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The Vandevert Homestead
pictured here as it was
in the 1960's-1980's
was originally built half this size in the 1890's.
It was the home of my Grandfather, who was the eldest Vandevert son.
The youngest son and rest of family, moved there shortly after his birth. My uncle maintained or guarded the
house with all its furnishings intact after his mother died,
with it being used occasionally
as a guest house. He would not allow anything to be removed while he
was alive, not even for museum donation. He did allow a "Paliden" television series to be made there, using the view of the front of the house.
But for the children of the second
generation, it was a wonderful playhouse,
complete with butter churn, dishes, wood cooking stove,
and a sink with a pump we were never brave enough to
prime.
The bedrooms had the original feather mattresses,
blankets on the beds, and beautifully carved head and
foot boards. The
trunks in the bedrooms had original clothing of the day,
long dresses, and button top shoes. The "parlor" had a
player piano
and victrola, tables and chairs, although the fireplace had
fallen down sometime along the way. It was not until
the third generation that the children were brave enough
to ignore the warnings of their great great aunt and climb
to the attic, where they found the Cobbler's Room,
complete with all the tools, and shoes in various stages of
repair and completion.
It was a wonderful place to spend hours with your
imagination and cousins. I often wondered why
the barn was at least the distance of 6 blocks from the house, and thought often of trekking
clear up there to do chores in a snowstorm! My grandfather told me they used to tie ropes together from
the barn to the house as a guideline. As the snow could get really deep, they tied it to the roof!
The house and property were sold in 1985,
with the house being rebuilt. The front is very much the same
as it was, but they have added electricity, running water, hot tub, etc.
There is now a large, rather expensive, housing development on the property, and
the player piano, having been restored, resides in their Community Room.
You can learn more by going to the Vandevert Ranch website, where there is some history from the perspective of my Uncle's daughter.
Rather than give you a link, that may not work, I will suggest you copy and paste in this address.
www.vandevertranch.com
Having researched the costs of making prints,
I would gladly do another Vandevert Ranch,
especially for family members for less than price of prints.
To have such large scans and prints
made, it runs about $100! A bit outrageous for just a print!
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