If Only Walls Could Talk

Under the Maples Series


PROLOGUE

What do you do once you retire?  There are probably as many answers to that question as there are retired people.  For me, being retired was a challenge in itself. However, for several years before retiring, the Lord was nudging me to change course.  He wanted me to “come home to Lowell.”  Understand, I lived in Lowell but work had always been in Merrillville, Highland, Griffith, Munster and even Chicago; I was never home in Lowell for very long. Coming home meant accepting there was a new plan for my life but I never thought of it being to allow me to fulfill an old dream.

My mother was born and raised in Lowell and I always loved the old town although I was raised in Calumet Township/Griffith. I admired her beautiful old Victorian homes and, even as a kid, knew they had stories to tell. In 1970, married with three children, my husband and I moved to Lowell. Those old homes still fascinated me as did the lovely flower gardens many of the homes enjoyed thanks to the inhabitants who doted on them. Little did I know that one day the Lord was going to help me buy one of them and create a restaurant known as Cornerstone Mansion. It was the fulfillment of an old dream.  What did I do to deserve it?  Absolutely nothing that I can think of but God had a plan. I can’t even tell you, at least not right now, how extensive His plan was and the prayers that were going to be answered because of my act of obedience and “coming home.”

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I guess you have to have an over active imagination to feel what I feel about the old mansion. I can hear her sighs, her cries of joy and her laments.  To me it isn’t difficult to sense the presence of the Bacon family and their children and grandchildren who built and lived in the house for the first ninety years of her life.  I had many customers come in and while slowly walking through the rooms and looking around with eyes of admiration they’d breath a sigh and exclaim, “If only walls could talk.” It may sound a little weird but I think if you listen close enough you will hear them talk and, although, the stately old home did go through a few other owners before my daughter and I bought her, everyone who owned her appreciated her heritage.

It is her heritage from 1870 until 1920, that I will be focusing on in some novels that I hope to write and publish. I love history because I believe our town, our country, our people are a sum-total of their experiences and the experiences of their ancestors. There is an intricate link between one and the other. The location on this earth gives it its own voice and the appearance, and demeanor of a building will always hold some of the characteristic of its original owners. The soul of the owners will be reflected there.

When my daughter, Beth, and I bought the old home we sensed that she had a good soul, other wise we wouldn’t have bought her. Yes, I do mean that!  Of course, the first thing on the agenda was a name. We needed a name for the restaurant we hoped to run there.  We decided on Cornerstone Mansion. Cornerstone came from the Bible and Jesus being our Chief Cornerstone.  Mansion came from other shop owners and our town historian, Richard Schmal, who is now deceased.  It seems when the Bacon home was build in 1870, it was considered a mansion to this small town and rural area.  Thus it was referred to as the Bacon Mansion. It isn’t a mansion by todays standards but it is such a regal old home that mansion seemed to fit. Some of my blogs will be taken from episodes of the six years she was a restaurant. People who gravitated to Cornerstone and would come to relax and dine often left a small part of themselves behind. I like to think they nurtured the old home in their own way and they definitely left their marks on my heart.

It is not possible for me to recall all the times I set in the various rooms of the mansion and could feel the family moving around.  I caught glimpses of Dr. Bacon and felt his love for his family, patients and community. The house is still a lot like Dr. Bacon, a man of character and integrity, and his lovely wife, Martha, a gracious lady. You can still see the heritage they imparted to the home. I could also look down the street at the old historic district and feel the presence of the original shop owners and sense their hopes for the future of their community.  Nothing has changed.  The community is still viable and still hopeful for the future. The heritage they have been exposed to has been breathed into their souls and they sense the purpose of community.  Those who are in it just for the dollar will surely not fair well for long because, the truth be known, the walls themselves will cry out against poor usage and neglect. Those historic buildings being treated badly deserve better and they know it.  They will withstand the winds of adversity until help comes and their restoration is completed. They, too, have a wealth of stories to tell and their souls are intact and will tell those stories one day.

Thank you for taking time to read this blog. I have enjoyed sharing this with you and hope you enjoy reading it. I look forward to our next time together.
         Life is good; memories are sweet.


Quote For This Blog
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.
– Herman Melville

Inspirational Quotes
Psalms 61:5 - For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given [me] the heritage of those that fear thy name.

“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”
― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams