Antique picking travels, whether near or far, they’re our favorite getaways

 We’ve had the privilege of traveling both abroad and around the country “antique picking.” We’ve been up and down the Pacific Northwest, and back and forth across the Midwest and the South. We were recently up in Oregon, visiting family for Thanksgiving. While we were there we, of course, went out to do a little “antiquing.” What a delightful surprise to find these beautiful mossy pieces of architectural salvage that were once part of a mortuary building in Long Beach, CA!
We found these green shutters during another trip to Oregon a couple of years ago. These goodies came home with us on the way back from Round Top, Texas. The banister rails are from Illinois, the cellar door came from Ohio, and though I can’t really remember I think the cupola came from Ohio as well.
 
 
 This RCA pup wasn’t a road trip score, he sort of came from our “backyard” at the Cottage, when another antique shop was closing we gave this  handsome fellow a new home…
A lot of the longer trips started after my husband Bill began going back east to work on a building he has in Grayville Illinois. He has been working on restoring this building for twelve years, and frequently I fly out there and we shop on our drive home. Why Grayville you ask? Well, his mother was born there during the early part of the 20th century. One day he said to me “Let’s go on a trip to Grayville to see if there are any of my family still living there.” We had a wonderful visit during the Labor Day weekend in 2005. Labor Day weekend is a big deal in Grayville. They call the weekend and its events “Grayville Days,” and there’s all sorts of stuff going on, live music, food, even a parade of farm machinery! While we were there, Billy noticed a “For Sale” sign in the window of one of the buildings.  After what seemed like a sort of quick inquiry he said “I’ll take it.” Soon after, he acquired the building on the left and started traveling to Grayville two or three times a year to work on restoring the beautiful old building. The town folk nicknamed him the “Crazy Californian” because most of those old buildings in the place get torn down due to the broken down condition they end up in after so many years of neglect. It is a wonderful feeling to preserve history in the physical world…it’s one of the most important reasons we went into the antiques business. By “preserving” I don’t mean getting things back to their original condition but rather actually celebrating the time worn look, the so called “imperfections.” This year Bill’s and other historical buildings in Grayville, Illinois were repainted with the help of the town’s beautification committee. They sure did a nice job of it, it is quite a thing of beauty don’t you think?
By the way…after all these trips, Bill hasn’t found any family there yet.

 

 

 

 

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