topic Re: Childhood homes.... in Community Chat

Childhood homes....

qualitygal — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:38:17 GMT

If you've lived in more than one home as a child, which one would you go back to? If only one, would you want to go back for one day? What appealed to you about the home of your choice as a child?

One home had an enclosed porch and was fun to play in and honeysickle grew up the side and smelled so sweet in summer. This house also had the best hill out back to slide down in the winter, the neighorhood kids all sled there. It was my 2nd home.

Re: Childhood homes....

haddon9 — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:39:32 GMT

When I was very young I lived in an apartment building in Brooklyn, NY. We moved to a small house in Queens for two years when I was ten then moved to a brand new home in Cherry Hill, NJ.

The NJ house is about an hour away from me now. What I liked about the house at the time was the central AC that most people didn't have back in 1965.

It also had a nice big yard and back then Cherry Hill was not as built up as it is today....it's much too congested and I just don't like that area anymore.

I don't think I would go back to any of those. I really like my house in SE PA!

Re: Childhood homes....

InStitches49 — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:42:27 GMT

I would go back to the home I lived in from birth to about age twelve. It was a house built in the 1930s and had a semi-finished basement and a finished upstairs where my bed was after getting out of the baby bed. Now granted the basement was underneath the level of the land so it was darker and a bit forboding at times. We had a coal-burning furnace so we also had a corner where coal was delivered to use in it. I told my father once when he was stoking the furnace that there was a dragon in there because of the flames and the heat. It wasn't so much the house as the great memories I have of growing up in that neighborhood. As an adult driving by the house on occasion, I'm surprised at how small the house and the lot are. But back then it was vast in my child's mind. As a reference this time period was in the 1950s and the area is in Nashville, so life was a lot different then.

Re: Childhood homes....

Desertdi — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:45:53 GMT

I couldn't afford today's purchase price. Nearly $1,000,000 for a 100+ year old house in the City of Chicago. Remodeled, of course, but a ridiculous amount of money for an old brick bungalow.

Re: Childhood homes....

deepwaterdotter — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:57:26 GMT

None, too much crime.

Re: Childhood homes....

Mombo1 — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 15:15:41 GMT

@qualitygal wrote:
If you've lived in more than one home as a child, which one would you go back to? If only one, would you want to go back for one day? What appealed to you about the home of your choice as a child?

One home had an enclosed porch and was fun to play in and honeysickle grew up the side and smelled so sweet in summer. This house also had the best hill out back to slide down in the winter, the neighorhood kids all sled there. It was my 2nd home.

@qualitygal That is an easy question. My brother and I just visited the town where we first lived as kids. It is in Beaver Pa....South of Pittsburgh. My first memory is that our home was surrounded by Lily of the valley flowers which my mother planted. I still love that fragrance today. Everything is in walking distance. We like to walk thru the neighborhood where we played with friends and rode bikes....pointing out where each of our friends lived. The town is a walk back in time...and every home is well maintained. The town park overlooks the river where we can sit on benches and watch the trains go by....The uptown Main Street is filled with many nostalgic little stores and restaurants. People are still very friendly and welcoming. We try to visit every summer.

Re: Childhood homes....

kaydee50 — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 15:24:31 GMT

No way would I go back to the home I grew up in. It was for sale a couple of years ago for $675,000!!!! (my parents paid $12,500 in 1955) but it has stairs and in an inconvenient area. Don't miss that home at all!

Re: Childhood homes....

Mary Bailey — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 15:41:03 GMT

I live a few blocks away from my childhood home. Our house is where everyone hung out. We were the first ones to have a computer, Pong and a microwave.

After my parents moved out, the new owners let it get run down and it ended up abandoned, bank owned.

Right before the pandemic someone bought it and flipped it. I went to see it while they were just finishing it up. They gutted it. It was remodeled like you'd see on HGTV. Just beautiful.

Both versions were on YouTube the bank-owned version and the for sale version, last time I looked.

Re: Childhood homes....

bmorechick — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 15:43:46 GMT

The home I grew up in, in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore City is where I would go. I loved and still love the city, despite the issues of crime. The house was completely gutted and renovated maybe 8 years ago and sold for half a million dollars. It is 10 feet wide and 90 feet long. But oh my what they did to it is stunning. It's a stone's throw from Inner Harbor. As kids, before Inner Harbor it was 'the docks". There was nothing there but shipping container ships.

Re: Childhood homes....

