old photos, so here it goes!
The house you are currently in has had a wonderful history of family memories. My husband’s parents bought it when his dad was transferred to Richmond from Cleveland, Ohio over 30 years ago. They had just become “empty nesters” so they searched for the right house in a perfect location for their future grandchildren to come visit. As a matter of fact, the first of their grandchildren was on the way during their move! It was a crazy time for them, buying the house under construction and moving from 500 miles away. They somehow fit in traveling to Texas for the birth of the first grandson, and saw the births of nine more grandchildren, and one great-grandchild while living there! They were dog lovers and brought their beloved dog, Chelsea, an English Foxhound, with them to Richmond. Sometime after she literally disappeared into the woods one day, another dog (Lady) followed my mother-in-law home. She was well loved and stayed with them a long time.
My husband and I lived in Richmond during the births of all four of our children. Before they were born we acquired our first “child,” a dog from the Richmond SPCA. We took her directly to the house to visit “grandma and grandpa” before even taking her to our own home!
All of our children remember the house as a place we celebrated Christmas Eve every year, plus multiple birthdays and other holidays (this photo was taken in the back porch, which you call the converted sunroom, around 20 years ago).
My father-in-law used to put a Christmas tree in almost every room of the house, and they were always decorated to perfection. He used to play a game with our kids, “find the ornament.” He would spy an ornament on the tree, and the kids would see who could be the first to find it. It wasn’t easy! He had hundreds on one tree alone!
My mother-in-law was a fantastic cook and had us over not only for celebrations but just because she felt like cooking. The kitchen was extremely well used and well loved by all. She would spend days baking cookies to take to Virginia Beach every year, when some years all three of her children and ten grandchildren would also be there.
There was an antique chandelier hanging in the kitchen that was precious to my mother-in-law. It belonged to her grandmother. She loved it, but it hung so low everyone knocked their head into it at least once in their visits there! It was removed before the house was sold.
The outside deck and back porch were added by them after moving in. They used the porch on a daily basis, him reading the newspaper and her doing her needlepoint pillows (this is a photo of my mother-in-law presenting one of her pillows to my daughter in the living room).
The tree in the middle of the deck (that you have removed) was just a small thing when they decided to build the deck around it. They wanted to keep it for the shade it provided. It really got huge!
It is really nice to be able to see what you are doing to make the house your own. I love the hardwood floors you have put in upstairs and really like the stenciling you did on the bathroom floor. Your daughter’s room is where my mother-in-law slept during her later years. She would be so happy to see new life there, with the fun girly room you have put together! I also really love how you transformed the half bath downstairs. It is so much brighter and clean looking! I’m looking forward to seeing more improvements in the future. I wish you many years of happiness in your home! – Chris
We’re so grateful to Chris for reaching out and sharing those details and photos with us! It was amazing to hear that the tree on the deck was tiny once. Remember how big it was when we had it taken down?
We realize this letter may not be as touching for you guys, but it was so heartwarming to us. To have a better sense of the life this house has lived and how it has been loved by so many people (filled with grandchildren, home cooking, and Christmas trees) makes us feel so grateful to be here. As a total bonus, we also heard from Erin, one of the grandkids who grew up visiting this house. Here’s her letter:
I’m one of the 10 grandchildren of the original owners of your current house. My mom shared your blog and I am blown away. The house looks wonderful! I have so many fond memories from that house. I am so thankful that you two have moved in and have posted pictures of your updates to the house. Thank you for providing a way for me to still feel connected to the house and for bringing new life to its foundation. – Erin
Amazing, right? It really is awesome to hear from others who are essentially strangers, yet you share something so personal with them: the love of a home.
Have you ever heard from your home’s original owners? Or uncovered anything cool in the house (like this stuff that we found buried under the original cabinets in our first house’s kitchen)? I can’t wait to see if we’ll discover anything when we open up some walls and redo the kitchen! So far all that has turned up is an old water bill from ten years ago in the bottom of the trash compactor.
stephanie says
so the original homeowners of our house still live in our neighborhood – they moved to a larger house in a newer section. The guy that lived here came over for a neighborhood party and treated himself to walking tour of the upstairs (only bedrooms up there – party activities not up there). Then he pointed out a spot in the drywall in what was his daughter’s room and said ‘here’s where I put my fist through the wall). She was all of like 11 when they moved so I was stunned. It was terribly awkward although we see them from time to time around and it’s fine. They, of course, commented when we had to repaint the house. . .
