the house that george built...

Less than a mile from the heart of town, across the street from the elementary school that my kids went to, stands a small abandoned house. It is set way back in the woods between a tangled mess of tall maples and an antique apple orchard. In the winter it can be seen from the road, a ghostly, run down looking Tudor style house. But in the summertime it is a secret hide-away; an Enchanted Storybook Cottage.

This little house has always been the brunt of urban legend stories in our town- no one every really knew what the story behind it was - why did it go empty and abandoned for all these years...decades actually. Well, last week, on my favorite day, (Wednesday, rural decay adventure day) I had the pleasure of discovering more about it, when I snuck up onto the property with my camera to get a better look. Unexpectedly I was met up with its current owner, the grandson of the man who built the house, when he drove up the gravel drive and caught me with my camera redhanded. He graciously filled me in on the houses history and invited me to take pictures (because it is so hidden in this shady glade, these photos are unfortunately rough)

George Shorey built the little cottage around 1910 as his art studio. He was a well known and successful ( listed even) artist as well as art professor in NY and this was his getaway during his time off. The structure is primitive, after all he wasn't an architect. Traditional Tudor in design it is constructed of reclaimed beams, and salvaged parts including leaded glass windows (no longer there) and rustic doors and hardware. Yup, they were even recycling and reusing back in those days. Cement was carefully troweled over chicken wire exterior and sections of the beams were decoratively carved. There is a massive chimney at one end of the studio that soars two stories high and a steep open staircase that leads to a galley type loft over this huge fireplace. We couldn't go into the building but we stuck our camera inside and you can get an idea of the interior. A mess from being vandalized and partied in over the decades.

I could see remnants of old frames and garden statues that made me wonder ... what did this place look like when it was first built?

When I left I asked the nice man what they were going to do with the property. He said they were building their retirement home on the back acreage ( he even gave us a tour of that!) and going to tear down the front house. No!


But it turns out he meant the front house, that being the big white elephant of a house that his Grandfather lived in next to the little cottage - An old 18th century gothic style house, beautiful in its own right, that has gone to ruin.

As for the enchanted storybook cottage / art studio? George's grandson will be restoring that back to its original beauty :)

Won't George be happy ...

RURAL DECAY ADVENTURE DAY

I know its Thursday but this is about Wednesday. I like Wednesday for a number of reasons. First of all, its the middle of the week so the weekend isn't far off. All the Monday "getting back into the daily grind" crap is over with. Second, it's free iced coffee at Starbucks and third and best of all is it has become my RURAL DECAY ADVENTURE DAY.

So this Wednesday was an overcast day, perfect for shooting (pictures) and adventuring up into the West Glenville hills. We were going abandoned house hunting. The sky was teary and foreboding and a mist of grey hung in the air. The perfect backdrop to what we were about to find. Elizabeth (my daughter) and I, grabbed our shoes and cameras and headed out. First we got our Starbucks. Yeah, that hit the spot -- but was finished before we even officially got on the back roads headed up to the hills.

The landscape changes dramatically as you climb these winding roads. Its almost magical - like entering another world. So SOOO green. Infact I didn't realize it but my camera was set to a weird mode that exaggerated the greens...and made everything else variations of grey, the shots coming out black and white with exorcist green accents. I was annoyed looking at the playbacks as I took them and couldn't figure out what the heck I had done to make it switch modes like that. But after I uploaded them, I actually liked them. I think they turned out eerily beautiful.

Things weren't looking too promising though as we passed house after renovated house. The rundown houses I remember spotting 20 or more years ago, now had crisp new coats of neutral paint, new energy efficient doors and windows and all the character drained from them. Trees were cut down and red plastic toy vehicles sat in paved driveways. Every once in a while we'd see a prospect up ahead but then it would turn out to be inhabited. Run down, but someone was obviously living there. As in the instance of the bearded man, you see in these photos. I cant believe he actually lived in this house, but he did. He held a long scythe in his hand and was "mowing" his 2 foot high grass with it, when we spotted him and the house. I pulled over and approached him. He was scary and I'm sure he too was leery of me, this stranger that wanted to photograph him and his house. I told him I wanted to put him and his charming house on my blog and he actually let me take his picture as well as the house. He even knew what a blog was! He was definitely an interesting old character.

The rest of the ride was eventful - three more abandoned houses and lots of rural critters (some I didn't photograph) including a mangy coyote that jumped out in front of our car and then disappeared into the woods. The "doll house" was a real gem . I call it the doll house because the whole front was exposed just like a dollhouse revealing the two stories and a funky, off kilter staircase. It was chock full of all the decayed architectural details found only in an abandoned house. Every inch of it was an artistic vignette just waiting to tell a story. I couldn't wait to get home and go through these photos.

But dusk was approaching and it began to rain. Our Wednesday adventure was sadly over (and with the cost of gas it had to be).
But only for another week. We will return.

Lover's lane is on next weeks itinerary - you know, the place where the dead bride was spotted walking barefoot down the road...

stay tuned....

WHO LIVED HERE?

Abandoned houses have always held a fascination for me.


They have a story to tell.

They hold memories



and secrets.

I wonder...


who lived here...



and why



did they leave?

It's been a long time since I've pulled off the side of a country road and snuck into an old abandoned house. What an adventure....
I think I'd like to do that again.