Historic Homes

Magnificent Vaile Mansion

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Last month, Captain Cavedweller and I took a trip to Kansas City for both work and fun.

One day, we drove to Independence, Missouri, and had a delightful time exploring the glorious Vaile Mansion.

The house is amazing from the outside. It was built for Colonel Harvey Merrick Vaile and his wife, Sophia.

The three-story Gothic-like structure is constructed of hand-pressed red brick, trimmed with white limestone and tall, narrow windows.  Construction for the house began in 1871, with the house completed in 1881 at a cost of $150,000. 

Colonel Vaile  built his wealth by investing in several business ventures, primarily interests in the construction of the Erie Canal. He was also part-owner of Star Mail routes. He was a prominent figure in Independence social and business circles.

It was reported by the  Kansas City Times  to be “the most princely house and the most comfortable home in the entire west,”  in an article in 1882. The mansion quickly became a showplace in the area and was a place many notables of the day visited. 

 

The house was decked to the nines for the holidays when we were there, which delighted me to no end.

The mansion is reported to be one of the best examples of Second Empire style architecture in the United States. The house includes nine marble fireplaces.  

The 31 room mansion also includes a fabulous music room, spectacular painted ceilings, flushing toilets, and a  built-in 6,000 gallon water tank. 

The painted ceilings were different in each room, and all works of art.

I was fascinated with the light globes in several of the rooms because each globe was slightly different. Some had scenes, others had florals and vines, but they were all lovely.

Colonel Vaile was involved in the Star Route scandal not long after moving into the house. He faced trials in 1882 and 1883. Although he was found not guilty, he had to spend more than $100,000 in trial expenses. In February 1883, while he was in Washington D.C., his wife, who had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, passed.

Although she only had a few years in the beautiful home, her touches are seen throughout the mansion. Vaile remained at the house until his death in 1894, although he never remarried.

The house changed hands many times over the following decades, becoming a sanatorium and then a nursing home. When the threat of demolition loomed, the property was acquired by the City of Independence and underwent a long-term restoration. The house is now a museum operated by the Vaile Victorian Society, a non-profit organization established in 1983 by local residents.

I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see this glorious house, attired in her finest holiday splendor.

If you enjoy stories about amazing homes, I hope you’ll check out A Christmas Dream. The house is among the many unforgettable characters in this sweet story.

He came to build the house of his dreams, but found a home for his heart.

After an extensive search for the ideal location to build a house he’s spent years designing, Brant Hudson knows he’s found the perfect site the moment he sets foot on the land near Silver Bluff, Oregon. However, frustrating delays leave him laboring alongside the very crew he hired to finish the house in time for Christmas. His work leads the woman who catches his eye to believe he’s a carpenter rather than the owner of the grand manor.

Holland Drake grew up on a farm, but she aspires to secure a position as a housemaid at Hudson House. While delivering lunch to her brother at the worksite, the door opens to a job when Holland encounters a strikingly handsome carpenter whose charm captivates her. Soon, Holland discovers the enchanting man is none other than the owner of the house and her new employer.

As the holiday season arrives amid a flurry of excitement and possibilities, Holland and Brant face choices that could change their lives forever. Will fear hold them back from stepping into the future together, or will their Christmas dreams of love come true?

A Christmas Dream is the first book in the Hudson House Holiday series of wholesome, heartwarming Christmas romances full of the joy of the season.

Have you ever visited a beautiful Victorian home, or a place you’d consider a dream home?

Or maybe you live in your dream home? What do you like best about it?

To stay up on our latest releases and have some fun, too, join our Facebook Reader Group HERE!

My Visit to Western Author Zane Grey’s Cabin

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Back in August, my husband and I spent a week in Payson, Arizona. The trip was basically a get-out-of-the heat excursion for us as it was sweltering that time of year in the Phoenix area. While there, we decided to do a little sightseeing. Last month, I told you about our visit to the Payson Museum where we learned about the small plane crash in Hell’s Gate with the MGM lion aboard.

 

This month, I’m going to share with you a more writing related post – our stop at the Zane Grey cabin. For those who might not know, (Pearl) Zane Grey wrote more than ninety books, some published posthumously. He began his career as a dentist and, besides his love of hunting and the great outdoors, he was also an avid fisherman.  His wife Dolly managed his career, typed his manuscripts from his handwritten pages, and accepted his wandering ways, which included not only traveling most of the year but his various romantic dalliances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides his famous westerns, Zane Grey also wrote hunting books, children’s books, and baseball books. His most famous western, Riders of the Purple Sage, has been made into more different movie versions than any other book ever. Here’s the part I like: most of his western books contain a strong romantic element. Way to go, Zane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cabin in Payson is actually a replica as the original one sadly burned down in the tragic Dude Fire of June 1990 when six firefighters lost their lives.  And, actually, that was considered the second cabin. The very first one was built in 1918 when Zane Grey came to the rim country and fell in love with the area. Most years, from then until 1929, Zane came to the cabin in the fall for the hunting season. He didn’t return after that because of a license dispute (the season dates had changed), and the cabin was left abandoned until 1963 when the Goettl family purchased and restored it. After Mr. Goettl died, the family turned the cabin into a private museum. After this cabin was destroyed in the 1990 fire, a replica was built in the town of Payson. It was meticulously constructed to duplicate the original in every detail, helped along by photos and consulting advice from Zane Grey’s son.

