The House

The photo above is of my mother, granddaddy, me and  my brother Chap, at Christmas time.
The house is one of Montgomery Ward's kit homes. It had the plans and materials included at a price of
around $2,300.00. The closest I can come to the actual plan is the "Allerton". This home is still standing and is now valued (2011) at $248.000.00. Originally it had three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room w/fireplace, one bath and a huge pantry. There were window seats in the dining room across two windows. There was an attic and the coal heater was in a very small basement. The heat came up into the house between the kitchen and dining room through a 2'x2' heavy grate. I stood over that grate many times during the winter until my legs turned red.  I think the house has been added on to since it was sold in 1959. The lot was not large. I still have dreams about that wonderful house.
Granddaddy bought the kit when he found a job at a music store (where he bought the upright piano), and had the house built, then he and Granny moved to Raleigh from Littleton when Mother was nine years old.
  Mother told me of the old 'knick-knacks' and furniture that they left in their old place when they moved and it made me sick just thinking about what might have been left..I love antiques, especially primitive. I stopped her in mid-sentence and said, 'please, I can't bear to hear it'..so she never told me about what else that had been left behind.