Lesley Eiermann says
My husband and his father went bike riding around New Orleans a few weeks back and stopped by the house their father/grandfather grew up. The house is located directly adjacent to Audubon Park which if you are from the area, you know that homes in that area rarely get sold. They are just passed down from generation to generation. The property is worth tenfold than the home in almost every case even if the home on it looks horrible. This one was sold though as the family had to move. Anyways, the people renting the home were hanging out front and gave them a tour of the house and visited some of the older neighbors that remember my father in law when he was a kiddo.
My parents found a WWII trunk in the attic full of gear when they were remodeling our old home back in the 1980’s. Old blueprints to the house were found as well. Came in pretty handy when we added on the following year.
Cassie says
I’ve never had anyone contact me, but I have 2 similar stories-
When I was in second grade we lived in a giant house in the country in Southern Central Ohio. My brother’s room was across the hall from mine and I swore one night that I could see faces in the door. The next day I mentioned it to my dad and he showed me that 2 men who had used stain and worked their faces into 2 panels…. At first glance it just looked like the regular wood grain! I wish I had a photo because I’ve never seen anything like it! There was a maid’s room and maid’s stairs off of the master bedroom down into the kitchen, too. We found a lot of creepy stuff in the basement and my great aunt (who we rented from) told us that is was part of the Underground Railroad to Canada. Pretty cool!
When we moved Ito town, my parents bought a large house on a hill with a large plot of land for being in the city. My dad eventually split the lot and built a smaller house at the bottom of the hill. As an adult I saw that a friend had posted a photo of her son playing at a park across from those houses. It turns out that they tried to buy the big house and were now renting the big one!
I love hearing about houses’ stories!
Jacquelyn | lark & linen says
You’re making me want to start a DIY blog solely for this reason! That is just so darn cool.
Kate C says
My parents have owned a number of homes over the years. One of the most interesting was the oldest, a 100+ home in Northern WI. While repairing a wall, my dad found interesting old newspapers used as insulation in an old plaster and lathe wall. In the attic, he found a turn of the century school primer book.
We know a bit about my Grandfather’s rather old house, and it has an interesting history. I love that sort of thing. Whenever I see a sad, neglected but once lovely house, I always feel a bit sad. I imagine how happy someone once was when building that house and I always hope it saw more love than neglect in it’s time.
Amy says
We just bought our fifth property this past Friday. We bought it from the original owners, who lived here for 28 years. They raised their family here and now we get to raise our two sons here. It was evident that they loved this place and wished for us the same comfort and happy memories that they experienced here. They left us a beautiful handwritten note with an artist’s rendering of the house, and they also left a detailed summary of all of the perennial flowers that adorn the property. They were super people!
Amy D says
I bought my house from the daughter in law of the owner, who had passed away. She loves seeing the house, especially after all the updates and renovations I did. She gave me some pics of when it was first built in the 50s and my giant ash tree was just a little stick back then!
After I received the keys to the house, my roommate and I walked through, taking before pictures. We found several cassette tapes (one was George Strait), an old hearing aid, an OLD bottle of contact solution, and an unopened package of 90s headbands. Random!
Maria says
My parents bought our childhood home from the original owners, and they actually continued to live in our neighborhood until they passed away, so we saw them all the time. They had built the house back in the 70s when it was one of the first houses on the street. He was an engineer at Cummins and had designed the house so there was no A/C in the basement (lowest floor but walk out), thinking it would stay cool all year long. He didn’t anticipate global warming ;) HA! There was a “cooling pool”, hot tub, and sauna in the basement when we moved in which was pretty great until everything broke and my parents didn’t want to deal with all the old plumbing, so they filled it in with concrete and my dad built a jacuzzi over the top (also pretty great). My mom was always worried we’d get stuck in the sauna and die (?!) so she used it as storage so we couldn’t use it except for a few times when we first moved in. My mom studied interior design so she has made the inside of the house much nicer (instead of 70s) and I love it. I’ll be sad when/if they ever sell it. Loads of great memories there.
