Bringing Back Sligo

Author Archives: Lauren Tepaske

• Quickie

  Posted at 8:53 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on January 10, 2019

  I’ve been meaning to write.  Really, I have.  So much has happened between receiving the most amazing packet of information from the Street family and work really, really starting on the house.  But, with all of that, there have also been children home from school, children having little social lives, children being ridiculous, me trying not to murder children, you get the idea.  Therefore I have been needing a social life in order to survive and by “social life” I mean putting children to bed and watching mindless shows for the rest of the evening.  By the time my day ends and I sit down to write something my mind is a blank.  I even stared at a rough draft for a new post for days before finally giving up and just leaving the computer alone for a bit.

  Plus, some of the things I really want to write about can be a little touchy.  Like, the fact Marcus has been the crankiest I have ever known him to be (hi, hun!).  This doesn’t work well.  For one thing, I am the cranky one in the family, there is no room for two of us.  Can you imagine what it’s like to have two cranky people sharing the same space, the same stressors, the same ridiculous children (have I mentioned them)?  Marcus left this past week for the Navy Reserves and will be gone for two weeks for…training?  School?  Brainwashing?  I really don’t know.  I know there were a lot of uniforms and preparation for this trip.  Whatever he’s doing, I am hoping the Navy beats the crankiness out of him (hi, hun!) and he comes back the Marcus we all know and love.

  Posted in Life | 0 Comments

• Porch Decisions

  Posted at 7:42 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on December 25, 2018

  27 December 2018:  Exciting Update!  Scroll to the bottom…

  We are starting to make big decisions regarding Sligo and surprisingly murder isn’t one of them.  We have *drumroll please*…chosen the roof color!  The current roof is silver metal and we have decided to replace it with a dark bronze metal.  I took a picture of the roof sample but the color doesn’t really come through so just take my word for it:  It’s dark.  It’s bronze.  And it’s metal.

  We have also made the decision to convert one of the small additions in the back of the house to it’s original state of a screened-in porch.  It currently seems to be an office space of sorts but from the beginning I never felt like that’s what it was.  It kind of felt like a room with walls that had been stapled up.  So, when we realized it had once been a screened-in porch (which is something we wanted anyway) we decided to take it back to such.  On either side of the screened-in porch will be open porches which will connect with a wrap-around.  Does that make sense?  I think it will also be more true to the original home which is something we are striving for.

  

  The space I am referring to is the small addition to the right of the picture.

  

  The door on the left leads to the kitchen.  We had planned for a porch off of the kitchen with hopes of a screened-in porch.

  

  The two French doors to the right lead to what I will refer to as the family room.  We also plan to have a porch off this portion of the house and, I could be wrong because sometimes I don’t always understand what Marcus’s vision is, both the porch off the kitchen and the porch off the family room will connect.

  

  A column remains from the original porch.  I had never noticed it before.  You can see it in the picture above, in the corner of the addition and house.

  We met with Dovetail Cultural Group and Habalis to discuss some of the changes we plan to make and ensure that they would be allowable for tax credits and the National Historic Registry.  One of the more exciting finds just happened to be with the aforementioned porch.

  Everyone agreed that at one point in time this portion of the house was a porch.  It was the Habalis representative who speculated that there was a door still in the wall…and sure enough!  The door was still there, behind the drywall.  So, was this area a portico?  A sort of second entrance?  I think it was more than just a screened-in porch.  Were sleeping porches a thing in Virginia?  I have no clue how this will work into our idea for a screened-in porch but I have faith in Habalis and that they know what they’re doing when it comes to preservation.

  

  The door was behind the wall this entire time!

  Posted in Main House | 2 Comments

• America Virginia Ferneyhough Street

  Posted at 1:06 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on December 9, 2018

  About a week ago I received an email that made me feel like Christmas came early.  We had just returned home after taking the girls to see Handel’s The Messiah which was not as ill received by the girls as I had anticipated.  I mean, they did spend the majority of it doodling on pieces of paper but I like to think they soaked in a little culture just by being there.

