Here are some things we love:
Slowing down and enjoying the little things.
Listening to the creek and croaking frogs as we fall asleep.
Realizing housework can actually be enjoyable.
Natural light in every room and looking out and seeing green everywhere.
Discovering paths and trails throughout the property.
Making a house a home.
Here are some things that are new:
Bugs come into your house even though you lock the door
Glass ceilings are freaking cool. Until they leak.
If something starts to smell like sewage.. it’s probably sewage.
When you lose power often enough, don’t bother resetting the time on the stove
Weeds regrow as soon as your back is turned.
It’s been 3 months and a week since we moved our life to the East Coast and decided we were going to be Pennsylvania residents. Not going to lie, it’s been an adjustment. Although I grew up in the area and am quite familiar with small town living, I did spend most of my adult life living in a busy city and getting used to certain conveniences. Ben and I have pulled into more than a couple local establishments to only realize not everything is open every day of the week. Frozen cauliflower pizzas from Costco have been our saving grace a few times. One morning, my girlfriend and I met at 7am for a walk along the river with coffee. Except the coffeeshop wasn’t open that early. She looked at me with her *full* travel mug from home in hand like I was an absolute diva expecting the coffee shop would actually be open in mornings.. when people typically drink coffee. My bad. But honestly, besides businesses not being open when *I* am hungry or needing a coffee, life has been really good. We’re both learning how to take care of a house together and pretty much digging the overall experience. It’s funny how much we both are changing and taking on independently and together as a couple. It’s easy to forget that we spent the last 9 years living in 900 square feet sandwiched between neighbors, sharing walls, ceilings, and floors with other units. And now, we’re plopped on 12 acres in a 3500 square foot house with a septic tank and a well. Very new territory to say the least. But it’s amazing how much you learn and figure out when you actually care.
The history of our house is quite cool. The original structure was a stone farmhouse built in 1800. I’m unsure how the house was divided, but today, the original part of our home consists of one room downstairs and an old spiral staircase to one room upstairs. The home belonged to a mason, and to this day, we can find remnants of the old mill on the property. We don’t know much more about the house in its early days, but eventually it was inhabited by Josephine Herbst and her husband John Herrmann in 1928. Both, were writers and said to be involved in political radicalism. The Erwinna farmhouse became their haven for creativity and a gathering place for their friends and fellow literi. Ernest Hemingway was known to be a friend of Josephine Herbsts- so who knows, he could have very well been on the property. The couple eventually divorced, but Josephine remained in the house until her death in 1969.
After Herbst, Herbie Ward bought the property. Originally from Indianapolis and an artist, Ward settled in Bucks County to paint. He described the area to others as ‘the most beautiful place on earth‘. He had acquired the Black Bass Inn in the 40’s and had basically saved the business, renovating the space and making it an ideal stop for tourists visiting from NYC or Philadelphia. Ward had gone on to construct homes and gardens throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and he eventually did the same with the Tinicum house. Adding onto the original stone farmhouse, Ward had designed an addition not just onto one side of the structure, but 3 of the 4 sides. The add on consisted of a kitchen and dinning room on one side, a living room on the other and a giant sunroom in the back, connecting both the new sides of the house. Slate flooring was purposefully used in the sunroom to act as a natural heater, while the other rooms typically remained cooler. Upstairs, above the kitchen and dining room were two spare bedrooms and the master was over the living room on the other end. One can simply walk over the grated catwalk in the sunroom to get to the other side of the house, orrrr walk through the original house’s second level, which not only has a door to the master, but a doorway leading to a back hall, connecting the additional bedrooms. It’s a a maze of nooks and crannies for sure. Herbie Ward unfortunately did not get to see his plans for Tinicum completed before his death. However, the design had been executed at this point and although the home was in rough shape, the right person could appreciate Herbie Ward’s efforts and finalize the project.
That person was John Langdon. A graphic designer living in Philadelphia with his family. The Langdons bought the Tinicum house as a weekend retreat from the city in 1994. They renovated the home and brought Herbie Ward’s design to life. A small, 19th century farmhouse was transformed into a 3500 square foot contemporary home that featured original stonework with additional natural elements such as slate flooring and wooden beamed ceilings throughout. Although the house had originally been a country retreat, John Langdon began to spend more time at the Tinicum house and eventually lived on the property full time until relocating to the west coast.
When Ben and I had first found the house online, we were lovestruck. It was our dream home- totally unique and quirky, but beautifully done and cared for at the same time. Initially, I didn’t think we were actually ready to be packing up and leaving Chicago, so when Ben suggested we fly in and see it, I was a bit surprised. We met with a Realtor relatively quickly and I just remember thinking, ‘oh, god.. we’re going to buy this house, aren’t we?’ Well, yeah. We loved it. And I think our hearts were invested pretty immediately.
