My area is steeped in history with ghosts of past and famous people living nearby. After reading your post, I looked up some more history, but way too much to write. When you are in gold country, the stories are long and numerous. The only thing I could hope for is finding gold on my property.....as if no one else considered such.

I live in a small house, but the neighborhood has homes as large as 11,000 sq ft. Near a well known hotel called the Broadmoor and many other historical sites. We are also well known for ice skating olympics which began at the hotel and now has their own location.

A lot of ghost stories, haven't and don't want to know if one is attached to my little house. Many famous people hanging around, but difficult to know where they live.

I volunteer at Restore and we did get the full kitchen from the Maytag mansion donated. I looked up the information about him and decided to buy one piece just to hold on to some history. We also get a lot of historic pieces from the hotel..doors, windows, etc.

It would be interesting to know the history of my home and land. My guess is that there are far more interesting stories to tell.

I don't think I've posted here before, but I do enjoy lurking and learning on this forum. So, I had to jump in. :) I did live in a neighborhood outside of Duluth MN that had a history. It was the Jackson Project in Hermantown MN (there were many projects around the nation). There were 83 homes (1,2,3 and 4 bedroom)there that were built during the 1930's WPA years. Each house was on several acres. The architecture was Federal style and they were designed in Atlanta. The idea was to get inner city people out of the city and independent. Each home was "raffled" and the new owners were given a cow, a pig and 35 chickens and were expected to raise a garden the first year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jackson Project

Not really, but my house is 70 yrs old and I have the pleasure of knowing the man who owned and lived in my house for 51 of those years.

He plopped himself down on the corner of the lot this last summer to watch the July 4th fireworks (prime spot!) and my daughter & I chatted with him. Retired college professor. It all progressed from there, and we've come to know each other over that time.

When he bought this house, it was only 10 yrs old. He did nothing major to the house in that time, and all the trim & built-ins are original. He's explained some little tweaks he did and answered many questions.

The best info are his stories of the trees he planted from seeds, the story of why I have a vacant lot, the explanation for the mysterious brick pile (old chimney) in the back, and all those little tidbits a homeowner always wonders...but don't make huge differences in the grand scheme of life.

He's come over many times to visit since, and he's a wonderful man. He loved this house very much, and it's so nice to welcome him. My daughter has latched on to him like a grandpa and they walk together in the back yard...he looks at the trees he planted, and she follows him around talking about bugs, barbies, and books. So cute and heartwarming.

Gayle

I live across the street from two homes which were once the first college that offered masters degrees to women. They were used as hopsitals during the War Between the States.

We are still looking into the history of our property. There used to be a smaller house here and a root cellar. We found lots of glass from the root cellar. We want to go to the court house and research it back some day. We do have a picture of the old house that was here.

As far as our town goes. Calamity Jane was around here for awhile. She was believed to have relatives here.

In my particular neighborhood the person that built our house bought out the entire street and gave each of his children a house. My little town, however, has its own claim to fame as the "World's Richest Acre" which kept this part of Texas out of the Great Depression.

How cool that so many of the posters here have interesting stories about their houses or areas. I have zilch. I was told this neighborhood used to be a cotton field. It is my belief that Moe, Larry, & Curly built our house - not a good thing.

My house was built in 1917, of logs cut at Temple Fork, in the mountains about 20 miles (as the bear ambles) from the house. My neighbor told me the house was built for her great aunt by family members and they talked about hearing Old Ephraim, the area's last grizzly bear roaring around the campsite when they spent a couple days cutting the logs.

Old Ephraim, was killed in 1923. I've been to his gravesite.

Ellen

Here is a link that might be useful: old Ephraim history

Neat story about old Ephraim, Ellen!
My little stucco cottage, where we live now in Alabama, was built in 1950 by a son for his mama. The son lived a street over in one direction, and there are a series of fence gates through my neighbor's back yard, and then through MY back yard too. I asked the little lady who lives behind me what that gate in the fence between us was for. She said that she and the other mama were good friends and visited a lot, and that gate meant GOOD NEIGHBORS. So when we bought a strip of her lot and installed a new fence, I made sure to put a new and wider gate in it. Sad to say, the son who built our house recently had a stroke and is not expected to be in his home much longer.

Our river house that was destroyed in Katrina sat on land which had a very long and detailed title abstract which came with it. Going back to the folks who came to the region in the mid 1750s. I saved that title abstract from the storm debris and keep it as a reminder of the history connected to any piece of land, if we only knew about it.

Mobile was settled by the French in 1711, but that piece of geography where our house was, named DOG RIVER or RIVIERE DU CHIEN, was named that because they heard so many "dogs" barking, and discovered those "dogs" were instead ALLIGATORS. Yep, a very swampy and low piece of land. I just love riverside living.