  Anyway, back to the story!  After the concert, Marcus and I were lying in bed, doing what any married couple would do on a wild Friday night:  We looked at our respective phones.  I had no less than one million emails all touting Christmas sales and I systematically went through, deleting them.  Or, at least I think I deleted them but sometimes I think I must have sausage links for fingers and I end up responding to an email from Nordstrom Rack who doesn’t want me to miss out on their Frye boot sale.  (Hint to Nordstrom Rack:  Even on sale I can’t afford Frye boots)

  Amid all of the junk one email stood out.  It was only a few sentences long but it was generated through this blog and it read, “Our Grandmother, America Virginia Ferneyhough Street was born in this house in 1882. My brother has a lot of information about the property and would love a chance to talk with you.”  I reread it a few times and then, as the distinctiveness of the email set-in I read it to Marcus and asked if he thought it was real.  His take was that a name like “America Virginia Ferneyhough Street” would be tough to make-up and I couldn’t help but agree with that logic.  I responded almost immediately, excited by the prospect of the descendants of the Ferneyhough family finding me.

  After that I exchanged emails with the granddaughter of America Virginia and eventually phone numbers and even attempted a meet-up.  Although we never did get to meet face-to-face I was able to speak with the aforementioned brother who proceeded to tell me what he knew about the house and said that he would send a packet of information with what he had collected over the years to include pictures which I was (and am) most excited to see.

  A few of the more interesting tidbits are as follows:

  America Virginia was born in the house in 1882 which does not line up with all of the other information that states the house was built in 1890.  To be able to put a legitimate date to when the house was built is exciting not to mention important in our effort to have it recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Registry and the National Historic Registry.

  Somewhere, to the right of the front door, engraved in cement are the dates the original house burnt down and the “new” house was built.  I did a cursory search a few days ago and did not see anything right away.  The existing cement that is exposed to the elements is in bad shape and a lot of it has crumbled away.  It could have been there at some time but isn’t anymore.  OR, there are currently cinder blocks underneath the front porch and maybe, just maybe, it is behind those cinder blocks that the dates are engraved.

  The Ferneyhoughs were close friends with Mary Washington given that their land was across the Rappahannock River from each other.  Therefore, it was no coincidence that John Ferneyhough was witness to the signing of her will.  Mary Washington also admired a chair that John Ferneyhough had and which he gifted her.  This is the same chair that sits in the Mary Washington House.

  The other piece of information I found to be interesting was that the original house was not destroyed during the Civil War but rather burned down quite a few years after the end of the war.  Finding the inscription near the front door would be such a coup!

  Finally, because all five of you that read this blog might be wondering, the reason America Virginia’s granddaughter discovered my blog was because she was trying to show a friend Sligo’s listing on Zillow.  It turns out the family had been keeping up with the state of the house and she wanted to share it with a friend.  However, instead of finding the Zillow listing she found my blog and the rest is history!  Sorry not sorry…it had to be said.

  Posted in History | 5 Comments

• Just A Few Updates

  Posted at 10:04 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on November 12, 2018

  Everyone asks what our time frame is for moving into the Cottage House.  I tell folks that Marcus’s estimate has us moving in after Christmas.  I say since we’re throwing out arbitrary holidays I’m gonna go ahead and guesstimate that we’ll move in around Easter.  Or maybe National Doughnut Day (it might not be a holiday to you but it is to me).

  As it currently stands, the Cottage House does not have interior walls but it does have a new roof.  It also has new electric wiring throughout and the rooms and closet space for each have been roughed out but again, no walls.  Unfortunately, it will need new floors throughout as the current wood floors are just a mess, having been rotted through.  The kitchen is in surprisingly good shape and we won’t change much except to remove an exterior door and turn it into a wall for more space.  It also needs windows to be replaced and a new HVAC system installed.  Also, it needs a bathroom.  All of the aforementioned needs to happen in the next 6 weeks for us to move in “after Christmas” hence the reason for my disbelief.

  We are also in the process of employing Dovetail Cultural Resource Group to help us with the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) and National Historic Registry (NHR) and the tax credit process.  I did a little bit of the research on my own and we made it through two rounds of the VLR process but, as we got deeper, I realized my knowledge of historical research was limited and it is much more involved than just filling out a paper with what we think we know and getting approved for thousands of dollars in tax credits.  I don’t know why the government doesn’t just hand over money willy nilly?

  And, as far as the Main House and any updates with that…there aren’t any.  Marcus has talked about being in the house by his birthday next year which is in August.  My guesstimate for that move-in date is National Sibling Day 2020.

  Posted in Cottage, Life, Main House | 1 Comment

• A Belated Halloween

  Posted at 5:10 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on November 1, 2018

  Happy Halloween!  I know, it’s a day late and a buck short.  Is that the saying?  I tend to get those wrong.  Earlier today I told Marcus that by doing something I would only be adding “fuel to the fodder” and as I said it I knew it was wrong but I didn’t care.  And yes, it’s most redundant but let’s just go with it.

