One of my favorite pastimes is a good old country cruise. There is so much to see and so many things to photograph out in the countryside. But I do like the occasional drive around the city limits.
When I lived near Cape I loved the old downtown district near the river. Building there were old and full of stories from back in the days when riverboats flooded the port. The architecture was unique to the area and it made the whole place seem alive with history.
My hometown is a mere fraction of the size of Cape and not nearly as historic but there are still homes and buildings in this small place that have been standing and absorbing memories since long before I was born.
The architecture varies widely from Cape Cod to Victorian with a few ranch and craftsman styles thrown in for variety. There are traditional farmhouses everywhere you look. Sections of town once held shanties belonging to coal miners, most long gone as they weren’t built to last, and the few that remain were long ago reinforced into actual houses. I will tell you about some of those shanties another time.
I won’t cite addresses but anyone living here will recognize this place. I lived away many years but I don’t remember this home looking anything except being neat as a pin. I have admired it since I was a teenager sneaking back by the tracks to have a smoke during lunch time at school. I’ve never been in it but can only imagine what it must be like judging by the shape and turns of the exterior.
The wrapped porch and carriage throughway is what does it for me.
I cannot image that the view from any window has been all that great in the past 50 years but at one time the train station was just a hop, skip, and a jump from this front step and I would think at one time that was a big thing. I am sure you could watch passengers and freight coming and going at all hours.
This small town was once a hopping place.
I see these places that I have admired all these years and would love to sit down with someone who knows some of their original history. If the walls could talk I am sure there would be stories to be told.