We had to sell my gramma’s house a few years ago and I still miss it. It had this perfect smell to it, both inside and out (she had a great garden). I wish I could go back but only if it was still hers! I am terrified to see what the new owner has done to it. She just passed away so it’s all very fresh. We would always have Thanksgiving there. And it’s where I spent a lot of my first years since my gram babysat me while both my parents worked. We visited a lot later as we grew up too (especially in the summer). I like to think it is specially protected because several years ago there was a big tornado that went through Indianapolis and severely damaged all the houses around…except left my gram’s completely untouched.
Last summer my fiance’s family house had to be sold (his parents relocated to other states for different jobs). It was the only house he’d ever known (26 years) and the one his parents had moved into when they first got married. It was completely heartwrenching for ME, and I had only known it for 5 years! I can’t imagine how he dealt with it. I took about 1000000 photos for him to remember it by. His bedroom was still exactly the same as he had grown up (baseball sheets and all). We celebrated all the holidays there (I met his entire extended family there at Thanksgiving a month into us dating) and this past Thanksgiving and Christmas were pretty weird to not head over to Ohio.
I love hearing about old house stories. I desperately want to find an old journal or diary or papers or anything in any houses we own! Wouldn’t that be wonderful. I also always try to leave something behind (usually a note). This is so great.
Shannon says
We just bought our first house, and when we placed the offer, I wrote the owner a little letter about who we were, what we loved about her home, and how we wanted to take care of it. The letter ended up being the deciding factor – the owner chose our offer over multiple offers because of the letter!
When we moved in, the owner left us a letter back, thanking us and wishing us good luck, as well as leaving me notes on what kinds of flowers she had planted in the gardens and the home’s original building and landscaping plans. She also let the neighbors know who we were, so we’ve enjoyed a very warm welcome – all thanks to a little letter! :)
Lindsay@Tell'er All About It says
That is the coolest idea EVER!!! Kudos to you!
Kate C says
I should say that our house doesn’t have as much history, being a rather cheaply built ranch home (1994), built as a retirement home for our neighbors elderly mother. While they are still our neighbors to the back, we don’t get the chance to speak to the much.
As for the former owner, all she left behind was years of nicotine on the walls…
Kimberly says
For some reason, this nearly brought tears to my eyes! Homes mean so much to so many people through the years – it’s wonderful that you were able to find out more about yours. Our house was built in the early 20s and there are quite a few mysteries (Why do you think this wall is paneled? Why is this room added on?) we’d love to solve. But for now, we’ll just enjoy making it our own and creating our own memories there. :-)
Theresa says
I love love loved reading this! How special to share those memories and love for the home. And I love how evident it is that family who lived there was so close, and had so many wonderful memories there. It makes the house seem even more special. Thanks for sharing! :)
Caroline W says
We live in a 1936 Tudor cottage that we rent from the third owner of the house. He bought it in 1978 when he was in college. I did some deed research was able to find out the original owner, who the current owner says was a beloved veterinarian. We have three cats and currently fostering three kittens, so I like to think our house is blessed for pets!
A much more interesting story is my parents’ house. Being an architectural historian, I believe the house was built in the mid-19th century and successively added on to over the years. Turns out the next door neighbor was born in the living room of the house in the 1920s! Her grandfather built the house apparently and they all lived together (which blows my mind since the house only has a bedroom and a half)! She brought over some very old photos of the house from that time period and tells great stories about how her father and his friends would hide in the root cellar, drinking moonshine and flipping pennies. She said that she and her brothers would go down there after the adults left to collect the pennies to buy candy.
Heather says
I love this post! All of the comments totally have me tearing up.
Jordan Treder says
We moved into a 1957 built home and soon after we moved in, we discovered some problems with the weeping tile, drainage and leaking along the back wall of our house. While digging out against the back to access the wall, we came across a well 5 feet under ground behind the house. At first we weren’t sure what it was and didn’t want to “bother” it, so I called my best friend who’s dad was the former city planner of our city, just to ask him a few questions. He showed up an hour later with non other than the MAN who BUILT our house, and actually built our cinder block walled basement. For a sentimental person like me, just talking to him and hearing about what the area was like, and how they did this and that while building etc was SO cool!! I would love to see photos of the house when it was built, what colours they chose, the finishes etc… We’ve uncovered a lot of “questionable” choices over the years when we’ve pealed back the layers through the renos! :)
Kate C says
OK, last one, I promise. Friends of ours bought a newer home and found one odd item left behind – cremated remains. Someone forgot the ashes in the attic. Thankfully the box had the name of the funeral home on it, so they were able to contact them and the funeral home took them away.
