A Memory - The Front Door

 Often, when I have down time at work, I will scour the internet for old houses. Sometimes I go to sites like circaholdhouses.com and look at houses, particularly in NC, that are for sale.  Sometimes, I will just type in an address or area and see what pops up.  The other day I looked up "Church street in Monroe, NC" to see what images I would get.  I have to admit that I wanted to find pictures of Isobel's house.  I couldn't remember the streets address, so I did not have any luck.  I would love to find some images though because it's been 40 years since I've been in that house. Ah, well.

I did come across a house that has family connections.  And, there were some different aspects of the listing compared to family folklore.  There is a house on Church Street that my great grandparents lived in.  I think it was at 607 S. Church street.  But don't quote me LOL  When I was growing up, this house was occupied by Fred McCallum.  He was the chairman of the board for Crisis Assistance Ministry, that my Mom was executive director for.  We had many wonderful times with Fred and his wife, whose name escapes me right now.  

Knowing my love of antiques and all things old, Fred invited us to come a tour his home. I absolutely loved it.  According to my Grandmother, the Bivens family lived in this house before building the family home home in Wingate.  It may have been while my great grandfather was register of deeds, but I'm not sure.  This is where I think the listing is wrong.  It has the building date as 1901 and our family home was built in 1897, so I believe the home is older than what they say.  Henry and Rosabelle were probably born in this house...and maybe died there as children.

As we toured the house, it was absolutely beautiful.  When we came to the kitchen, however, my eyes perked up.  That's when I noticed the back door.  It was a beautiful back door with a stained glass upper half.  And I realized that this is the exact same design of door as the front door as the family home in Wingate.  Obviously, I don't know if my great grandparents were so smitten with this door that they wanted it in their new home, but there it was.  Staring me in the face.  The only difference was the doorbell. This one had a pushbutton door bell and the one at Wingate was a twist doorbell.  I was in awe.

The home in Wingate, Edgewood Farms, was built in 1897, the same year the Uncle John was born.  I'd like to think that they loved this door so much that they ordered one for their new home.  Many times I have seen this door and imagined myself opening it up to company or to check the mail or whatever.  I love this kind of connection in history.  And it all comes back to opening doors.

That is all.