The Final Story of a Beautiful Lady

In the last post we were getting ready to go up the staircase of that beautiful old home on Walloon Lake, Michigan.  There was pristine dust on the stairs. No one has been there in years.  I was so excited.  My head was a whirl with ideas of how to bring her back to life.  There were no other sounds but our footsteps as we climbed.

The window at the top of the stairs visible from the front entry. You can just see the newel post where you make the turn to go up to second floor.

On our way up.  The first bedroom was at the top of the stairs.  On that side of the hall, there were 3 total.  On the other side, there was one bedroom and a 4th that had been turned into a bathroom.

                                The pink room with the brass bed and an ornate carved mirror.

Dressing table and a marble topped table.

A secretary over flowing with books.   The first piece of furniture I ever bought was a secretary similar to this one.  I was 20 years old, in 1970, and it was $75.00.  I put in in layaway and it took me a few months to pay for it. 

The Blue bedroom holds a beautiful  sleigh bed and ice cream chairs.

In the far right hand corner you can barely see a sink.  All the bedrooms had these tucked away in corners. This is where I ran out of film.  All the room were packed with antiques, old wicker for the porch, junk and boxes.

  One year turned into another and every time we went up to Walloon Lake to visit, I was anxious to see "my" old house.  From the first time I saw her, in 1981,  I loved her.  I believe it was about 1988 or 89 that I took these pictures.  In the mid to late 1990s, Terry's dad, Grandpa, told us that Mr Hass had died.  I wondered what would happen to her now.  A couple of more years go by.  Then, one day when Terry was talking Michigan "Go Blue" sports with his Dad, Grandpa says, " Oh, tell Kathy that they held an auction at the Hass house.  Everything in it was pulled out and sat all over the yard."      What!!!!  Are you kidding me.  This happened and I wasn't told about it!!   I  had just wanted a piece of it. 

More years go by. No "For Sale" signs go up. 

One day, after the turn of the century, Terry gets another call from Grandpa.  "Tell Kathy her house burned.  It's all gone.  They cleared the lot."

Gone.......Just gone......