Granddad’s House

My grandparents Beck’s house was built by him along a stream called Back Creek which flowed into Indian Creek near the town of Indian Head, Pennsylvania. It was built from reclaimed wood from their old farm house up on White Horse Mountain. It was a large cottage of four rooms on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second. Once built, he covered it with brown mineral-coated Insulbrick.

My sister Kathy and her husband Doug bought the house while my grandparents were alive and allowed them to live there until they were no longer able to take care of the house and themselves.

When Doug and Kathy moved in, the house was a mélange of small rooms and Easter egg colors. Slowly over the years Doug remodeled one room at a time, making the rustic cottage into a house worthy of a magazine spread. He removed walls, replaced floors, rewired, and relocated bathrooms. He hung new lighting, built cupboards, closets, and lighted cubby holes for displaying heirlooms.

The floors are made of hardwoods with inlay designs. While he was remodeling a long, built-in side porch and tore off the old brown Insulbrick covering he found wide, rough-cut, wormy chestnut boards placed on the diagonal. Doug removed the nails, then smoothed and sealed them to make a beautiful accent wall. He made a French door entrance to the multi-windowed porch from the living room. He and Kathy made a cut glass/ stained glass window to allow more light to come into the living room.

Doug added a wraparound porch to the front of the house and he is remodeling the kitchen now. His skills are not limited to carpentry; he rebuilt an outside chimney made of mortar and rock. He is an artist as well. Near the top of the chimney he created the image of an American Indian wearing a war bonnet of different rocks and stones.

My grandfather had done many things and could be called a carpenter as well, but only to the point that he could build something that was level and square. However Doug is a true craftsman and very skilled in his labors.