The next part of my tour is not so pretty, in more ways than one. Two of the rooms have not been re-decorated, and the story it is not very pretty, either.
I neglected to take pictures of the library before we started to sell things, so the shelves are a little bare. I've sold almost all of my antique books now, except for a few left on the shelf in the sale area.
The library is the room at the end of the hall behind the white door in a previous picture. It has floor to ceiling shelves on all four sides. The shelves were added in the fifties or sixties, we're guessing by looking at the way the shelves are constructed. Before that it might have just been part of the bathroom. We're not sure.
At the back of the library is what used to be a bathroom. This is the part that's not so pretty. We have taken the door down for ease in moving things out of storage. To the left of the bathroom door is another door that leads to what was once a bedroom.
Click here, for my other blog,Thyme for Herbs, where I wrote a post about the back bedroom/kitchen which I had used as a sewing room. Then I moved my sewing room into another bedroom. There's no sense in retelling it here.
Now for the story about why that bathroom is stripped of all plumbing. I'm warning you, it's a sad tale.
In 1947, when Doctor # 3 moved in, there were apartments in the house. He needed to use all of the space for what would soon be his 5 children, so he asked the tenants to leave. A woman (we will call her Mrs. S.) was living alone and did not want to move, so he let her live upstairs in her area. She used the bathroom at the other end of the hallway, which we will call the front bathroom. She was elderly, I believe in her 70s, so they checked on her daily.
One day, he came home and asked his wife if she had heard Mrs. S moving around and she said no. When he went upstairs, he found Mrs. S. in the front bathroom. She had hanged herself from the shower stall. She must have been depressed about something, I don't know anything about that part of the story.
In 1977, when the Doctor sold the house to the R's, he told the story. As soon as they bought the house, they stripped the front bathroom of the plumbing and put in a new tub and shower.
In 1990, when the R's sold it to the C's, the story was once again told, along with how difficult it was to get the old tub out. It had to be lowered over the balcony.
Upon a meeting with the doctor's son, he told them they had it wrong; the incident had happened in the back bathroom. So, you guessed it, they stripped the back bathroom of all its plumbing. They never finished remodeling the bathroom. They only lived here for a total of two years when we bought the house in 1992.
In 1999, our town had a sesquicentennial(150 years), and I was on the committee. I volunteered to organize a home tour, and of course my home was on the tour. Doctor #3 was in his 80s then, and he came through the tour. He was the celebrity of the day. Everyone had to say hello, saying I remember when ---
It was at that time that he told us the story of the suicide and that it had taken place in the front bathroom. So now I know what is accurate, sad but true. May Mrs. S. rest in peace.
Ghost stories have been told by at least two previous residents. I myself have had some strange happenings, but I'll save that for later. I highly doubt the ghost was Mrs. S., but there were many births, deaths, and traumas in this house over the last 100 years, so I never discount what I've heard.
And there you have it, not pretty, but all true.
Please check out my other blogs at:
Thyme for Herbs
An Herbal Bedfellow
Tickling the Ivories
