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Old Alabama House

My cousin gave me permission to visit her old family home out in the country. The house predates the Civil War. 

The construction of the house is board and batten.  Square nails are still present along the sides. The porch  floor is a safe replacement. 

This is a picture of an actual dug-out room under the house where the family's only slave woman lived.  She was 25 years old in 1850 and had a 3 year old female child. 

A board wall once enclosed the sunken room  The cooking and heating fireplace is still there to the right, but is now hidden by fallen bricks. 

A tin roof still protects the house, but is showing signs of distress. 

The board and batten walls on the right side show square nails. 

This is under the right side of the house and appears to be the base of a chimney.



Here one can see just how how up from the ground the house was constructed, in the style of a raised cottage.  One can see the support hand hewed beams.

The board and batten in detail. 

The front steps are sturdy and lead to a main entrance door.

The ivy adds country charm to the structure.

The original chimney separated from the house and fell away several years ago.  This is all that remains.


This is a view of the slave quarters from the left side. I am guessing it measures about 15 x 15. 

This is the cistern under the house.


Another close up of the remaining chimney brick. My great uncle's flower garden was the delight of my childhood. I still maintain a flower garden today because of the inspiration he gave me to grow beautiful things. 

 A closer look at what remains of the chimney.  A large pile of bricks have been stacked nearby. The entrance to the slave woman's room is to the right. Her cooking and heating chimney is still there and was connected to the main chimney of the house.

This is a side view of the front porch.  The old belief was to paint the ceiling blue to confuse wasps from building nests, as they would see it as sky.  I have seen this all over Alabama but whether this has any basis in truth, I do not know. 

Large camellia bushes are found on the property, along with a beautiful china berry tree and some fig trees in the back yard.  Alabama's state flower is the camellia.   It once was the goldenrod, but that is now considered a weed ! 

The front porch is several feet above the ground . Removal of the lattice work would enable one to see under the house all the way to the back. 

The tin roof slants downward in an arc. 


The original winding driveway to the house is narrow and protects the house from being seen from the country road. 

Comments

  1. This would be great to see with the Wife. Such History! Thanks for sharing.

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