News Year Day 2014 - Part Three - more new old stuff

You would think after my last couple stops I would have just gone home and been happy.
But nope. Lots of daylight still allowed me to make several other stops.

Next stop, Augusta Mo.
I first started visiting Augusta many years ago when it was still a working farm town. It still had stores and banks. Now it is devoted mostly to the tourist trade, which is fine. The tourist trade keeps a lot of the old buildings from falling down. Being real close to the Katy Trail, it stays busy most of the year.
I knew there were two old rebuilt cabins in town. The last time I had come through they were being used as a pottery shop.
Now. . . .

 they are being used as a B&B called
The Weinstrasse Cabins.

 The bigger of the two buildings is actually two cabins joined with a frame building between the two where the bathrooms are found.
This cabin will easily sleep eight with lots of comfort left over.

 Upstairs loft area for sleeping.

The smaller of the two is comfortably large enough for a couple to be very comfortable.

Located in Augusta. Plenty close to food and drink.









While driving out of town. . . .

 I spotted this I thought classic car and had to pull over to take a look.

The owner, Darrell Oaks, was outside, so I had a good talk with him.
He had completely built the car from the ground up from various pieces on a newer frame.

Mr. Oaks is also about to open a new coffee shop in town, and I got a tour of the inside.
He is doing great work and making a classy place.

On the same property he has turned an old garage into a meeting hall. Again, he has done a terrific job, inside and out.










Again, you would think I would be satisfied with all I had seen, but I still had a couple more stops to make.

 This old log barn sits right on the Katy Trail.
It use to sit right behind a beautiful, classic farm house. All that remains of the farm house is a couple foundation stones, and soon the barn will follow.

 This small out building sets just in front of the barn.
It may have one time been attached to the main house. I will have to go back trougth old pictures sometime and see.

Close up of the barn.
Only the center crib is log. Probably used as a grain bin.










After getting off of Hwy 94 I took a back country road heading home and passed the next few buildings.

This is a beautiful small restoration added to a newer frame house and . . . .

. . . .the complete package is fantastic.

 This small restoration ( as guest cabin ) sits just up the hill.

But this is the best feature.
A wonderfully maintained double crib log barn.

A classic.

And this historical jeep is parked near by.












One more stop and I will let you get back to what you should be doing.

I had seen this house once before, but had never been able to stop till today.

 It is another one of those rural farm houses that cultural archaeologists of rural America should be studying.
No log structure at all in the building, all frame and siding.
Most of the siding is gone, used for other projects maybe. Or just blown away.
Maybe used to build a fire somewhere.
But a bit still remains around the kitchen.
Here you can see two or the three chimneys.

 The other side of the kitchen.
You can start seeing its bones.

 The third chimney.
Two were made from stone and one from brick.

 This would have been the front of the house at one time.
Well, I guess it still is, you just don't approach it from this direction anymore.

 What is really cool about this house is that you can just stand there and see how they use to build houses before all the modern materials we have now.
Bricks and mortar between the framing for insulation and strength.
You can see the back sides of the interior plaster lathes.

 The inside, thou bare of original paper and cluttered with some stuff, is in remarkably good shape.
The roof must be OK, even if the rest is just about gone.
Mantels still on the fire places.

 You could take the stairway out and still use it somewhere.
It is in real good shape.

 The windows still around the front door.

 The skeleton.

If anyone ever asks you what a six-over-six window is,. . . this is one.
Six panes over six panes.

Look at all the bricks.

If the shed wasn't there, you could really imagine what it once looked like.


Hope you enjoyed my New Years Day.