  For a hot second (now I know that’s correct) I had toyed with the idea of having a little Halloween ghost hunt party at Sligo but I lost my nerve.  Plus, it gets complicated with two little ones who actually participate in trick-or-treating and once they heard about the idea of a party they thought they would be involved and everything fell apart before it even began.

  Also, I don’t really think the house is haunted.  It is scary looking but that’s only because of its current state of disrepair.  Besides, when I took our dog into the house he seemed right at home.  He is a giant galoot but I figured if there were an otherworldly presence then an animal would be the one to sense it.  I was concerned he would start staring at something only he could see and he never did so either the house is not haunted or he was too busy being a pain in the ass to notice (honestly it’s probably the latter).

  I am surprised that we didn’t get any calls from the police this past weekend or last night.  I figured there would be kids daring each other to go up to the house on Halloween night.  One day I hope I can be at the house giving out giant candy bars to those brave kiddos who make that long walk up the driveway.  There was a house like that in my childhood neighborhood.  It was scary only because it was old and big and had a small family cemetery behind it.  I remember building up the nerve on the last Halloween living in that particular neighborhood and was greatly rewarded with a giant candy bar so now I’m ready to pay it forward.

  Anyway, on to Thanksgiving and then Christmas we go.  The plan is to be the living in the Cottage House after Christmas but at this exact moment there aren’t any walls and the floors are rotted so…maybe it will be Easter by the time we move.  Again.

  Posted in Cottage, Haunted, Holidays, Main House | 1 Comment

• Albatross

  Posted at 9:57 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on October 16, 2018

  The other day Marcus was suggesting that his purchasing a giant fixer-upper was equal to my surprise purchasing a puppy while he was on travel.  Really, the puppy couldn’t have been that big of a surprise since I had been talking about getting one since the day we were married but, nonetheless, he was surprised and mildly not amused.  It goes without saying that a puppy is significantly less expensive than restoring a Victorian mansion.  Plus, a puppy can supposedly lower your blood pressure though I have my doubts when it comes to the particular breed that we own.

  Anyway, this whole conversation started when I told him that Sligo will forever be the albatross around his neck as far as I’m concerned.  I mean, I can write a blog post about hot cops and fully expect to get away with it at this point.  In fact, the other night I left the husband, the dog, and both children at my in-laws house while I went home and slept until 7:00 in the morning and then napped off and on until about 11 while binge watching “Call the Midwife.”  If that’s not luxury and well-deserved I don’t know what is.

  Am I wrong to hold this against him for so long?  Maybe.  Am I wrong to use it to my advantage on occasion?  As long as I don’t overdo it.  Do I fully expect a Carl’s chocolate malt when requested?  Yes.

  Posted in Life | 0 Comments

• A Little More Excitement

  Posted at 10:05 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on October 15, 2018

  At 5:00 this morning I was awakened by a phone call from ADT because the motion detector in the Cottage had gone off.  It was a miracle I answered at all because, 5:00.  In the morning.  But, answer I did.  “Ms. Tepaske? This is ADT calling.  The motion detector in the shed (I don’t know why it’s called the shed) is going off and I was calling to see if everything was alright.”  “I dunno,” I said through a mouthful of retainer and mouth guard, “I’m not phy-thhh-ically there…”  (you gotta say it as if you’re wearing a retainer and mouth guard).  “OK, Ms. Tepaske,” said ADT, “I’ll call the police.  Good night,” and with that I promptly fell peacefully back asleep was wide awake.

  I wish I could say this was the first time ADT called us about the house but, it’s not and if you’re a fan of this blog you may remember the first time the police came to the house.  Let me refresh your memory in case you forgot (though how could you):  Excitement

  Since then the house has been graffiti-ed and more windows smashed in.  It’s amazing that with all of the activity we have witnessed in a few short months that the house is still standing at all.  I mean, the youths have certainly given it their all so I suppose it’s a testament to the quality of old construction.

  Anyway, long story short, I never did hear from the police if anything had actually happened so later this morning I took my guard dog (whose hobbies include chasing bugs and eating cat poop) and we went to the house to check things out.  It all looked the same:  Same old graffiti, same old smashed-in windows.  The Cottage door did look slightly ajar which was weird because it’s usually drilled to the door jam (yes, you read that right) but I wasn’t brave enough to go in and look around so my guard dog and I left.

