My dad's side of the family were mostly farmers in the mountains of Pennsylvannia. If you were a Stombaugh or a Ritchey, you could bet you were related. My grandpa had a beautiful 500 acre farm. The main house is in the top photo, with a cellar, main floor and an upstairs with four bedrooms and an attic. The house was big and old, heated by an old coal furnace. I can remember grandpa getting up at 3:30 am to shovel coalin the furnace so the house could begin warming through the old radiators, that popped and crackled as the metal expanded. They didn't have an air conditioner, but they didn't need it. There were three boys, my dad and two younger brothers. The two older boys eventually left the farm and the youngest, to my knowledge, is still running it. As soon as the boys were able to walk and talk good, they had to share in chores around the farm. Dad always said I and my siblings had it good, cause we could play all day. He said he went to school and then worked all evening. Then had to work all day on Saturday, went to church Sunday morning and then, if things were good, he could play baseball or something with the boys. I think you really have to love this life to work as hard as my grandpa did.So, let me describe the photos. I already spoke a little about the main house. It was really big. There was a big staircase that ran up and down thru the middle of the house. There was a door in the cellar/wash room, with a ringer washing machine setup and canning storage area. The thing I remember the most about the cellar was that they had a big old bathtub down there and had run the mountain spring water through it. The tub was always full of very cold spring water. In the summer time, they would keep big watermelons in it and soda pop, so many different flavors. It was always filled with Crush soda's in the bottle, orange, grape, strawberry, etc. You just grabbed what you wanted and snapped off the top in the bottle opener attached to the wall next to it. That was a real treat to us kids.
Then you came up the stairs. Even the staircase has memories for us. As you came up the stairs, you could see the bottom of the staircase that lead to the upstairs bedrooms. My grandparents would store household tools and whatnots in them, but most of all, big blocks of Hershey Chocolate that they would turn into various candies at Christmas time. I loved their chocolate covered cherries. You cannot buy them to taste the way they made them.The bad thing was my grandma liked chocolate a LOT and everytime she would take a trip down those stairs, she would have a little paring knife in her pocket and cut her a piece. I'll never forget the year grandpa went to pull out the chocolate to make candy and poor grandma had eaten almost ALL of the chocolate, LOL.
As you left the cellar you entered a little landing area where, if you went to the right, you were in the formal living room. People rarely gathered in there, but I loved the room, cause it had a big piano in it and I loved to bang on the keys. Every once in a while, grandma would take time out of her busy day to play old fashion hymns for me. We would sing and sing. Grandma couldn't sing, but she thought she could and sang loudly. This was also the room the big, fresh Christmas tree would be set up in. Oh I loved those big bubble lights. I could sit and watch them for hours and all the old ornaments. I wish I had photos of one of those trees.
If you went left from the landing you were in the den. This is where the family would gather after dinner to talk, read or even watch a little tv on the old black and white RCA with rabbit ears or nap. Grandpa would make us popcorn when a baseball game was on. He was a huge Pirate fan.
The only bathroom in the house was at the front end of the house in the den area. I can't imagine having only one bathroom in any house now, LOL.
The kitchen was at the other end of the house. It was big and warm and we ate in the same room that the meals were prepared. This was the busiest room in the house. Grandma would get up at 6 and have breakfast on the table for the men at 7 every day and even before breakfast was done, she would have dinner in the oven or on the stove. Breakfast dishes were washed and dinner was served at noon. Dinner was the biggest meal of the day, only second to breakfast. At breakfast, grandma would pull out the big griddle and make buckwheat cakes until we were all STUFFED. You actually had to tell her to stop or she would just keep cooking and throwing them on your plate.
Dinner would be something like a pot roast with homemade noodles, several different veggies they grew, fruit salads and dessert! Lots of desserts, LOL Those Pennsylvannia Dutch really knew how to make sweets. Supper was usually leftovers or sandwiches.
The kitchen was usually where company would sit around the table and tell wonderful stories. My grandpa was a wonderful story teller and I loved his laughter. I loved to hear stories about my dad and his brothers. Wow, dad was human too. Company was always welcome here, not like how people live today.
This floor plan made a complete circle around the staircase and as a kid it was great cause you could run a big circle thru the house and run thru each room, except the bathroom. There are four bedrooms upstairs and then the attic. Everyone always fought over the "back" bedroom cause it was the coldest. We all loved to sleep in the "back" room under piles of quilts grandma had made.
Okay, now that I have talked so much about the main house photo, LOL....The middle right photo is taken in the kitchen as a meal is shared. Dad is the one with the crew cut and that is his brother next to him. My sister is next to my uncle and then my other uncle's son is next to her. Notice how everone drinks milk and coffee?
The middle left is a photo of the "other" farm where the youngest brother built a house to raise his family. It is a couple miles up the road from the main farm. I am up on a big hill looking down on the house. Those rolling hills were fun to walk around. One year it snowed while we were there and I built a snowman. Problem was, I didn't have a lot of experience building snowmen and started rolling the balls from the top of the driveway. By the time I got close to the barn, the balls were so big...well, let's just say, my uncle had to move them off the road with the tractor and they didn't completely melt away until Spring, LOL.
Bottom left is grandma. Grandma had her issues and obviously loved the boys better than the girls in the family and loved to scare us kids with her fire and brimstone preaching, but she was grandma.
Last but of course, not least, bottom right is grandpa. We lost him to cancer several years ago, but what a wonderful man. At least that is the way I remember him. He was very patient and fun to be around and he always let us help with the chores. Funny how those chores my dad hated seemed like so much fun to my brother and I. He taught me how to milk a cow, laugh at myself and to respect others and nature. Thanks grandpa.
