Mountain Mermaid

Remember awhile back, when I posted a photo of an old antique Rocking chair
with a promise to tell more of its history?
Today is that day!!

The rocking chair came with the purchase of an old house in Alabama.
Many of you live near the area so I really don't want to give away the location.
There I was fresh from a duty station outside Washington D.C.
Because of his status, we were required to live on base during the week.
But come weekends, we loaded up the pickup and headed to the hills..
about 85 miles north to where his family had lived for seven generations.
After tiring of camping and roughing it each weekend,
we were more than ready to find a house in the area.
We stumbled on the old house quite by accident,
A cousin knew the owner and suggested we take a look.
Have you ever had "good vibes" about something?
I did the moment I stepped onto the sagging front porch  of this clapboard  120 year old Victorian cottage!
Though not a true Victorian per se.  the gingerbread trim and the scalloped fish scales on the upper part of the high peaked roof certainly  were characteristic details of that era..

and it was situated on a Pecan tree shaded one acre city lot , two blocks off main street!!
 
The house was  very similar to this AFTER refurbishing/restoring her to her original glory!
I could and would walk to the bank, next door to the library, and down the street to the post office!
For obvious reasons, I did drive to the local grocer and gas station...
As we were warmly greeted by the sweetest little lady of about eighty years old,my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets..the entire house was so charming..and full of genuine ANTIQUES!! She made us tea, and asked us to sit awhile and discuss her terms of the sale.. She had recently married her high school sweetheart,
( both spouses had passed away after long marriages), and they currently were living in "HIS " house..her children had taken everything they wanted from hers. If we could promise her two things, then she would sell the house to us. One stipulation was to allow her to walk the yards at will and admire the flowers, most of which dated back to the time she had been a newly wed  and had loving planted rootings from her mothers flower garden. The other was to love house and furniture as she had..
How could I not say yes?
In the living room  was a rosewood  humpback sofa with matching chair. Both had been recovered in plastic brocade.

This set had been a wedding gift  from her parents! The rocking chair had also been covered in the brocade plastic. A dining set for eight, with china cabinet in cherry complete with Hull pottery!


..A beautiful set of twin pineapple beds in cherry were in a back bedroom..
along with matching dresser and armoire.

In the master bedroom was a beautiful Jenny Lind Spindle bed  which had been her matrimonial bed
and with that was also  another matching dresser and armoire..

When I asked how old the rocker was, she said her mom rocked her in the chair when she was a baby!..
and she was going on eighty!!
The house had fireplaces in every room, each with hand carved mantles and mirrors,,


Another antique mahogany Jenny Lind spool bed. on the sleeping porch.

The entire house was a treasure trove of antiques..but because the cousin had brought us to her, she was willing to take  twenty thousand dollars in cash! To pay her that paltry amount would equal what we considered highway  robbery.. We offered the twenty thousand for the house and five thousand for the furniture!
Later that day at the local bank, while processing the "loan" papers, I asked the bank president how I should pay this..either with a personal check or my Visa card..or a simple mortgage?  He later became my boss, and we have laughed over that incident many times.
Now back to the rocker, my sister in law stripped it down for recovering.. and discovered it still had the original horsehair stuffing!! She disassembled the entire rocker, re-glued all the joints. and tightened the springs before adding better stuffing and padding for a more comfortable sit!.. It is one beautiful piece!!
Here it is in my current reading nook:

(click for closer detail)
The matching bookshelves were castaways in an alley..
a jogger helped me load them in my SUV while commenting what a lucky find!
Most of the books are from Goodwill.. or freebies at garage sales.

The small figurines (Willow) and a Nao (Lladro) were .$99 each!
Each of the White lamps and shades were from GW also..
on 50% off the store days..$4.00!

(if you look closely, you will see Bubba''s nose and whiskers peeking out..
He's the large orange cat in the blue magazine basket under the table!)

He loves that basket, another GW find! The dark table..$3.00 at GW!

That , my friends, are a few of my GW finds..as well as the history of my rocker..
and every post needs either water or a furbaby...
here's mine..BeBe,,
.
She and Bubba finding more interesting stuff outdoors..

Now Please join Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

and  Faded Charm for White Wednesday

Leigh at Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville 
Happy thrifting!!