Progress?

I think not.

When I was in college one of my professors own a house outside of town.  I house sat one summer and truly loved being there.  I was paid but would gladly have stayed free.  With what is occurring I wish I’d taken pictures of every tiny corner although I know pictures wouldn’t have captured the intangible feeling within the walls.

The oldest, original section of it was at one time a stage coach stop.  Lounging in that area, you could literally feel the history swirling around you.

The rest of the house, the newer portion was huge.  And absolutely gorgeous!  There was an entry hall.  You know, like you see in movies complete with the multi-tiered staircase.  There was a kitchen big enough for the entire first floor of my current home to fit within.  One wall was pointed stone, the outside wall of the original structure.  And there was a four foot square butcher block in the middle of the floor, top curved from use before the then owners claimed it.

There was a music room with hardwood floors where they had a baby grand piano that made even my shabby talents sound amazing.  A dining room with a table that could seat twelve and a family room that faced the highway but with walls so thick you could hear none of the traffic noise.

Upstairs there were five bedrooms plus and office.  The guest room, my room was at the back of the house next to a shade tree.  Even in the heat of the summer that rivaled this year’s it remained cool enough to sleep.  The third floor had been made into a game room.  Real games as in a full-sized ping pong table that took up only one tiny corner of it.

The back had pretty gardens and a lovely stone porch, perfect for relaxing with the kittens born in their garage the summer I stayed there, two of which ended up following me home when the residents returned.

The current owner, a contractor has won the fight to demolish it in order to erect yet another convenience store/gas station.  His reasoning for being permitted to do so – The other three corners are developed so why not that one as well?  It saddens me that the zoning board approved the change.  History, the stage coach stop, and the addition, just shy of 200 years old, built by original settlers to the area is being destroyed in the name of progress.  I call it greed and I’m extremely disappointed that this is being permitted.