The New Lots

Last year, when we were first taking a look at the cabin and before we decided to buy it, we found this pathway into the woods up the hill at the back of the yard. I found it pretty curious, and at the time took a step or two in before coming back out to continue with the cabin inspection.

Last Winter Mary and I took a walk around up there to check things out. Among other things, we found one of the butterfly chair frames in there; Mary has subsequently restored those and we use them in the summer on the brick terrace.




Here are some Fall views of the woods. All totalled, these lots are approximately 3/4 acre - and we already had three lots in the original purchase. So we're up to something like an acre and a half now.

During her research to find out who owned these lots, Mary discovered that Kevin, son of the original owner and builder of the Hawksbill Cabin, owned these. He bought them in the '70's to protect the privacy of his father's land. He'd thought about selling them, but only wanted to do so if he could get a commitment that they wouldn't be developed - at the time, there was some interest in selling them singly for development.

That would have been a real pity, at least in our opinion. We agreed that they should be kept together and we're going to try and keep the six we have now together. In this little neighborhood, single lot development runs counter to what has been going on there since the '20's. It's only recently been a problem there, and we are dealing with that slowly but surely.

Meanwhile, the lot pictured above extends back into the woods until the hill falls away in a steep bluff. You can see farmland spread out below (it's not that high) and Beaver Run turns around to run below, before making its way through Jordan Hollow Farm to Hawksbill Creek about a mile from here . Mary wants to clear the path and make it a bit more "permanent" - with some mulch or possibly gravel. Then out on the bluff, maybe a fire pit with a bench, something to take a walk out to during the summer and watch the stars come out.

This last photo is the view back to the house from that lot. As you can see, it is a bit higher in elevation - the one immediately to the east of this slopes steeply down to Beaver Run, and the third lot, to the east of that one, is dissected by the little stream.