Mallory says
My parents’ house was built in the 1890s and was soon after converted into apartments. At some point it was abandoned. When my parents bought it in 1996, it had been boarded up and was slated to be demolished if no one bought it and moved it to a new location. When we moved the house (on Valentine’s Day!) It made the news as traffic had to be stopped and power lines had to be moved out of the way as the house inched its way out of town block by block. A few years later, we were contacted by a very elderly woman who had lived in the house/apartments when she was a teenager. She brought some pictures she had and we gave her a tour of the house and she pointed out how things had been when she lived there. It was very cool! My dad is kind of a history buff, so he’s researched the history of the house and our town and found pictures of the house when it was a rich businessman’s property “out in the country”.
Andrea says
I work at a doctor’s office in a town near the house I grew up in. One day, while checking in a patient, I was verifying their address and realized they lived in the same house. My parents sold their house after getting divorced when I was 20. I lived in that house for 13 yrs. When I told them this, the gal laughed and said “Oh! You must have been the daughter who was sleeping when we toured the house!” Oh, boy! I had no idea! Of course, I was upset my parents were getting divorced and selling the first real “home” I’d had. I have driven by many, many times, but I’ve never stopped in. Maybe I will someday. I had great memories of that little neighborhood and thought it was a great house to live in. Now, as an adult, my husband and I bought our first house 13 years ago. I know the previous (and original) owner has passed away, but I like to think he’d be happy with the updating we’ve done to his little house. My favorite change was in the full bath, changing the Pink flowered metallic wallpaper to a lovely white painted wanescoting.
Caitlin says
Five years ago, my parents bought a house that was built in the 1836 as a general store/post office/ferry boat ticket office. The next year, the building was moved up onto the hill with logs and oxen and converted into a house. We’ve heard from the two previous owners about how long they lived there, who put in the swimming pool, etc. Also, when my mom was tearing down plaster to expose a solid pine wall in her sewing room, she found newspapers used as insulation between the boards. They dated from the 1850s and included an article about how women’s skirt hems were raising to show ankles. Scandalous!
Jenny says
This is so sweet! I LOVE knowing the history of a house, it makes it feel more like a home. It must be so special to see and hear about happy memories in your home. At closing in our house, the previous owners (who were the second owners and lived here 29 years) mentioned the first owners had a shell museum in the house. This sparked our curiosity, and after some digging we leaned that wasn’t exactly accurate… but found out they were fascinating people nonetheless! He was a malacologist, a professor, and an editor in chief of a magazine. She was an avid gardener and planted most of the specimens still on our property. The twist is that I’m in publishing, too, and my father and his family are deeply steeped in fisheries, both in commercial fishing/lobstering and on the government and regulatory side of things, too. And I love gardening! It made me feel so connected to this house’s origins. My husband and I have since incorporated our freelance businesses, and with the history of our home, Ballast Design felt like a perfect moniker! xox
Alicia says
This made me tear up a little and I have no personal attachment to your house! We are the first owners of our house, but we moved the mantle from my grandparents’ living room into our den. It’s 93 years old! My parents used to “date” in the room where the mantle was and I’ve been told that they are glad it can’t talk…which kind of weirds me out. I guess I’m also glad it can’t talk, haha!
Mary says
I love that your story/house has a positive vibe throughout its years. I wish we could say the same about some of ours. My great aunt had this beautiful home with gorgeous details (amazing retro tile, spiral staircase, great curb appeal) that left the family after she died. A few years ago we saw it on a trashy MTV show with a bunch of young people who obviously didn’t care for the home as much as you care about yours. I can hope the next family takes as much care as you do!
Stephanie M says
Ha! I totally had those plaid Christmas pajamas when I was little!
This made me tear up too, I think about the house that I grew up in all the time and wonder what the current owners have done with it. It reminds me of that Miranda Lambert song, “The House That Built Me”, I cried every time that song came for about a year!
Our current house is pretty new, so not much story, but randomly one day while my husband was mowing the lawn, a women drove by and yelled “Hey, I used to live there!” Didn’t stop though, just kept driving. It’s kind of a weird neighborhood.
