This year we will have been married for 30 years. 20 of those years have been spent in our renovated 1934 bungalow in the Church Cherokee Historic District of Marietta, Georgia. For the last five years or so, our anniversary trips were spent visiting other historic districts around the South in North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Eastern Georgia. For our 30th Anniversary, Robert and I thought we’d do something different.
This past Friday the 24th, we bought an 1850’s fixer upper in Griffin, Georgia. It’s a gorgeous Gilman Drake house that has fallen into disrepair. Even in its current state, the house has good bones. It’s a Greek Revival style home with columned porch and a low-pitched roof. Its symmetrical façade is reminiscing of the antebellum period.
Gilman Drake arrived in Griffin from New Hampshire in the early 1850’s on the eve of the Civil War and worked as a contractor building a number of structures in Griffin. This house was one of his first. He built it for the Milner family.
The central hall spans nearly 60 feet in length and makes quite an impression. As it stands now it’s 3,590 square feet but that will probably increase as we figure out how to rearrange things to fit our lifestyle. For one, there are no bathrooms and no kitchen so rearranging is a must! The house is appealing for its wrap around porch, six fireplaces and wide plank heart pine flooring. And YES, there is also a way to recreate the same kind of private back courtyard we had here on Frances Avenue where the dogs can run and play.
Robert has been heavily involved in launching a new regional real estate development company that specialises in historic preservation and fresh starts for older buildings. They will take the lead in renovating this house. I will take my doTERRA Essential Oils business with me and continue its growth.
Although saying goodbye to the house we raised our children in is a bittersweet one, we are happy for this new adventure. We will miss our wonderful neighbours and friends. Frances Avenue is a magnificently unique street wonderfully lost in time. The house at 134 will soon be the same private enclave for someone else like it was for us.
Our adventure begins.
Take a look!
Wow, congratulations! I can't wait to visit.
ReplyDeleteWe might have it finished by the time you get back! :D
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