home sweet home

I knew as soon as I saw this adorable Cape Cod house online four years ago:  it was the one.

 

In my opinion, it was the only house in all of Knoxville with true character that was also in our meager price range.

 

After looking at far too many 60’s ranchers and 90’s cookie-cutter houses, this one stood out like a diamond in the rough.

 

It was original! And big! And beautiful! And old!

Once we were inside the house, however, the “old” was pretty much all we could see. More on that another day.

 

Mrs. Covington, the elderly woman from whom we bought the house, was kind enough to share some stories and pictures from her 40+ years on Twining Drive. First she left this:

In actuality only a photocopy of a picture, it is still one of our greatest treasures. Our house was built in 1940, so our guess is that this picture was taken not long after. I love the dirt roads and the simplicity!  Which one is our house, you wonder?

 

That one. :)  It was apparently the first house built in the area. Not long after, the homeowner also built his daughter a house nearby. Very nearby. Right down the hill. Whoa, daddy.

 

It’s amazing to realize how much life has taken place somewhere before you even existed. And how different that life must have been! (is that a horse barn??)

 

After a 2nd owner lived in the house for a short time, the Covingtons (the family who sold us the house) moved in about 1961. They completed a massive overhaul in their first few years, and left behind pictures of the process:

The front of the house during construction. February 1963, as you can barely tell from the edge of the picture.

 

The back of the house. What is especially cool about this is that the 2nd floor was originally exactly like the front of the house-two dormers (see previous picture). When the Covingtons moved in, they built an addition between the two dormers and created a living area upstairs (which we refer to as the loft). I guess you could say they raised the roof.

Wow. That was bad.

 

More work on the back. We don’t know all that they did during this time, but we know one thing for sure: though the outside didn’t change too drastically (thank goodness), the 1960’s certainly left their mark on the inside of the house.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what they call a teaser.