Catherine says
I love this so much! I would feel exactly the same way as you. I still drive by my childhood and grandparent’s homes on occasion.
Pat S says
What a wonderful connection over the years. It has to be gratifying to those who passed through before as well as to you.
Stephanie says
This is really cool. How great is it that this family can keep tabs on the house through the blog. I also want to say I have always noticed how respectful and gracious you guys are about elements of your houses that weren’t your style and wanted to change. Some blogs take the tone like “Ugh, gross, what were the previous owners thinking??!!” To your previous owners, that was their well loved home, and I’m sure they’re happy and relieved to see no snark or disdain.
Nikki says
I loved that there was a Christmas tree in every room! What a great memory to have!
Erin Gorham says
My in-laws sold their home that my father-in-law built to their nephew and their young family. While my husband was sad to see his parents leave his childhood home, it is so cool (even for me!) to see his cousin’s family move in and make it their own – it was their first home purchase and they were so so grateful to be in a house they could call their own. Bonus that it stayed in the family!
em says
I love learning the history of my house. The previous owner of my house (not the person we bought from) was arrested for stealing items from the National Archives and selling them on ebay. So, every time we work on the house, we keep an eye out for squirreled-away historical documents. None of that yet, but we do have a weird cellar space with a door made from a service man’s Navy trunk. It has his name and other identifying information. Come to think of it, it would be cool to find this guy’s grandchildren or something and return it to them.
Lisa says
Love it! When we lived in Yates Gardens in Old Town Alexandria, VA, the townhouse was a “newer” one built in 1940. We found military insignia, some cool old skeleton keys (to a 1940-something car – we still have them and I still need to frame them), and some cool old tools. But the big archaeological find was when we pulled out the old medicine cabinet. You know, the kind with the razor blade slot? In the wall between the studs were thousands of razor blades from the twisty-type razors. We figured someone was very particular about his close shave … and perhaps that went with the military insignia? We’ll never know!
Donna says
I loved this post, thanks for sharing it! The original owners of our 1980’s home were a young couple. She was a teacher who loved children and spent lots of time decorating their home (rooms full of wallpaper and cat themed decorations). Sadly, she died before they were able to have children of their own and her husband was eager to sell us the home very soon after her death. I like to think that she would be pleased to know that we have raised our blended family of 3 happy young men here and that her home continues to be full of love. I do admit to wondering what she thought as I spent endless hours scraping off her colonial blue pineapple wallpaper!
tara @ house on howard says
Wow. Just wow… I would LOVE to hear from a past owner of my home! We don’t even know when it was built. We did find a fuel tank inspection card in the basement dated January 1952 so our home is at least that old. This post has renewed my interest in finding out the history of my home!
Megan says
I love this post! Made me tear up and it’s not even my house.
My house was built in 1958 and I moved in in 2012. There are remnants of some of the original decor- blue flower wallpaper in the closet, old wallpaper behind the thermostat, etc. Would love to meet the original owners! But I would NOT like to meet whoever redid the kitchen because they did a horrible job. I have 1 INCH of grout between the ceramic tiles. Ew. :-(
Beth says
This is so neat! A house becomes a home when it is filled with memories, even if they aren’t the ones your family made!
Our current house is actually FOUR doors up from the house I grew up in, and ironically it was my best friends house when we were kids. When we purchased it NOTHING had been updated since the 70’s…so to me it felt like walking back into a childhood memory.
What is really amazing is watching my own children play in the same yard and street where I grew up playing! I can’t even lie and say I don’t cry and get all sentimental!
Kim says
I think one (of the many things) that sets you apart from other bloggers is the respectful way that you talk about the previous owner’s taste and furnishing. You never say anything negative just that it’s not for you guys. And look at all the memories you’re honoring by being respectful.
Martha says
I currently live in a nearly 200 year old home. It seems that quite a few families have lived in our old house. 14 years ago we bought a dairy farm. We lived on that property for 12 years. The owners of the house we are currently in asked us to move in to the pre-civil war home as a favor to them. As we began speaking with friends in our farming community, we learned that the family that we bought our farm from also lived in our current house. Our neighbors also lived in our house for 10 years prior to purchasing their own farm. I love having each family over to hear how the house has changed or stayed the same. I wish their was more written history on such an old beautiful home.
