If houses could talk

                        (Click picture to enlarge)

There is something about old houses that fascinate me. Driving through the country of NY I came upon this old house along the road in the town of Franklinville,NY.
If old houses could talk think of the stores they could tell. An old chair on the porch where mom used to set, the toys in the yard where the kids once played, the old abandoned cars that once took them to town.  

Now abandoned for whatever reason.  What a shame to see once loved and cared for homes left to the elements.  Now fading into the ground.  So many people in need of housing yet all across America, once good, usable houses sitting to rot.  It's too bad there isn't a way to somehow fix them all up and help families in need enjoy them.  Recent statistics show that now, in America, the abandoned homes outnumber the number of homeless people.  

Rural living in New York

The old mansion on a hill in Naples, New York.  This house, like so many others in rural New York, is abandoned.  People seem to feel building a new structure is cheaper than fixing up the old ones.  Preserving our past does not seem to be a sought after endeavor any longer.

Where will America be if all of her buildings and all of her past, are allowed to deteriorate and fall into decay?

Starting this picture page, I am hoping to help all of us remember when craftsmanship and beauty in building meant something.  When builders were artists and when they took much pride in what they constructed.  This is the first picture in what I hope to be a long and continuing series of how rural New Yorker's have lived and in some cases, still do live.  I hope you enjoy.