Enon Hall


ONLINE JOURNAL

These journal entries track our progress as we undertake our adventure of restoring this very old home. The main reason for keeping this journal on the web is that we have found that there are very few resources (books or websites) that follow all of the trials and tribulations of restoring an old home...from start to finish.

September 6, 1999

Spent the holiday weekend in Irvington and made several visits to Enon Hall. Met with a contractor about rebuilding the dock. Should get drawings and pricing by the end of the week. Spent more time assessing the trees and overgrowth and spent Labor Day afternoon crabbing off the dock. -- Bill

September 13, 1999

We spent the day at Enon Hall yesterday cleaning up the cemetery and enjoying our new kayaks in the creek. The kayaks enabled us to get a great perspective of the shoreline as we continue our plans for thinning out the overgrowth.

Also, inspection of the dock from the water makes me question whether we really need to be rebuilding it at this time. The pilings are not as big as they would be on a new dock and I sure would like for it to be a bit wider, but the salt treated lumber seems to be in very good shape. In fact, if we removed all of the top boards and flipped them over, the dock would look practically new. (Does this sound like a collossal waste of time?) The main thing we need to do is support the shore end better. Presently, the first four feet from the shore are not supported and sag badly. But I think this is pretty easily remedied. We got the plans back last week for building a brand new dock and the pricing was what I was expecting. Mulling this decision over.

Got another tiny peek inside the house yesterday. Spoke with Mr. Hayden for a few minutes in the kitchen. This is the small addition by the carport. I couldn't take in too much because I had my prescription sunglasses on and the room was kind of dark, but I came away thinking it wasn't as bad as I might have expected.

Also picked up a few more tidbits from Mr. Bobby Ball who has been staying with Mr. Hayden and watching the house. He swears the inside just needs painting and then we'll be all set. Of course, he also says that the outside "just needs a little buttering up." Hmmmm...

He says Walter Hathaway's law office (second floor room of the 19th century addition) has a beaded board ceiling, says the bedrooms are "charming," and the dining room is beautiful. His least favorite room is the parlor...which is another room I saw 3 years ago. He also said he thought the house "rambles nicely." For instance, the law office is only reached through one of the bedrooms. This also tells us that there is no staircase in the addition. The clues keep trickling in! -- Bill

September 16, 1999

Held our breath today as Enon Hall lay right in the path of Hurricane Floyd. Spoke with Mr. Hayden late this afternoon and the only damage is one downed tree. I asked him the furthest that he had ever seen the water come up on the property since 1968. The spot he named is only about fifteen feet from the creek bank. Yet the government mandated that we had to buy flood insurance (at $800+ a year!) when we got our mortgage. And the house sits back about 100 yards from the creek! Go figure. -- Bill

September 19, 1999

Spent the day at Enon Hall today. Gay and I cleared out one giant, unidentifed bush (shown in picture below that was taken last October) and its branches that wrapped about twenty feet up into a nearby cedar. Feeling flush with victory, I moved on to the the next giant mound of bushmatter encased in grapevines...but I quickly lost interest after being smacked in the nose by a branch that was apparantly under a great deal of tension before I cut it. William proclaimed it the battle of "man versus bush." Man called it a day with a badly bruised nose and two arms full of scratches.


Checked the dock some more and decided that it really does need to go. The top boards aren't bad, but the pilings are weak and wobbly. Guess we'll go ahead and do that this fall.

The tree that came down in the storm is beside the kitchen outbuilding. We were very lucky it didn't come down directly on the kitchen. -- Bill

September 30, 1999

Signed the contract to have the dock rebuilt. -- Bill

CONTINUE TO OCTOBER 1999

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