We live in a disposable society. I have been around long enough to see that material things just aren't built to last anymore. Manufacturers have made things so much cheaper that it is more cost efficient to replace them than to repair them. Even homes are made to be put together quickly and frequently require repairs before the mortgage is paid off. I can't count the number of mobile homes I see sitting abandoned behind or not too far away from new ones. (Maybe that is just a Gadsden County thing?) I have been fortunate to know some really amazing homes built by really amazing people.
The house shown above is currently on the grounds of the Tallahassee Museum of Natural History. It is called the Langston-Brown Kitchen but was originally built around 1900 by my Grandpa Major's uncle in Smith Creek, Florida, as a first home for his young family. It was one large room with a fireplace and as his family grew he built a larger home and this one became my Great-Grandpa Charlie Langston's "bee house." That's like a bee hive, only it's a house. Full of bees. They made honey down there in Smith Creek. When the family donated the little house to the museum it was connected to another farmhouse as a kitchen and still sits there in liveable condition today. Yes, I know "liveable" is different for everyone, but I mean the fireplace works and the doors shut tight. 
This is the house that Grandpa Major built in Smith Creek shortly after his marriage in 1937. His mother, Fannie, told everyone he was building it for her, and I imagine he was, but much of the funding was provided by Grandma Margaret's mother, Jennie. She purchased all the screen for the doors and windows and even bought a set of French doors for the great room. Grandma Margaret later installed those same doors in the family home in Tallahassee and then again when she moved to Quincy. Great-grandma Jennie actually moved to the big house in Smith Creek to die, but her oldest daughter, Agnes, retrieved her and took her to Bonifay to die so that Agnes could get all of Jennie's money. I got all these sordid details when I called my mother simply to ask when the house was built.
Here's Major beside the fireplace he built in the great room. This photo was taken in 1974 after the house had been sitting empty (aside from some vagrants coming and going) since the 1940's. I remember this trek down there with both of my parents and the grand-parents. There are some photos somewhere of my brother and me playing with a rusted-out pedal car, the old water pump and assorted sheds. Grandpa was quite a craftsman and insisted everything was level and squared so I can only imagine the mood he must have been in while building this house. I only got to admire his woodworking skills in his later years after he got a lathe for his shop and began turning out beautiful bowls, pencil holders and tire thumpers. The family property in Smith Creek was sold and became became part of the National Forest many years ago and the house is now gone. The "bee house" was located on this same property and was spared demolition when a Tallahassee dentist funded its relocation to the Museum of Natural History.
When my mother was a couple of years old, the family moved to Tallahassee into this three-story home on St. Francis Street. Grandma Margaret ran a boarding house there until I was about 8 or so and then she "retired" and did her seamstress business out of a small sewing room in the back. The third floor housed Grandpa's dam invention. Or was it the damn invention? Depends on who you ask. I went up there quite a bit as a youngster but the place gave me the creeps as I got older. By the time I was in high school, you couldn't pay me to go to the second floor, either. The stairs were made of really dark wood and they sounded hollow but they were very sturdy. All the rooms in the upstairs apartments had linoleum floors and some were wall-papered. Grandma Margaret had a great sense of style and her decor reflected that. The formal living room and dining room were quite beautiful with their mahogany furnishings and rich upholstery. She didn't do the plastic coverings, though! We got to sit on the real thing...sometimes. My grandparents moved to Quincy in the early 1990's and this home was purchased by a law firm and has been completely restored. In 1994 it was placed on the Natural Registry of Historic Places. I think the old folks would be pleased as punch about that!
This is the house in which my kids and I live. I wish I could say it is in my family but it's not and I am content to live here as long as the owners will let me. The house is on an old tobacco farm outside of Quincy and its construction was completed in 1860. The ceilings are really high, none of the doors are the same size, it has an uncharacteristic amount of built-in storage and there is not a level floor in it. The commissary and original kitchen were connected to the back of the main house and are now serving as the laundry room and the spider room. Yes, that's right. I offered the commissary unto the big fat spiders as part of our treaty. They have their space and I have mine. A house with this much history ought to have a haunt or two but if they are here they are keeping to themselves. The place has a really peaceful vibe. I have become quite a homebody since being here. The kids each have plenty of their own space and we finally have a kitchen big enough for everyone to stand in at once. Each day I count our home as one of our many blessings.
I have never owned a home, and as long as this one is available I am not upset about that. Being a homeowner means lots more responsibility than I want to add to what I have now, but I may grow up one day and dive into it. When I do get to the house-hunting phase of my life, though, these wonderful places have lent their characteristics to the list of what I will be looking for. Pretty tough acts to follow.
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