Posted on 05/21/2007 6:53:47 AM PDT by libertarianPA
Funny - my house is 98 years old and we’ve had less problems with it than my mother’s newly constructed townhouse! I wouldn’t trade my lovely Gothic farmhouse home for any of the new houses around here.
I tell her my walls are constructed with 2x4s that actually measure 2x4, lathe and plaster and hers are made out of tissue paper and spit.
Route 20 was sort of like Route 66 on a smaller scale. It was THE main east-west road from Boston all the way across Massachusetts as far as Illiniois, IIRC.
It’s true about those real 2x4’s. Try putting a nail in one without drilling a pilot hole.
I love my house, but the uneven floors drive me crazy. We are working on them one room at a time.
My husband has recently gotten cancer, so it has put a stop on the refurbishing.
Inspectorette- Would have been in the mid-70s. I was born in 1966, probably was about 8 or 9 when we stayed there. That name does sound familiar. I think there was a huge Italian restaurant somewhere close to it. At least it seemed huge to me at the time! I remember really good spaghetti and meatballs there.
Coldwater-Very sorry to hear about your husband. We’re doing the same thing, one room at a time, but ours isn’t major work, just painting, and putting up some new drywall and insulation. The previous owners (16 years ago) put up paneling in most of the house and we started noticing weird bulges on the bottom of the walls. When we took it down, we discovered that a lot of the plaster between the lathes had fallen down behind the paneling! Also on some of the walls underneath, we discovered 4 layers of wallpaper, some quite beautiful patterns, but in terrible shape. Not restorable, unfortunately.
We’ve only got one ‘bump’ in our floors, but it’s right at the bottom of the stairs and close to the front door. I can live with the bump but it’s developed a squeak that is getting louder and louder. Good thing is, no one (ahem..teenagers) could sneak in or out at night!
I enjoyed your post.
Regarding lobster rolls, the ones from the Mom and Pop eateries are much better than the lobster rolls from McDonalds.
You are so right about Route 1. It’s very scenic and hugs the Maine Coast, winding through picturesque, historic towns in the process. The Maine Turnpike is much faster, but it goes through mostly miles and miles of woods....not much to see from a tourism point of view.
Let’s not compare the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty,and The Liberty Bell to a bunch of old motels.
Very cool.
Makes you realize how temporary man’s “accomplishments” really are.
Here,here. One of the fastest ways to date someone is to mention those signs which every traveler of those days, especially kids, loved to read.
Re lobster rolls, I agree with you. I never get them there. Everyone here is just fascinated that they’re even sold at McD’s! People here also thinks it’s cool that the McD’s in Freeport is in an actual old house, as opposed to the typical concrete McD building.
We took my son’s friend with us a couple of years ago. At first, he thought the ME turnpike & 95 were pretty neat. Totally different from the landscape in DE. A few hours later, he’s asking “Is there anything else but trees?” We said no, not really. Our camp is in northern Aroostook (aka THE County) so he got to see hours of trees, lol. But he still loved it.
“In any event Route 66 will still be there if the old motels die.”
I disagree. In CT there are large section of 66 which was the alternate to Route 6. These sections are being renumbered because of interstate growth. Numbers like I-691 and Route 322 exist. These 2 roads parallel each other and the original Route 66 lost its number to 322. 66 is no more.
BUMP
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