  I am definitely ready for work to start on the Main House.  I think once that starts two things will happen:  1.  The youths will get the hint and hopefully stay away and 2.  If they don’t stay away, and they start messing with the money we’re investing to restore this property they’ll have my guard dog to deal with and I’ll make sure he’s just eaten cat poop.

  Posted in Cottage, Life | 2 Comments

• A Little More History

  Posted at 9:40 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on September 5, 2018

  We have made it past the first round of the Virginia Landmarks Registry evaluations and are now working towards the second round.  As such, we have been asked to do a little bit more research which involves me getting off my ass and actually going places like the library *gasp* instead of getting to do research online.

  I was tasked with the job of doing said research (naturally, I mean what else do I have to do all day but eat bonbons and watch soap operas all day) so I took the girls to the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) who then directed me to the local library.  It was there that I discovered the property used to fall under the name of “Lee Hill Farm” which was owned by P. L. Shannon.  While owned by P. L. Shannon (who, if you’ve been keeping up was Sydney Shannon, Jr.’s grandfather) the farm was a cattle farm which sold Angus.  I have yet to discover any more information about Lee Hill Farm other than it sold a very expensive Angus in 1956 which brought in $11,900 (May 12, 1956, The Free Lance-Star) which I’m guessing, for that time, was a lot of money.

  After our visit to the library’s Virginiana room, I was directed to the City of Fredericksburg courthouse for further research but, it had already been a few hours and I had the girls with me so we were kind of a ticking time-bomb at that point and I planned to go later.  As it turns out, I was able to delegate that order of business to Marcus who discovered that all records prior to 1955 are in Spotsylvania County’s courthouse because it was during that year the land was annexed.  So, wish me luck!  Tomorrow I hope to find out more information of the house and possibly who the architect was.

  Posted in Grounds, History | 0 Comments

• Life is Bearable

  Posted at 10:39 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on August 31, 2018

  Ah, the joys of moving back to the town one grew-up in.  To be even more specific, ah, the joys of moving back into the house one grew-up in.  We’ll be with my mom for an indefinite period of time (I’m hoping this isn’t the first time she’s hearing about this…if so, surprise, mom) and so we’ve moved all of our clothes and precious belongings to her house.  The precious belongings, in no particular order of importance, include the children, the pets, and the coffee pot.  The first few days back home my mom and I spent it reorganizing books from my childhood and throwing away things like nail polish and Bath and Body Works perfume from the late 1990s.

  Just in the few short days we’ve been back in the area I have run into a friend’s mom at the grocery store, telling her that I was back, living with my mom.  In retrospect I probably owed her a little bit more of an explanation than that and the rumor mill may or may not be churning (as if anyone cares).  Then, another day, Marcus and I were sitting down for lunch at the outside space of one of our favorite restaurants and friends of ours happened to see us.  They drove up and stopped for a chat making us remember what it’s like to live in a town small enough for something like that to happen.  Friends and family are the big reason why moving back to Fredericksburg will be bearable.

  Take the other day for instance.  Marcus spent one of his recent mornings at the City of Fredericksburg offices in order to get permits for the work we’re currently doing on the Cottage House.  While there, speaking with one of the building inspectors, the father of one of my childhood friends (we’ll call him “Papa John” to protect the not-so-innocent) popped his head into the office and proceeded to tell Marcus that if we didn’t get our things in order they were going to condemn Sligo.  Marcus texted me to tell me this and I was livid.  How dare they condemn the house now!  I even got my mom riled up about it and we both fumed over the audacity of the city to put us in such a situation.  I texted Marcus back “Uh…why didn’t they condemn it ten years ago?!” to which Marcus replied “Papa John = Your friend’s dad.”  I even texted him back with a curt “And?!” and then it clicked.  Oh yes…Papa John was and is a kidder and if you can feel me cutting my eyes at Papa John then you would be correct.

  I saw Papa John earlier today, walking along Caroline Street in Fredericksburg as the girls and I were driving through the city and I almost yelled at him but couldn’t because of the traffic behind me.  I regret the decision to not hold-up traffic because it could have been great:  “Go ahead!  Do us a favor!  Condemn my house!” and then I would have peeled out, laughing maniacally while the girls sat in the back worried for their little lives (which is frequent, I’m sure).  I’ll just have to settle for writing about it now and honestly, funny enough, it’s moments like these that are helping me work through moving back.