You guys inspire me!! Thank for the great blog and posts!!
heather says
That letter is really touching – it automatically makes the house feel that much richer in history! Beautiful letter. When I moved into my first home during university, my mom was helping clean out the 1930’s home close to campus. As she was cleaning behind wooden built-in shelves in the closet (that had likely never been cleaned before!!), she found a felt beanie hat, with the university’s insignia. It was from the 1940s, and must have fallen out of the back of one of the drawers.
Cheerful Homemaker says
What a sweet story! When we closed on our house we were able to chat with the owner about the house and some of the updates he’d done over the years.
A couple of years ago we had a yard sale and a woman stopped by who’d been the realtor for the older couple who owned it before the guy we bought it from. It’s so much fun to hear about the people who lived in your own before you!
Robin says
I have not met the original owners of our house but I am dying to! They must be quit funny people as they left us some should you say “male and female naughties” hidden in our basement walls. Our contractor found them when we were remodeling our basement a few years ago. I am sure they did it as a joke…the “can you just imagine thier faces when they find this in 20 years?” kind of thing. Or else they were kind of kinky people. I prefer to go with the earlier.
Mary Ann says
My house only had one previous owner – my grandparents. So I have many childhood memories of my home. I remember when the large trees that we now have were planted by my Grandfather. My Mom used to say that she wished her parents could see what we had done with the house and that they would be so pleased.
Virginia says
We bought our house 10 years ago from the man who had it built in 1956. In the basement we found an architectural drawing of the plans for the house! We have it framed and hanging in my husband’s study. The original owners are buried in the nearby cemetery. When we take walks we say “hi” and tell them we are taking care of their house! lol! It’s only a small cape, but we love our house and its’ history.
April W says
That was very sweet and touching! What a great letter to get and totally brings the song “the house that built me” by Miranda Lambert to mind.
The only thing I’ve found from my old neighbors is their mail that after 5 years STILL shows up in my mailbox. Uncovering secret treasures would be fun but i don’t see it happening here.
Cory says
Very cool – thanks for sharing that.
The previous owners of our house were there 1960-2012 – the husband passed away around 2002 but the wife was full of stories and people around town have all sorts of stories about them. The husband had been a Fairfax policeman and my wife’s grandmother – married to a Fairfax policeman – actually recognized our house because she had been over for some police-wives dinners in the 60s.
Early on, we found some really cool area maps in the attic – I framed one (after reading the post on John’s bike framing thing, of course) that shows greater DC from 1954 – including all the planned interstates that were never built and the original different locations of Dulles and GMU. That pales in comparison, however, to last summer when I discovered an artillery shell hidden above a drop ceiling in our basement. It’s inert. Don’t worry. But the Fairfax bomb squad has taken a nice tour of our basement. That was quite a scene – one we hope will still be told sixty years from now.
Susan in Colorado says
LOVE this post!! In fact after reading some responses I am going to write to the people who own my grandmother’s house. I have no idea when it was built, but she lived in it a LONG time out in the middle of the country. It originally didn’t have indoor bathrooms if that tells you something. I never thought just to write a simple letter to them asking them what it looks like now… DUH slapping myself on the head.
Elise says
The house we rent was inherited by our landlords from the original owners (her aunt) so it’s never actually been sold. We moved in as soon as the aunt died (she was 100+ years old) so there was a lot of her stuff left. The most interesting story though are that she was actually half Japanese and had hidden it from the family for her entire life basically. See, it was during WWII and she actually was put in an internment camp as a child with her family. She was the oldest and very young at the time which is why it was able to be hidden from the rest of the family. When her Japanese father died, her mother’s family gave her mother an ultimatum – break off all ties with his family and they would help her raise her (eventually) 10 kids or they would have nothing to do with them. She chose to break ties. Our landlord’s maiden name is Hayward, but turns out it really was Hayashi, and they had a nanny named Mrs. Ward which they combined into Hayward. Our landlord (who are very close family friends) had always wondered why all pictures of her grandpa were cut out! They also realized that she had a lot of Asian decor in her house but had never thought twice about it. As far as finding stuff in the house – we were cleaning out a planter filled with all sorts of animal decor (ceramic, plastic toys, ducks, sheep, horses, dogs, a concrete pig, you name it, puts Sherry’s ceramic animal obsession to shame) there was a big hunk of concrete we pulled up only to find it was a Buddha statue, buried face down in the dirt! Our landlord had never seen it before so who knows how long it was there “hidden”. There’s also $20,000 that she got as a settlement from the government for being placed in the internment camp that the family has never been able to account for that may or may not be hidden somewhere in the house or on the property.