Carmie — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 18:55:26 GMT

I grew up in the home that once belonged to my paternal grandparents. It was huge. My grands raised 11 children in that house. It had fruit trees and grape arbors and vegetable gardens. It was a huge property.

After they passed, my father bought the house from the estate. It was the only house I ever lived in before marriage.

My parents also had a second home in Cape May, NJ. It was small and was only 1 story with 2 bedrooms.

I'd choose the smaller home because, of course, it's at the beach.

Re: Childhood homes....

gidgetgh — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 19:08:48 GMT

I think it would make me too sad to go back.

Re: Childhood homes....

patbz — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 19:23:47 GMT

I grew up in the Silver Spring home my parents bought for $8500 in 1936 ( now $750,000). It is a 2 story brick home within 1 mile of a Metro stop. Was a great home in which to grow up and so much happened. When I was little it felt like the edge of civilization ( a farm was near where Metro is now) and down the hill was the ruins of Carroll Springs Inn with tadpoles and water moccasins ( ugh ). Was easy to get to downtown Wheaton and Silver Spring and a bus ride from D.C. and all that meant.

Re: Childhood homes....

Catiele — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 19:51:13 GMT

I grew up in a cottage style house with a screened in porch in the front of the house. It was my favorite spot in the house. We had railroad tracks on one side and and airport on the other. Two bedrooms so my brother and I shared the room. Many nice memories. My brother was not allowed in any girls yard because he teased them. I was about 12 when we moved to a three bedroom house. When we moved I sat on the radiator and cried. My father wasn't to happy with me. I did like having my own room.

Re: Childhood homes....

RedTop — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:06:17 GMT

Mine is directly across the road; not a big deal to me, as I've had my own home far longer than I lived there.

Re: Childhood homes....

MamaWick — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:33:59 GMT

I grew up in a house my parents built when they were expecting me. About 8 years ago, the family who bought it from us in 1970 had it for sale. I was able to go through it. It brought back so many wonderful memories. Had we been able to swing it, I think DH and I would have purchased it and retired back in Missouri.

Re: Childhood homes....

hckynutjohn — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:40:43 GMT

@qualitygal

During what I consider my childhood years, ages 1-12, it was all lived in Public Housing Projects. I still have one of my best friends that grew up with me during those years, he is 3 years older than me. Seeing him and talking with him is the only thing I want to remember about those childhood years.

hckynut 🇺🇸

Re: Childhood homes....

jubilant — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 09:25:21 GMT

It would be an all white 2-story house with a big front porch. We lived there through grade school to about the 9th grade. It was nothing fancy but a nice 3 bedroom 1 bath, no air conditioning ....on a beautiful boulevard with trees and old fashioned street lights. It was in Fort Wayne, Indiana which is the second biggest city in Indiana.

Many times the kids in the neigborhood congregated on our porch. It had big walnut trees in the back yard and if we crossed the yard behind us there was a beautiful park. We often rode our bikes to the Dairy Queen or visited the local grocery for a candy bar. Wonderful memories from the 50's and 60's. It was much safer in those days and kids were outside most of the time.

Re: Childhood homes....

Trailrun23 — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:44:52 GMT

I lived in the same house until I married and moved away. It is in the same city where I live now but the opposite side of town. We drove over there a couple of years ago and I was sorry to see the condition it was in. My parents had it custom built and we were on a corner lot. Across the street was a huge park with a pool, playground, tennis courts, and softball diamond. It is all still there and looks great, but the trees are much bigger after all these years. Great place to grow up...but I would never go back to what is has become now.

Re: Childhood homes....

AuntG — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 01:00:25 GMT

I live close to my childhood home. It was a farmhouse so I miss the wide open spaces. Luckily, our subdivision has just over twenty houses and is near a park, so it still is quite rural.

Re: Childhood homes....

J Town Girl — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 03:59:35 GMT

The house I grew up in was located in a neighborhood made up of residential homes along with several businesses. Across the street from our home was a florist shop. I loved that because the windows were always beautifully decorated. The holiday windows especially were just gorgeous.

At one end of our street there was a 50's style soda fountain restaurant and at the other end there was a ice cream shop/restaurant.

In the middle of our street we had a bakery. I used to love walking past it every morning on the way to school and breathing in the wonderful aroma of the freshly baked items that were made there during the night.

It was really a fun and happy neighborhood in which to grow up. I stayed friends with most of the kids until I got married and moved out of state.

Although today I live in a suburban neighborhood I really miss living in a neighborhood where you could walk to the grocery store, restaurants, hardware store and especially to a bakery where you could enjoy a fresh cookie or donut at any time.