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.
6 comments:
Looks comfortably lived in. I would like to have seen the old sod house.
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.
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.
We had a good time with surprisingly no fights. Guess we are all getting too old.
Great piece of history, thanks! :-)
You are welcome.
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