Abandoned House on Talbot Trail

The abandoned farmhouse on the Talbot Trail, which hugs the north shore of Lake Erie, looks like it was taken off the cover of a Nancy Drew mystery.  Constructed entirely of wood, the two-storey structure is about 150 years old.  If only its walls could talk, the tales they would tell.  The house appears to have been built in two sections:  the first piece contains a front door graced by two windows on either side.  The right hand window has what looks to be a homemade window to its right, added later on.  Above the front door is a large window frame, but the window is missing.  A peaked roof above the window has a red gable which give the house a stately air.  The second piece of the house, to the left, runs perpendicular to the first piece, jutting out at the front.  A large two-storey bay window graces the front with four vertical windows on each storey, missing their glass.  Below the peaked roof is another red gable.  The side wall has two vertical windows, also missing their glass.  A hole in the front wall has been hastily boarded up; one almost expects the Onceler from Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax to peek out from it.  The bottom half of the side wall has what appears to be aluminum siding rather than wooden boards, as if it was damaged by a storm at one point and then replaced.  The roof is covered with shingles, originally grey but now in varying shades, peeling like a week-old sunburn.  Two red brick chimneys poke out of the roof where smoke puffed out from an iron stove in winters past.  The front entrance is now overgrown with weeds tall enough to be cut down by a scythe, some flattened now by the elements or by cast aside junk.  The last remnants of snow cling to the short grass surrounding the weeds.  A towering tree stands in the background behind the homestead, likely planted by the farmer when he built the house.  Another large tree sits in the distance, its crown bare of leaves, waiting to bud at the first sign of spring.  Cirrus clouds sail through the azure sky above.  The house sits empty, waiting to be reclaimed, waiting to be restored to its former glory.  But for now it will have to be content with the occasional visit from a stray cat or a wild bird off Lake Erie’s shore.  Next summer, I will take a trip along Talbot Trail a la Nancy Drew, to view the abandoned house. 

 

Photo courtesy www.kpepphotography.com.