Oley Revisited
Hi, Ann;
Did I tell you I stopped and toured the first floor of the house in Oley?
The house in
many ways looks great, but the yard is small -- no barn, no chickenhouse, no
back yard pump, etc. And no hedge -- anywhere. The ditch is filled in, and
the back yard behind and a bit to the left of the house is a parking lot for
the offices and apartments in the house. So, since it was an office (at first
I thought it was the office of the Oley Historical Society (!!), but, it turns
out the whole main street area is "historical" and I guess they can't change
the outside much or something. But, anyway, we went inside since it was an
office, and talked to the woman.
The house in Oley is
in great shape inside and out, though they have put an entry on the side
street side to go upstairs to the one apartment, for which they built a wall
in the kitchen. And that giant kitchen, it turns out, even without the wall
built, is actually pretty small!! There is also a staircase coming through
the upstairs porch and down, to go to the other apartment. And there is a
real door into the cellar, which also may be something, though also may be
storage. So, Dan and I saw the outside, and the beautiful entry way with the
stairs and closet, and I showed him where we would hide in the closet and
behind the doors. I showed him where Daddy cut the hedges into chairs, and
where the barn used to be and where Mother did the "washing" and where we
rolled down the terrace and played baseball and where we played Duke a Riding.
I had to demonstrate "duke a riding" because he didn't quite see how it
worked.
The woodwork and "fireplace" are incredibly beautiful, as are the walls and
woodwork. They, for some unknown reason, paneled the playroom (ugh), which is
now the chiropractor's main room. The living room in front is the waiting
area, and the 'dining room' is the reception area, and the kitchen is the
entry way to the bathroom, which is now where the washer and dryer were. I
had a hard time coming to grip with the relative smallness compared to my
memories, and when I told him (Dan) about the coal being delivered for the furnace,
I felt like I was about 105 years old!
But, we also saw the church (with a parking lot next to it), the school, the
fair grounds, the blinking light by Dr. Tallman's, the fire hall, hotel, post
office, bowling alley, diner and "Irv's", not to mention the Blue's and the
Brown's. Lots of changes,
but lots that is still the same.