Vanishing Vermont: Granville Revisted

Alright, these photos are from Granville, NY NOT Granville, VT. Which, as discussed in a previous post is a town just on the other side of the river from VT, so  I am going to include these pictures in the Vanishing Vermont, but yes, for all intensive purposes this IS NOT technically Vermont. 

 

 I know I said I would post more photos of the quarry first, but to tell the truth, I started sorting those files and skimmed across the shots I took of this location, not far from the Rose Inn. I have been playing with the idea of building a miniature house out of reclaimed wood, I wanted to look at internal building structures so I came back to this series of photos. And I sort of, got absorbed in this place. 

After about an hour, I was half way through all the shots, so I went for broke and edited them all. There's no color playing here or black and white. I am leaving you with what strikes me the most. The fact that this house is in partial demolition. And, according to a local, my friend I was driving around the area with, it has been in this state for QUITE a while. I took these photos in early September, right before the leaves started to turn color. The day was absolutely perfect, blue skies and warm. Which is such a striking contrast to the state of the building.

I am left thinking about, what the owner is planning on doing with the site. Why they pulled all the siding off the face, why the took out an entire wall? The post and beam construction is so lovely, especially with the slat   and plaster walls showing through. The house across the street was built in 1812, so it makes me wonder when this house was erected. Could it be able the same time? Maybe a little earlier? Who knows. On the bright and blue sky day that we visited this location, not a single ghost passed by to tell us their story or for that matter did any one in town stop to ask why I was taking photographs of this crumbling structure.


With out a history told to us, what do we know about the place? Are there clues that fill us in. Maybe. Can we ever really know what secrets lay sleeping behind this walls. Even as the skeleton of the place is exposed as severely as this? Probably not... Ours, perhaps, is only to ponder, why. What would you think if you drove by this everyday on your way to work or school. Would it make you stop and wonder why? Or would you ignore it and think, what an eye sore.  Part of me thinks that it is so incredibly tragic that all the labor, time, energy and resources, that went into building this home is being nullified. But even on top of that, this sanctuary of domestic life that has probably seen 200 years of families live and die here is been torn apart. Where is the history of those people? What is left of their stories? Certainly, at some point, not their old home. Their story will lay wasting in a pile of rubble and broken bits, to be scooped up and added to a landfill.