Chapter IV (quotes from the book are in olive)
This chapter of Laura's book was a bit of
mystery until very recently. In it she speaks of both
her summer cabin in North Carolina but also of odd house she
had considered purchasing and moving to Tallahassee.
She gives us clues as to the structure under consideration
but never provides its name or history. So, like with
much of her writing, she challenges us to dig deeper and
find out for ourselves the background of things she writes
about. Here is the opening paragraph;
“Having
moved a cabin log by log in the Blue Ridge, I must have
concluded I could move mountains.
It occurred to me that it might not be
impossible to move a small house from St. Petersburg,
Florida, to a site in Tallahassee.
There was, of course, a considerable
difference between ten and two-hundred-fifty miles, and also
between moving a load of logs and a structure with four
walls.
Consulting a mover, I was told the roof would
have to be removed and during the process the cornices might
be destroyed.
The little house, constructed by the builders of
a museum to display woods of various trees in the world,
was, like its neighbor, a model of Tudor architecture, with
the steep roof cut away over doors and windows to represent
the rood of a thatched cottage and with the tall chimney
surmounted by a chimney pot.
It had charm, but the mover, upon close
examination, discovered termites in the foundation.
Thus it was not necessary to arrange a
police escort and to cut obstructing overhead wires for the
long journey.
I decided to begin from the ground up and to
include in my design features of an old English house, with
certain adaptations, such as overhanging eaves, which offer
protection from sun and rain in a southern climate.”