  Posted in Life | 0 Comments

• Mental Health

  Posted at 10:21 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on August 27, 2018

  Some things you may not know about me, besides now having the hots for some of the Fredericksburg City police officers:  I love to shop, I like reading historical fiction novels, and, if given the chance, I can sit on my butt all day and binge watch Netflix shows.  Furthermore, while I can put the “L” in “lazy” I also enjoy running which might make me a little crazy and, speaking of crazy, I have a BS of psychology and, as such, am pretty open about mental health.  It also means I have the ability and knowledge to be empathetic but rarely am, I should know how to raise children but I don’t, and I can look back at myself and my frame of mind and have a sense of humor.

  Anyway, both Marcus and I are just slightly panicked.  Unlike me, who is used to such feelings as anxiety, depression, and stress, Marcus has lived his 39 years in a blissful state, with nary a care.  Recently, however, he’s been feeling the stress of our lives.  Not only is he facing the reconstruction project of his nightmares dreams, he is starting a new job, selling a home, moving in with his mother-in-law (hi, mom!), helping his young daughters cope with moving and starting a new school, and attempting to keep his wife sane (sorry bud, lost cause).

  I, on the other hand, have been in a state of panic since the day we purchased Sligo and it only got worse yesterday while at Target.  Marcus, the girls, and I headed out to what should be a mecca for any female over the age of four months (and really, it may be younger but it’s about this time that the Target bulls eye becomes more clear and a conditioned response).  Anyway, we did our back-to-school shopping which is stressful in itself as items are thrown willy-nilly into the basket and I start to lose sense of what we actually need and what is something the girls think is cute and it doesn’t matter how cute and sparkly it is but the teacher specifically asked for a black and white marble composition notebook and by golly that’s what we’re going to get so please put that thing back!  *deep breath in, deep breath out*

  So, after what felt like an eternity in which nothing was accomplished, the four of us (because somehow I hadn’t killed anybody and buried their body under the millions of leftover boxes of non-sharpened #2 pencils) made our way to the produce section of our new-to-us Super Target.  Or is it Ultra Target?  Mega Target?  I have no idea.  I do know they need to get their shit together because the two Williamsburg Targets put this particular store to shame in hospitality, organization, and cleanliness.  Which, to be honest, aren’t those kind of like, Target’s three main mantras and 100% why I don’t shop at Wal-Mart?  Anyway, it was this realization that sent me down my spiral of despair.  As I watched an elderly gentleman berate a young Target employee for not being where he needed to be (and I fully back the elderly man on this one), I started to realize that this would be the Target I would shop at for many years to come and I snapped.

  I casually walked away (not really…it was a weird shuffling away as the tears started to fall), dropping the school supply list in the basket, mind racing about where to go where I could just curl up in a ball and have a good cry.  As my face continued to pinch and the tears started to stream I realized staying in the store would be weird because ultimately I had decided on getting a bag (or is it a box?) of Oreos and finding a changing room to cry in so I walked outside and sat on a bench.  After about 10 minutes of off and on crying, and a nice Target employee asking how my day was and me considering for a split second to tell her everything about me starting with birth but then deciding against it, I walked back into the store and found Marcus and the girls.  Of course, upon seeing Marcus, the waterworks started up again and this time we hugged in the bread aisle as shoppers awkwardly walked around us and asked if we could step aside a bit so they could get their 100% grain bread.  The girls by this point had lost all control and were galloping up and down the aisles and pushing each other over (and if you think this is the most untruthful part of the whole story you would be sadly mistaken) and so we decided it was time to go as the Tepaske family had truly left their mark.

  Fast-forward to today and I feel better mentally.  I mean, things are still rough as we put our Williamsburg house on the market and we settle into the unknown of when renovations will start but at least Marcus and I will have each other to hug in the bread aisle.

  

  WIth any luck this will be Marcus and me one day.  Probably the day the renovations are complete.

  Posted in Life | 0 Comments

• Recent Posts

  • Preoccupied December 20, 2021
  • The “Haunting” of Sligo August 4, 2021
  • Rehabilitation Tax Credits April 27, 2021
  • Put Me in Blogger Jail April 6, 2021
  • Virginia Historic Registry and the National Landmark Registry August 6, 2020
  • My Good Boy, Axel July 14, 2020

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