Friday Driveby

I grew up in a beautiful, old neighborhood in northeast Ohio. Most of the homes in the neighborhood date back to the 19th century. The homes are still as grand and stately as I remember them being back in the 1970's when I was a child.


Recently while driving through the neighborhood (my parents still live there) I took some driveby photos of a few of my favorites. These 4 homes just so happen to be all in a row.



This first one we have always referred to as the Rose House. I think the name came from a family that lived there at one time. I am not sure if it was the original family, or a family that lived there in my childhood.


This house backs up to the metroparks which is public property. I remember one time when I was 8 or 9 years old, the daughter that lived here was getting married. We snuck through the woods and layed on an embankment and watched in secret. It was an afternoon "tea party" reception, and it reminded me of a glamorous garden party from a movie set in England. I don't know if they knew we were there. We were quiet as mice and took it all in.




This home is the Grand Daddy of them all. It has quite a history to it. It was originally built by one of the founders of Baldwin-Wallace College. Growing up we just knew it as "The Gilroy House", because that is the name of the family that lived there at the time.


This family went ALL OUT at Halloween time. On Halloween night the double front doors were wide open and the interior of the home was lit with black-lights. All of the sisters in the family dressed up as witches. One would greet you on the old stone porch stirring a large smoking cauldron. The other "witch sisters" would be walking around inside the front hallway. When you looked into the home you'd see witches going up and down the stairway and in one door and out another. It gave the impression that they just lived there. The front yard is covered in rhododendron bushes and the brothers would dress in scary costumes and jump out and terrify the young trick-or-treaters.

The conversation every October was "Are you going to trick-or-treat at the Gilroys?" Some years we had the courage, and some years we didn't.


During the summer months this was the yard to play at. We spent many evenings at dusk playing "Ghost in the Graveyard" in this huge yard. It was dark and so scary since the house was "haunted".


Here is the home with the rhododendrons in full bloom:

This next home is where my best childhood friend, Caroline, lived with her large family of 8 brothers and sisters. I spent so much time in this home when I was a child. It seemed sooo huge to me. They had a playroom and a wonderful screened in back porch. We played school in the basement and swung from the tire swing in the backyard. There were many a neighborhood kickball game played in this front yard.

This last home is tudor style and has since had an addition built. Back in the 1970's an elderly woman lived here. We were all afraid of her. She had long, wild gray hair and we would often hear loud noises and yelling coming from her home,even though she lived alone. Looking back I feel sad for her, but as children we were terrified of the "crazy lady".

Not only do I have so many memories of these homes, but I still to this day do not tire of looking at them and drooling over them.

Hope you enjoyed my Friday Driveby!

Have a great weekend!