There is a lot of history that comes with living in an historic home.  We have been given a lot of information and some we have found to be true and some turned out to be less than accurate.  For example, we were told the pews on the front porch were originally in the third floor chapel.  Not true.  We believe someone probably purchased them at a local church and realized when they got them here, that there was no way to get them in the house.  We have the original blue prints from the chapel and the pews are pictured in the plans.  The  ones on the porch are very different than the ones in the blueprints.

We were told the third floor originally was a ballroom converted to a chapel but the plans seem to detail the chapel installation in a space that was previously servants quarters or unfinished space.  Which explains why access to the third floor is only through the back staircase.  You would never have had guests attending a ball or great party without a fancy staircase or at the very least, stairs that would be wide enough to get a ball gown up!

Youngest daughter was looking up pictures of the house and found these:

Back of the house prior to adding laundry room and second story bathrooms.

East side of the house prior to enclosing the porch and before pack porch renovations.

The photos were taken prior to the porch and sunroom being enclosed.  The really interesting part is the laundry room and two of the second story bathrooms are not here.  That means none of those spaces is original to the house.  We had been told the room we use as our laundry room off the kitchen was originally the servants dining room.  This makes a lot of things make more sense.  The upstairs bathrooms overhang the kitchen windows making it a very dark room.  Without that bump out upstairs, the kitchen would be so much brighter.  Oldest daughters room and the master bath are at a wonky angle that allows you to see into the spaces from the other room.  That never made sense to me and now we know why.  It happened when they bumped out that space.

We enjoy our enclosed front porch and use that room like a three season room.  Most of our meals in the summer are eaten out there and it is a great space for a cup of coffee in the morning or a cocktail in the afternoon.  Honestly though, I really like how the house looks without the porch enclosed.  The vision of Mr. Tillinghast with his eye for details  and symmetry are more clearly seen in these pictures.

I like the bicycles resting on the side of the house.  I would guess this was before Mr. Willys arrived with his Pope automobiles!