As we walked around the house he pointed out that the wood siding was shipped in from England and was made out of Dutch cedar. He also commented that all the window treatments were made out of the same material. As we made our way around to the back of the house, I stopped him and asked him if he knew what that old vent pipe was for. He scraped the leaves from around it , then tapped on it with his foot, "I’m not sure." "Maybe it’s a vent for the sewer system.", he said. I hadn’t even thought about that, it could be I guess. I shrugged my shoulders then told him I was just wondering.
As we made our way around the house, me listening to him rattle on and on about how much this house should be worth but because of the area the market just wasn't here for this kind of house. Then we finally made it to the front door. He told me that no one had lived here for many years so it might need a good cleaning, and that he hadn’t been up here for about two years. The front door was beautiful with fine detailing on it. There were some scrolls on it, but I didn’t know what they meant. The lock looked like it had been hand forged so I asked Samuel if he knew anything about the handle and if he knew if it was the original one or not, He turned toward me holding up an old skeleton key, then smiled and said it sure looks like it to me. With a little chuckle he slipped it in the lock and said it sure works good too. As the door opened we walked into a large parlor. Just in front of us lay a huge staircase that made a half circle as it made its way toward the upper level. It had bold wooden railings and a huge newel post with a carving of the same thing that was on the pillars in the driveway, but now I could see it was a Raven. Ok, now that again was kind of creepy, but that’s how they used to ward off evil spirits back then; by placing some kind of statue at the entrance of the home. The wood to the staircase had a reddish tinge to it and had a real richness to its look. Samuel asked me if I had any questions about the house so far. I told him no. I was excited to see the upstairs, mostly because of those corner dormers. I wanted to see how they were incorporated into the design of the rooms. He said ok, then started walking and I followed, listening to what he was saying about how this room was the great room and that it was said to be one of the family’s favorite rooms because of all the natural light that came in through the large windows. I agreed, but wanted him to push on so I could get upstairs.
The next room was a large bathroom with a large walk-in laundry room in it. I immediately noticed that there were no lights in the laundry part of the room and it had a lock on the door. I asked Samuel, "I wonder why they wouldn’t have lights in this room, and it was funny that they had a lock on this door". He said he wasn’t sure and that maybe they kept valuables in it, but he really wasn’t sure. The bathroom had a old claw foot tub with a matching sink, nothing to impressive as far as I could see in here, I asked him if we could see the kitchen area so he headed down a small hallway with me following close behind him. I had been watching my step as it was a little dark in the hallway when all at once I was startled by something. I felt something brush against the back of my leg. I looked down to see what it was but nothing was there. Samuel started talking about the kitchen. I didn’t want to miss anything so I just blew it off as jitters about possibly buying the house, The kitchen had a nice layout, with a good sized island with an old still sink in the center of it. The faucet was one of those old pumping kind and I asked Samuel if that was just for looks. That’s when he told me that there was an old cistern that was in the basement and this was the only source of water that was in the kitchen area. He quickly tried to change the subject and tried to tell me about the nice cabinets. I told him that I thought they were nice, but then went quickly back to the sink and started pumping the handle, There was a glass that had been sitting next to the sink. At first I thought nothing about it, but then something caught my eye. On the edge of the glass there was a single drop of water. It was moving down the glass as if someone had just poured some water out of it . The water was just starting to settle to the bottom of the glass by running down its edge. I looked at Samuel and said, "Do you see this?" "I...." He kind of stumbled with his words and said, "What?" " Look", I said. "There seems to be water running down this glass as if someone has taken a drink from it or something." He quickly grabbed the glass, then said, "It must be condensation or something." "Condensation ?"I said. "There isn’t any humidity today!" I asked him for the glass back. When he gave it to me I noticed it was cold. "See?", I said. "It’s cold." He again tried to change the subject and started talking about how the home was heated with a coal stove and wood fire place, I set the glass down and then asked him if anyone has a key to the house, or if he had shown the house to someone earlier, I knew that wasn’t the case since I was here not even a hour ago, "No, I don’t think anyone has been here", he said. "As far as I know I have the only key.
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