“Mid pleasures and palaces,
Wherever we roam,
Be it ever so humble,
There’s no place like home.”
Does this apply when it’s the home itself that is roaming?
What a way to spend a day! The Schultz family homestead–now owned by Don Wolff–was scheduled to hit the road at about 9:15 on the morning of April 21 but the rubber actually hit the road about an hour later than that–speculate all you want on the particulars of why things got backed up, just about any thing you could come up with , short of alien invasion, would probably be at least partly right. Wires were raised, mud pitfalls covered, trees trimmed, official measurements were taken, traffic was directed; the wind blew steadily; the sun shone intermittently (no rain!); it was, at least early in the day, cold as a banker’s heart(Sorry, Gretchen).
Finally, about 11:00, both parts of the structure–house and addition–made it to the tarmac and the procession began. Past the Just For Kids Child Care and Learning Center(Where the tykes got ringside seats)…past the James A. Garfield High School(Do you think that there were many eyeballs trained–with or without permission–out those windows?)…CTS Telecommunications, two crews from Ohio Edison, SuddenLink.com, Eckman Tree Service were all in evidence…there were plenty of flashers and fluorescent vests and hats…. The star turn, of course, was by the Wolfe Moving Company (For all your structural moving needs) which furnished the expertise …and the big wheels…to make it all happen. Seventy thousand pounds–give or take–begins the migration.
Around 12:55 there was a glitch around Anderson Rd., apparently a wire problem, which brought traffic–there was quite a bit of it– to a standstill on Rte. 88. Truckers dismounted from their cabs to try and figure out what the hold up was (The hills there interrupt the line-of-sight). They seemed skeptical when told that it was a house in the road that was the hold up. The language during this interlude was not suitable for a family publication and lots of vehicles turned around in lots of driveways to attempt a getaway. At about 1:15 the problem was resolved ; the whole troop moved across the private right-of-way (Northeast Ohio Oil Field Services) to Nichols Rd. and hung a right to turn north for the final two legs of the journey.
The tight left turn from Nichols onto Hankee Rd. came up at about 2:30–it was amazing how fast things went, really–and required more trimming , as well as having the individually-controlled power wheels underneath the heavy-duty house carriage turn on their own to swing the tail end of the whole apparatus into the roadway, not the ditch. This could make parallel parking a snap!
The ministrations of Zuver Construction were making the end-location site presentable when the whole entourage arrived at about 3:00…after changing the traffic pattern in Freedom/Hiram Townships for much of the afternoon. Local gawkers–present company included–were out in force. Every dog on Hankee Rd was on alert; a truck full of pineapple went by…your usual afternoon in the country. Everything pulled into the driveway, off the road, and the maneuvering to get the house over the hole dug there for the foundation began. It went on for quite a while. Watching guys go under the structure to turn cranks and on the porch roof to raise wires is kind of scary…reminiscentof the scene in “The Wizard of Oz where the house lands on the Wicked Witch of the West.
The house is perched on steel beams waiting for its foundation to be built under it; the addition waits to be re-added. Everything waits for the rain to stop so that building the foundation will not involve flippers and wetsuits. It’s in a nice spot, lots of landscaping rocks available, wildflowers abound, plenty of shade. Upwards of $80,000 rests in place, ready to become a home
It’s not too often we see an old house get a new home. But that’s exactly what happened on April 21 with a rental house in Garrettsville on South Street (SR 88). The 1920s-era house — next to Just for Kids preschool — was scheduled to be torn down in order to make way for the new Garrettsville Family Medicine office to be built on that site. Instead, it got a new lease on life from Don Wolff, in a new location… a wooded lot along Hankee Road in Freedom Township, across from Wolff’s Blueberry Patch. As these photos demonstrate, it’s complicated to maneuver an old house (in sections) onto a new foundation on a cool, muddy day… but it certainly is memorable! – Photo series by Estelle R. Brown