 

What I found most fascinating about the cabin was it’s design — basically one large room with “nooks” for sleeping, writing (he sat at a chair with a writing desk and composed by hand), eating, and relaxing. I particularly like the player piano in the corner, and some of my P&P fillies pals will understand why ? The kitchen is small and cramped and built off the main cabin so that heat from cooking didn’t make the cabin sweltering in hot weather.

I wish I’d been fortunate enough to see the original cabin, but I have to say, visiting the replica was quite fun and really informative. I felt so inspired afterward, I bought a book about Zane Grey in the giftshop and saved the most recent movie version of Riders of the Purple Sage to my watchlist.

Texas Time Machine

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I love stepping back in time. Through the pages of a book, the visual delight of a period movie or television series, looking at old pictures, digging into research, or even working on a craft that has been practiced for hundreds of years. There is something about the past that is just so romantic and enticing to me.

It probably comes as no surprise, then, that when my daughter and I met up in Waco for a girl’s weekend a few months ago, we spent our time stepping through as many time portals as we could. In a previous post I shared about the Waco Suspension Bridge that was built to allow cattle to be driven over the Brazos (you can find that post here), but today, I’d like to share some photos from my favorite visit of the the day – The East Terrace House Museum.

The house was built in 1872 on the east bank of the Brazos River. J.W. Mann built the house for his wife Cemira in the style of an Italianate Villa to please her eastern sensibilities.

The tour started off in perfect style when the door was opened by our docent who was dressed in period costume. She is a history student from Baylor working on her master’s degree, and she was the perfect hostess.

This was Mr. Mann’s study/library and was situated immediately to the left of the front door.

The first room we toured was the library, which of course became one of my favorites. Reading by a fire with plenty of natural light in what was probably the quietest room of the house.

Passing through the doorway with our guide, we came to the ladies sitting room. A larger space with more furniture to allow one to sit with friends and family while plying a needle or writing some letters. It is hard to tell from this photograph, but the desk and chair in the corner that belonged to Mrs. Mann seemed better suited to a child. She was such a tiny woman, that even with the full skirts of her day, her chairs were more comparable to those for children than adults.

Next we came to the elaborate dining room. The table is set with the family china, and each place setting has its own salt cellar. They preserved so many family heirlooms in this marvelous home.

The next set of rooms we came to were large, open double parlors that could be used for all manner of entertaining. These were matched on the second story with a long ballroom. But on the main floor, the highlight was the nook on the far end that created a music room with Cemira’s harp and piano.

I mentioned earlier how small Mrs. Mann was. Do you see the open window in this picture? She was small enough to use these openings as doors and would simply walk through them whenever she chose to go outside.

At the back of the house was the kitchen. When the home was originally built, the kitchen would have been detached from the house, but as time passed and things were modernized, it joined with the main house.

At the back of the kitchen were a set of stairs, and at the top of these stairs was the bathroom that would serve the family whose bedrooms were situated on this second floor. The Mann home was the first to have running water in Waco, although initially, the water only ran one direction–out. Water would still have to be heated on the kitchen stove and carted upstairs, but when the bath was over, the water would drain out. Not too much longer, the Waco Waterworks were built right across the street from East Terrace, allowing full-service plumbing.

This bedroom was a guest suite situated off of the ballroom. Ladies could use it as a retiring room to rest or repair their hair or dress. Or if the party lasted long into the night, it could serve as an overnight respite. It is not visible in this photo, but there was also a Murphey bed along the wall on the left. When put up, it looked like a fancy wood panel with a full-length mirror attached. But if called upon, it could be lowered to allow more space for guests to sleep.

There was another bedroom through the doorway.

I saved my favorite place in the house for last. This staircase let up to the tower room that offered magnificent views of the Brazos and surrounding areas. But it is this nook tucked beneath the staircase that captured my heart. A small little sewing nook with natural lighting and trunk to hold supplies. I would love to convert this into a cozy reading nook with shelves full of my favorite historical novels close at hand. I think I’ll keep the sewing machine, though, for ambiance.

Do you enjoy touring historic homes or perhaps collecting antiques?
Which room shown above would you choose to incorporate into your own home?