If bricks could talk...

Purchasing a property is one thing, but maintaining and preserving a property is another; especially if it’s historical.  Such is the case at The Carriage House Inn.  I’ve written about what is known of the history of the structure from what I’ve found at the archives at the Crawford County Historical Society (www.crawfordhistorical.org) and how it once housed the horses and carriages of the Huidekoper family and how, for many years, it sat empty and neglected.  The vision of previous owners to renovate a dilapidated barn into a home and then into a beautiful Bed and Breakfast has inspired and fascinated David and I to the point that we began to really inspect the grounds for clues as to how things may have been.  We know that there were English Gardens behind the Huidekoper mansion and that there was a pasture area for horses. We were told by the previous owner that much of the original brick carriage path was removed to create a beautiful patio area for the Inn and that a boarded up area on the north side of the building was possibly the horse stables.  While walking the grounds we noticed yellow bricks peeking up through the grass near the fence between the Inn and the Huidekoper mansion which, of course, required further inspection!  Working with the Historical Society we were able to uncover a large section of the original carriage path and now the hunt is on to see what other gems we may unearth!