Nina D says
We bought our house from the most wonderful sellers. Really, every home buyer should be so lucky. They left the home in just impeccable condition (filling holes from every piece of removed artwork and touching up the paint in every single room, having the house deep-cleaned before we moved in, etc.)
Since we were new to the area (relocating from NJ to NH) I asked their realtor if I might contact them for information regarding the various vendors, trades people, etc. they used to maintain the home in such great condition. In reply I received a long email from Mr. Seller, listing every plumber, electrician, landscaper, tree person, cleaning lady, snow removal dude, etc., etc. that they used and recommended. We struck up (and maintain to this day) an on-going email friendship which means the world to us.
When we made an offer on the house, we actually made an offer on the contents, because we loved so much of it. They turned us down but ended up leaving us a bed, end tables, a leather couch, love seat and chair (!), a gorgeous iron art piece hanging over the fireplace that I was going nuts trying to find a replacement for, only to arrive and see it hanging there … and on and on.
They left us, too, a little book of pictures of improvements they made to the house, as well as plans and drawings from the original construction. (They were the second owners.)
In fact, last summer we had a visit from Mrs. Seller (Mr. was not well enough to join her) when she was in the area visiting friends. It was like somebody I had known my whole life stopped by for coffee. She was crazy about everything we have done so far (decorating, mostly, since the house was more or less perfect when we bought it) and told us lots of stories about their lives in the house. She shot iPhone video to show Mr. Seller what we had done, and later in the day I got a very warm, wonderful email from him.
As for things found around the house, well, not exactly. But, as soon as we moved here I started scouring all the consignment and thrift stores in the area to pick up art (so many walls!) One day, after going back over the photos we shot while house-hunting I realized that I had bought 4 different pieces that had previously been hanging in the house!
Oh here’s one thing I found. (Last thing, I promise – I’m very blabby today.) When we first moved I was having regular house-related nightmares. They were really freaking me out because I loved the house so much. One day, I just walked all around the house, inside and out, telling it how much I loved it and that I was so happy to be there and that I promised to take good care of it and, really, there was nothing about it I didn’t like. “Well,” I said, “maybe not these chintzy plastic flowers.” There was a pot sitting out in the front yard filled with left-behind artificial flowers and I bent down to pick them up and found inside the pot a stone with the word “love” etched in it.
Never had another nightmare.
Sally says
I love this too. Houses are houses but people make them homes! I wish I knew more about our house. Like many others in Berkeley it was built in 1906 after the Great San Francisco earthquake when folks headed across the Bay to build new homes. Ours was built by a carpenter (all from redwood) for his family—it’s a Colonial Revival “Classic box”. http://berkeleyheritage.com/essays/ashby_station_historic3.html
The garden has lots of old stone work–when we first moved in there was an old brick incinerator in the backyard and a brick wishing well!
I love imagining all the day to day life that has taken place over the 100+ years of its existence.
Lorrie says
We have only bought new construction, but upon leaving a house I leave a scrapbook for the new owner to fill out and stay with the house if they move. Pictures of our family when we moved in and as we left, while it was built, gardens, fences we put up, etc. A home has it’s history and should never be a mystery I believe. ;)
Catherine says
I live in Ireland & have recently moved into a 1950s two bedroom cottage with my partner. He’s from the area & knows some of the history if the house but doesn’t know where the family is now.
When we were renovating the hallway, we were removing the old skirting & we found a piece inscribed by the carpenter who had fitted it. He had written his name, address & the date (Christmas Eve, 1956!) on it before nailing it to the wall! I removed the piece of skirting to safety but I still haven’t gotten around to putting it into a shadow box. My other (completely unsentimental) half still wants to know why I kept it…
paintergal says
I. love. this.
The previous owner of our last house owned it for 64 years. What a history that family had with that little house. When he passed away in 2009 (he was 95) his son and grandchildren came to our house and we showed them our updates. They were tickled. I loved hearing their stories.
Now in our new house (been here for 9 months) I wish I knew more about the original owners. I do know they lived in the garage while they were building the house.