To The Island & Back, Part II

Thursday the 28th was a slightly overcast day, a nice day for a walk, so David, Dolly and I walked over to the Eagles View Golf Course, through the trail, across the bridge and back through the village. 

The golf clubhouse

Looking back toward Floating Bridge Road

View from the clubhouse

Then on to the trail

And the 1,000 foot long bridge across MacLure's Pond

 

The trail spits you out on the Dover Road north of Murray River

Entering City limits!

This house is also being restored, and apparently  also belonging to a Munn. There are three Munn families in The River so I'm not sure who they belong too.

It's strikingly beautiful, all in white. Very sharp. Probably the second nicest home in Murray River! 

Getting to the downtown

The new fire station

The road to Montague

The CIBC, the only bank south of Montague on the Island

The old United Church. A new one replaced this one a couple of years ago, and Mom and Dad attend the new one. This is the church Dad attended when he was a kid. Rumour has it that this might be converted into a Liquor Store.

The new clinic on Main Street

This used to be Miller's Store before the new Esso Station was built. Now it's a home

This used to be Mom's Restaurant and Take-Out. It's empty and for sale now.

The Old General Store, and the little house (one of many) that Dad's cousin Evelyn used to live in.

 I have always liked this house on a spectacular spot overlooking the village

 

This is now the Magik Dragon gift shop. It used to be the home of the Hand-craft co-op (I'll have to get Lois to remind me of the name) where Winnie used to work.

 The old fire station

Looking up Murray River

Approaching the Murray River bridge

View of the village from the Esso parking lot

We walked along MacInnis Street on the way back to the house. This is Doctor Brehaut's house. He delivered Dad and Grampy. 

Below is an old picture of the same house. Murdena (Munn) MacLean gave me this photo about 30 years ago. She lived on MacInnis, was a distant cousin to my grandfather, and a very nice lady.

 Dr. Lester Brehaut

Houses along MacInnis Street

This house was once a church

Murdena also gave me this photo of the church. Notice the bell tower is now gone. 

The Hall

The Baptist Church. I was told Dan Munn, my great-great grandfather built it.

Below is another picture from Murdena, of the Baptist Church when it had a steeple.

The new library on the old school property.

This was Murdena's house. It was going downhill for many years but someone is now fixing it up. It has all new windows. The house was originally built in Hopefield on the corner of Gray's Road and Munn's Road, across from Ira Munn's place. Murdena moved it to this location after she got married (about 1930 if I remember correctly). She grew up with Grampy and they were in the same grade, and the same age.

This was Syd Munn's house. It is between Murdena's house and our place. All three are different Munn families.

Syd moved into this house with his parents in 1904, and he told me about watching our house being moved to it's current location in 1907. Syd lived here until the late 1990's.

Below is the back of Syd's house, with Syd at the door.

Almost home. We headed up the old road that used to cross the tracks.

When you get to the tracks (trail), there's the house!

More to come from the 28th.

To The Island & Back, Part I

Dolly, David and I went back to see the house and family for 2 weeks. We worked hard, but also had a lot of fun. We also saw a lot of family which was wonderful. We are now back in Lincoln and the trip is a bit of a blur. Good thing I took 900 photographs!

I'll post (not all) photos in chronological order with descriptions of what was going on, over several postings.

We woke up at 2:30am on June 26th to catch our flight out of Omaha (an hour's drive from Lincoln) at 6am. We changed planes in Chicago O'Hare and Toronto and arrived at Moncton Airport shortly after 4pm. Mom's sister Alva was there to greet us! and it was really great to see her. It was raining pretty hard and the next three hours driving to the house was at times in a torrential downpour, but we arrived safe and sound 9pm that night. Taking into consideration the time zone changes, the trip from door to door was 15 1/2 hours, which I think is a record for the shortest trip ever.

David and Dolly in Chicago having a liquid breakfast.

We arrived, hugged Mom and Dad, had some tea and took the tour. Even though I designed it, and was there a year ago when they moved in, and saw pictures along the way taken by Lois, Jim, Tom and others, it was still a surprising discovery to see how it has all come together. Mom and Dad have put their hearts and souls into the house and I don't know how to thank them. 

We slept in the upstairs bedrooms. They have yet to be drywalled, but Dad nailed a piece of gyproc onto the studding between the bedrooms to provide a little privacy. No lights up there yet either, so we used a flashlight. Just like the old days!

I planned on sleeping in, but was up, had breakfast, had a bath and out taking pictures by 8:30am, which was 6:30am Lincoln time. Dad took me on the tour:

 

Notice the pile of sandstone from the foundation and bricks from the chimneys. They would soon change.

The new driveway

The new shed and the old outhouse. Next summer it will be restored. Dad uses it to store tools. 

The stumps of the 6 trees that were removed. That would soon change too. 

Dad on the trail

The stacked garden swing in pieces and a birdbath given to Mom by her cousin Neety in Springhill. We found a great place for the birdbath. 

Dad showed me where he cleared old dead trees and cleaned up at the edge of the woods. 

He burned brush in the spring

The stream at the edge of the property

The scarred yard where for some reason the foundation guy got his truck stuck. We have no idea why he drove down to the stream. Dad filled the holes and planted grass. 

Poor old garage. We will take it down next year, if Mother Nature doesn't do it for us first

The River Maple is dying. More on that later

The west side of the house

From across the road. The only painting left to be done on the exterior is the peak trim. We contracted someone to do that over a month ago but it's still not done. Oh well, minor detail.

The well

Looking Down Moore Drive

The Lilac bushes along the road and our rental car, a Ford Flex. I called it The Tank. Too many buttons and gadgets if you ask me. It came in very handy though.

The front door, newly painted

 Mom through the George Lowe window

The rest of the day was spent in Montague, mostly at the hardware stores, buying stuff and lining up some work. 

That's it for part 1. Lot's more to come so keep checking back. I love to hear comments.