Health & Fitness
Run That Tory Out of Town!
An old farm in Bethel is just what you need to satisfy your curiosity
One of the guilty pleasures of Urban Archeology is the opportunity to see inside homes I always wondered about, but never could get closer. As a picker and a digger I feel that way about any property that looks older than 100 years. What I really want to know is where I can find the bottle dump out back, or the story waiting to be found in the walls or attic rafters.
Visiting Estate, garage, and especially barn sales are ways I use to satisfy my curiosity. The listings that use those 3 words become points on a map and part of my itinerary. When I walk in to these sales I will always try to strike up conversation with an owner to find out more about the property or structure. I recommend doing this when the sale is not busy, as you will likely find the owner more receptive to share stories.
The benefit of living in Connecticut as an Urban Archeologist is having a selection of old roads to travel. Farm roads, which have become major routes, still have remnants from a time when tractors, and horse drawn vehicles were prevalent. These are the roads that distract me as I travel from place to place.
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A few months ago I saw in a listing, the words that formed my destination for that day – Old Farm and Barn Sale. When I saw the road was Route 58 in Bethel, I had my hopes up that I would be able to step back in time. I wasn’t disappointed.
This sale was exactly as I had hoped, a small farmhouse with a porch that nearly touched the road and a barn that looked as though its shoulders were gently shrugging from the weight of many years.Inside the barn were tables with a variety of items and still many more things to explore on the walls and shelves. The most interesting thing I found, however, was the owner, David Karraker, who with just a little prompting began to tell me the history of the property that stretched back more than 200 years. Click here to read more and see the video.
