A TED WIGHT BLOG
How exciting for Pike County!….check out the great job Catering St. Louis has done in transforming an old dairy barn into a catering venue.
Here is a link to find out more about booking this property:
http://www.cateringstlouis.com/privateEvents/loc_threeBarnFarm.php
Click HERE for a picture of the barn before it was transformed into a venue.
The Fall colors are surprisingly lovely this year considering the drought. The farm house is so photogenic!
The St. Louis Landmarks Association had another Pike County Ramble in May. I hosted the group…many who were returning ramblers from last year's tour to Clarksville and Paynesville.
We had a lovely day and saw the best of Pike County and Louisiana.
We started at our family farm- Rockford Farms where they saw our historic Griffith McCune house and then the adjoining Rockford School House. Afterwards we saw the historic McIlroy House perched up on a hill with a perfect view of the rolling hills and valleys. From there we traveled to Louisiana. The group waived at the historic Stark Home on Highway D as they ohhed and ahhed! At the first stop in Louisiana they were greeted by the Osborns at their historic Luce House on Georgia Street. See the first set of pictures below. Afterwards we dined at The Eagles Nest on chicken and shrimp salad. After lunch we toured the perfectly restored Jackson House on Georgia….peaked into one of the historic Buffum homes….visited Stark Nursery….then somehow we got the bus up through the rambling River View Graveyards roads to catch a view of the river and Illinois valley beyond. The group was impressed and will certainly spread good words about Lousiana, MO and Pike County!
A mirror that once graced the Campbell House in St Louis
Lunch at The Eagle's Nest
The lovely Jackson home
November is upon us and I always race this time of year to finish projects at our farmhouse. I have all of the porch floors painted and our staircase….maybe a little wood work will get painted before the house gets put to sleep for the winter.
I am happy with the outcome of pulling all of the yews and other bushes out of the front of the house. You will see that most houses of this period did not have heavy foundation planting. Foundation planting with yews became popular in the 50's….this is when foundations were made of poured concrete and people wanted to hide them. Older houses have lovely brick or stone foundations….why hide them!
I really do not entertain much at our farmhouse. It is just so much work to clean the house and get it in tip top shape for guests….city people do not understand a few spider webs and lady bugs all over the house. Though after it is all done….it is worth it. The best thing it does is to force me to finish projects. Earlier this Spring I had the house on tour for St. Louis' Landmark's Association Pike County Ramble Tour. This motivated me to redo a bedroom that was in pretty bad shape…complete with a wallpaper border coming down and a heavily cracked ceiling. Now is is so pretty! Over the weekend I had ten people stay at the house overnight. The house has 5 legitimate beds….so couches and air mattresses made nice sleeping arrangements for the overflow. What a lovely night…we had the fireplace ablaze and also the fire-pit going outside! Games, good food and wine made the evening memorable. Sunday morning we started with a nice country breakfast followed by a long walk on our farm. The afternoon was spent shopping in Clarksville and lunch at Overlook Farm's restaurant.
For breakfast Bobby made the most delicious item…. he cooked up sausage and added it to scrambled eggs….then split biscuits and put a spoonful of the mixture on-top of the uncooked biscuit….I think they were cooked at 350 until brown….try it ….they were easy and crowd-pleasers!
A walk helped burn off the hearty breakfast.
Yesterday I spent the morning working on our farm house in Pike County and then I went up to Louisiana, MO for some meetings. It was such a beautiful day and the Fall colors are close to peaking….so hurry and get up to Pike County to look at them this weekend. The Applefest is going on in Clarksville.
My first stop was to look at the super- cool buildings on Water Street that used to be the old water treatment plant. A St. Louis couple has transformed two buildings into very exciting spaces. Both are for sale for a reasonable amount.
This is an interior space that could be a great bar/restaurant.
This outdoor space almost looks like the Serra sculpture at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. There is a pool in the middle.
In a another building is a cool loft living space.
And look at the view….these buildings are right on the Mississippi…though high enough that flooding is not an issue.
Nest stop was to meet with Karen over at The Eagle's Nest Bistro, B&B and Winery. She runs such a nice business and it is very popular! She is thinking about retiring and her successful business is for sale. Click HERE for more information.
I visited the two historic homes that I have listed:
http://215nthird.canbyours.com/
http://402nthird.canbyours.com/
The old Stark home on 3rd looked beautiful with the maple ablaze!
Finally I met Jim Talley at his listing on Georgia and 7th street. This is an old church turned City Hall turned loft/living space. What an exciting space and only $137,000! Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sotheby's International Realty 314-607-5555 tedwight@aol.com
Check out these links for more information on Clarksville's Applefest!
http://myoldhistorichouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/apple-fest-is-comin.html
Check out the proposed reconstruction of the front porch of this historic home. It is for sale for only $155,000. Ready for the next owner to finish this beauty!
Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sothebys International Realty, 314-607-5555 tedwight@aol.com