The buying process went as smoothly as one could hope for with a contingent offer and a home that’s been vacant for years with its owner on the other side of the country. You can read a brief overview of that process here. But there were definitely difficult moments.
We realized very quickly how we weren’t just buying a new house. We were buying a piece of living history that had been a haven for creative energy for over 200 years. Writing, painting, designing, discussing- the house was a space for intellects who appreciated art and nature and living. I’m not sure if it was learning of the history, or simply communicating with the previous owner and experiencing firsthand his emotional attachment to the house- but I realized if we were going to buy this house we needed to give it everything we had and truly love it and honor it. And that’s what we’re doing. But that’s not to say we haven’t faced challenges already.
Since we moved in, we had an abundance of cave crickets coming up from the basement. LOADS of them. And they’re the creepiest things ever if you haven’t seen them. Ben somehow swatted not one, but TWO! out of his beard at one point. They’ve dwindled quite a bit, but we usually find a couple dead ones every few days. Maybe about a week after we moved in, I came downstairs to a living ant farm in our kitchen. Little ants everywhere. It was horrible, but we got traps and the ants went away. A couple days later, I followed a trail of ants through our sunroom to a turquoise plant stand I have. It was no longer turquoise, but black. ALL ANTS. I believe they were draw to the kind of plant I had perched on top of it. Maybe a week afterwards, carpenter ants. Wasps. Spider webs in EVERY corner.
The biggest.. I’ll call it, ‘moment’ we’ve had was a bit more of a umm.. dilemma than insects though. Our basement sometimes takes on a bit of water after rainfall, so Ben has been keeping an eye on the the sump pumps and making sure everything is continuing to run smoothly. I had followed him down into the basement and when I walked around the corner, I stopped. Puddles were gathering right outside our dirt crawlspace and I hadn’t seem them there yet. Something wasn’t right. Ben stepped over the puddles, not thinking anything of them and I just stood there confused. Then I noticed little poops.. much too big for mice, but a cat or raccoon possibly? Now, I’m yelling across our giant basement that ‘there’s cat poop over here!’..’BEN! There’s a cat or something getting in and pooping in here!’ He’s messing with the pumps probably thinking I’m crazy and tuning me out. Then I see white, partially dissolved chunks.. is that paper? What the hell is going on? So I did what anyone else would do and went upstairs and ignored it. Ten minutes later, I have to pee and head into the bathroom.. a little bit of water is pooling on the floor around the base of the toilet. Ben and I had just sat down to make our round of calls to different contractors- something we had been putting off for a few weeks. Roofers, basement waterproofing, electrician, window guy for the sunroom ceiling.. just general calls for quotes. I walk out of the bathroom and tell Ben he may as well add plumber to the list and that I was heading outside to go pee. You can probably imagine his face of ‘wtf is going on now and why is my wife peeing outside’. But anyway, the plumber was scheduled for first thing the next morning. Too bad our sweet house couldn’t wait that long. Ben tells me he’s got to go to the bathroom and won’t be going outside.. Cut to 30 minutes later, and he’s in the basement yelling for me to come down NOW. Turns out, when a house is vacant for long periods of time, the inside of the pipes can flake and cause clogs. Our house had been vacant for three years. So instead of doing his business outside (like I had gently suggested), he basically did it in our basement. And the ‘cat poop’.. well, that may have been more like.. kat poop. This is all very uncomfortable and awkward, but SHIT HAPPENS and this is real life. So, long story, short.. The pipe backed up and shot sewage into our basement. We had an emergency plumber come out that day, he fixed the clog and tried to sell us on a $3,000 clean up crew that could come out that night in basically hazmat suits and clean our basement. Sooooo, plumber man left and we were on our way to Home Depot for a shot vac, squeegee, scrub brushes, all the bleach, gloves, and anything else we randomly grabbed. As soon as we got home, we quickly made suits out of garbage bags and tape and set off into hell to save 3 grand.
There’s something really humbling about squeegeeing your (and your partners) shit around your basement floor. We were laughing through most of it.. pretty much in total shock that this is now our lives, but we also had our moments. And by that, I mean me yelling SCRUB HARDER at Ben and then him later lecturing me how we needed to finish the job we started after I was borderline having a meltdown… it was an absolute shit show- I suppose literally.
This sounds horrifying. And I promise you, it was. That being said, it’s done and dealt with. We survived the sewage shakedown of Tinicum and lived to tell the tale. We both know there will be loads more fun set backs or experiences along the way and we’re ready for them. Hopefully not any time soon, but I think you all know what I mean. We’re rolling with the punches and learning a little bit more about our unique home and how to be better homeowners each day. It’s pretty cool. We love our house and plan to let it thrive with the mentality that if we love it and take care of it, it’ll love and take care of us.
Btw, if anyone wants to come over and help me weed- that’d be great! I’ll supply booze and food- don’t worry, the house doesn’t smell like shit anymore and everything is sanitized :)