Saturday, October 10, 2015

Aunt Nancy's 80th


Two weeks ago we attended our maternal aunt’s 100th birthday. Today was a gathering in honor of a paternal aunt’s 80th birthday. This post is for those family members who couldn’t attend but anyone is free to read it.

Wheatridge lies WNW of downtown Denver about twelve miles and is near Golden. Starting in the early 1900’s it was farmed in small parcels as truck gardens to supply Denver. Later, the area raised carnations. Today it is part of the urban sprawl.

My great grandfather bought land with an existing sod house and then built a fine brick house next door for his parents.





My grandfather homesteaded land West of Maybell, CO (Moffat County) around 1913 and there was a steady migrating back and forth between the soddy and the homestead.

These are photographs taken of the family gathering and the Cider Festival, an annual event put on by the Wheatridge Historical Society.












Here are some pictures of the ongoing development  by  cousins of another 100 year old house on what was once a truck garden. As you can see they are using shipping containers. Progress has been slow as they have paid as they built while upgrading the original house.







 For all you who couldn’t attend, know we had a grand time gossiping about you and telling lies. You should have come to defend yourselves.

6 comments:

Coffeypot said...

Looks comfortably lived in. I would like to have seen the old sod house.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

That is the soddy in the first picture. It has been plastered over to preserve it. The only complete unaltered sod house I know of is in the Burlington, CO Old Town Museum.
http://www.burlingtoncolo.com/index.aspx?nid=162
Well worth the $15 admission and two to three hours of your time. Old tractor fans will especially enjoy the indoor collection of restored tractors.

Momma Fargo said...

Awesome history. I love old homes. Sod ones are rare. Your family homes and historical places are great ones. Looks like you all had a grand time.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

We had a good time with surprisingly no fights. Guess we are all getting too old.

Old NFO said...

Great piece of history, thanks! :-)

Well Seasoned Fool said...

You are welcome.