Dream House

In the search for our dream home (and bed and breakfast), we didn’t have long to wait. A few days later the family member called. We set up a time to tour the house. Remember, there’s no “for sale” sign up yet .When we got to the house Fred, the family member, was waiting. He seemed uncertain about selling the house. As we walked the house, we chatted. Then he asked our last name again. The next question surprised me. He asked Eric, “Are you Ray’s son?” It turns out that Fred and Eric’s father are both charter members of Cumberland Valley TU. All of the uncertainty vanished. It suddenly seemed as though we were deemed “worthy” to buy the house.

We agreed to terms and settled on the sale in December. It was then we learned that the family’s concern was that the fishermen have access to the Letort Spring Run. No problem there, we were happy to oblige.

We spent the next six months, some of them very cold, making the house livable. The only heat came from the kitchen and living room fireplaces, the remaining three were not usable. We faced a broken furnace, ruptured heating and plumbing pipes, a roof that was down to wet plywood and a hole in the kitchen porch the size of a VW Bug! But we persevered.

By the beginning of June, we were finally ready to move in. Our youngest daughter graduated high school the first weekend in June and we moved in the next. Six months down, many more to come.

Check back for more on our journey to restore this very special house into our home and bed and breakfast.