Grandpa's Cabin at Wildwood

Early last fall, the kids had a Scholar School retreat up at Wildwood, the community of cabin properties where my Grandpa Vance built a cabin decades ago. I hadn't been up there since I was a little girl, so I took advantage of the opportunity and hauled all the kids up there so I could show them a little piece of family history. Not much has changed on the exterior. The river still runs down in front. There is still the little hike up the mountain behind the cabin that we used to do as kids where we used to collect snail shells and other treasures. The most noticably missing thing is the GIGANTIC swing that used to hang down from one of the enormous trees out back where my grandpa used to push me so I could swing as high as I could get.

Overall, the cabin is a little smaller than I remember. The upstairs loft seemed enormous when I was little. We used to spend the 4th of July up at the cabin every year with our cousins. I know it sounds funny, but I have not been able to replace that tradition in all these years. Even now, July 4th is always lacking...something.

These are my kids sitting in front of their great-grandpa's cabin. They never knew him, and it is weird to think that some of them are the ages that I was when I came here as a child.

This is the lawn out front where we used to play. Grandma had a croquet set up at the cabin that we would arrange on this lawn. Even though I don't think any of us knew the actual rules to croquet, we just made them up as we went. It was magical enough just to have a mallet and a ball that matched each other in color. We also played tetherball on this lawn and looked for mole hills or other underground trails.

This is the patio off the great room where we used to do the BBQing and feed all of us when the weather was nice.

This is the space where the swing SHOULD be. If I were to buy back this property again, that is the first thing I would put back. Funny, the things you remember and what they mean.

This is Chamane checking out the river at the bottom of the rock wall. This is where we put the watermelons to keep them cold in the summer (Grandma always had plenty of watermelon). We also had contests to see who could hold their hands in the freezing cold water the longest. We would constantly rearrange rocks in the river to try to stop up the water. We made various wading pools and waterfalls and would collect things from the river.

I couldn't wait to take my kids on the little hike up the mountain. It was just like I remembered it, except shorter. Then there was the part of the trail that had been added since those days. It turned out to be quite an adventure.

Yes, it really was this steep at the top!! Yikes!

Josh asked if he could stay here.

I wish!