My sister Liz and I, with generous help from our families, are trying to keep the old family home in Union, Washington from falling down and being swallowed by the local vegitation. The place was built by my great-great-grandfather John MacReavy sometime between 1880 and 1890.
This is a view of the inland (south-facing) side of the house. This is the only side still accessible. The front of the house, shown in the photo from "Washington Ghost Towns", is to the left. My brother-in-law Mike is in the foreground, and Alex is further back (see next photo).
How to make a teenage boy happy; give him a machete and tell him to slice and destroy. Note the wall of greenery behind him. We played croquet there when I was a kid.
Looking along the side of the house towards the front. The walnut tree that dominates the background is the same age as the house.
This is a view of part of living room. The object you can dimly see on the table in front of the far sofa is an old brass spittoon. While this photo gives a good feeling for the decrepitude of the place, this room is in better shape than some parts of the house. The dining room is through the opposite door. The false ceiling, while still 12', is more than 3' below the real ceiling.
This shot is taken from the front hall on the first floor, looking into a couple of first floor rooms. Note the bare studs on the left-hand wall. The kids in the family know the room straight ahead as "the death room", since several of my forebears died in there (all of natural causes).
This is the view out of the left-hand pane of the bay window in one of the north-facing rooms on the second floor.
Same window, right-hand side. The roof visible at the bottom is that of a marina/general store located across the highway at the bottom of the hill.
This is a view looking west from the bend in the second-floor hallway. The master bedroom is at the end.
This view is up the staircase in the front hall to the landing; the stairs continue to the left.
This photo is taken from the living room, looking through the double sliding doors into the library. This room had floor-to-ceiling bookcases on all four walls; the shelves are safely in storage.
This depicts the stairs descending east from the north side porch (part of which is visible in the first photo). After much work, the bottom is still buried in greenery. There used to be a road down there.
Leanne sallies into battle against the ivy at the bottom of the porch steps, armed with a scythe.
The view from the side of the house looking north, taken after Mike opened up a wide swath with a chainsaw. This is the only way to approach the house. There used to be a road and parking area here, but I can't even tell where they were anymore. The barn is off through the trees a bit to the left, and the fruit orchard is straight ahead about 50 yards.
My niece Mackenzie, age 7, is on the right, and my nephew Sam, age 4, is on the left. The north-side porch is behind them.
A glimpse of the NW corner of the house, seen through a gap in the trees.
The, um, picturesque barn, located in the woods to the north of the house.
The bay window in the living room, facing north. There is an exterior door immediately to the left, but it opens onto a 10' drop, the south-side porch having collapsed some years ago.
This is a view of the house from the west. Well, the second floor, anyway - the first floor is completely obscured behind the towering blackberries. The walnut tree is visible on the right.
A squid.
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