Memories of My Life - Chapter Nine - Homes Of My Life

I lived in this house in Harpursville, New York on Route 7, from 1954 until 1962, when my parents moved my brother, Mickey, and me to Florida. I didn't want to go because my next door neighbor told me that Florida had lots of bugs. This house was a wonderful old house with 14 rooms in it. We did not use the upstairs at all and that was one of my favorite places to play. It wasn't heated so I didn't go up there much in the winter. Looking at the house from the picture, it doesn't look that big. It was though. All the rooms were really big. Our kitchen had an old fashioned pantry attached to it, that my parents made into a laundry room, with a brand new washing machine and dryer. I remember it had a Hoosier in it and my father took it out! Can you imagine? 

We moved to Crescent City, FL in 1962. This was my favorite place to live! We lived 8 miles from Crescent City on Fruitland Road, and had no real close neighbors. It was great. Loved the big oak trees in our yard with Spanish moss hanging off them. We were only a mile from the St. John's River and not that far from many lakes, such as Lake George and Lake Stella. We swam in Lake Stella all the time. It was so much fun living there. I have reconnected with many of my friends from there on Facebook.

My grandmother's house on Snow Road in Harpursville, NY, in this photo looks abandoned, and it was. My grandmother went to live her daughter, my aunt. Here it was sitting empty and nobody would bring her up to it because they were afraid they would not get her out of it. And that was probably true. She loved this house which she always referred to as "the farm." It was a farm when she bought it. Ninety-nine acres of land that included a barn, and two chicken houses. We loved to pick blueberries here and she had so many on her land. I wish I had pictures of the inside of her house as I picture it in my mind many times. When I can't sleep I just picture her in her house and all the rooms and how they were arranged. 

I moved to this house in 1975 with my own family. My son was five years old and this is where he started school. This house is on the outskirts of Union Center, NY on Cornell Hollow Road. . Two neighbors to the left of the house but not real close. Nobody across the road. So it was pretty private. This area had very friendly people and one lady came to the house when we moved it with food and brownies. After that, one day a week all the housewives would meet at someone's house for coffee and goodies, and the kids would play together. It was a nice area. 

We moved to this house on Third Avenue in Vestal, NY in April of 1977. Now we had lots of neighbors here! It was a development and all the houses were pretty close together. Here my son had a whole slew of friends and it was a good neighborhood for him. Note: This house is now gone since it was flooded in 2011 when Vestal was badly flooded.

I loved living in this house!

In 1981 we moved to this house on Parkwood Road in Vestal. I loved this house and would have never left it if my husband hadn't broken up with me. I know now, I should have stood my ground and stayed in it. He turned out not to be what he seemed. But I didn't find that out until he died this past July. Anyway, I moved from this house in 1989. After that my whole life changed. I have evolved to a whole new lifestyle, but it was not all at once. I am not sure what is in my future as I grow older. Maybe I will have to give up the "modern homesteading" life. Maybe not. Depends.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole 

Updated 2018