10-25-2012: Well, I was pretty tired when I signed-off last night. I had a lot of good things to say, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to introduce some basic information about the house, which I will now proceed to do. When my husband and I put an offer on the property, we knew it was a VERY old house, but we didn't know much more than that. We had talked about eventually doing research on the house to try to discover the original owners and some of the history. Little did we know how effortless this would become. While sitting in the abstractor's waiting area on the closing date, I picked up a book (The Architects and Buildings of Manhattan, KS by Dr. Patricia J. O'Brien) about some of the buildings in town, particularly the ones constructed from native limestone, and I came across a picture of the very house we were purchasing along with a brief history, including the name of the original property owner! Very exciting for sure! The house, in its current footprint, contains two bathrooms, 4 bedrooms upstairs (of which the smallest one is to become my "Carrie Bradshaw" closet) and a bathroom. The main floor has a living room, bedroom/office, a bathroom, kitchen, family room, and a "dining" room that is more like Grand Central station because to get from one room to another on the main floor, you have to go through this area. So I doubt that we will be using it as a dining room! There is a huge basement with a "farmer's bathroom" (this is a sink, toilet, and shower, but not in a room per se.), the foundation being stacked limestone and quite stable and dry (damp, but not wet) even after 150 years. Behind the house is the well and a root cellar/tornado shelter, a VERY rare find in town (I don't know if there is another in existence on the property of any of the other old homes.), which J has named "The Shire" and swears it's a Hobbit House. LOL! The house is sitting on about 1/4 acre of park-like beauty. There are black raspberry plants, a chestnut "bush", a couple of black walnut trees, a pear tree, and assorted other trees and plants on this remnant of the original homestead. Because the previous owners were up in age upon their departure, the gardens are rather overgrown, but we will begin to remedy that problem once we get the inside transformed to our satisfaction. It is a special oasis in our mid-sized community.
