Naming a house or property is not a new trend. In fact, it's been done for centuries. It's the finest compliment you can give the very place you raise your family, entertain, eat, sleep, love and find refuge. Quite often homes are named after ancestors, historic events, unique features of the home or it's location. In some cases, like ours, the name is purely sentimental to it's owners.
Over 30 years ago, Curtis would walk the fields behind what is now our new property, hunting pheasant. This elusive bird was much more plentiful back in the 70’s and 80’s, but was every bit as sought after and desired.
What now sits amidst a growing community, once was only a quaint two story bungalow, a detached single car garage and a large red barn. The home was surrounded by hundreds of acres of prime farmland. The original house was built in 1911 and the other structures sometime after that. In 2006, a large addition was designed and built by a European architect, attaching to, but leaving the existing farmhouse virtually untouched.
From the moment we embarked on this adventure, the soul of this home has spoken to us. It tells us what it once was and what it deserves to be.
Before we took ownership, we would frequently drive down the neighbor’s private lane, which runs the adjacent southern boundary. This picture was taken the very day, February 10, 2017, that we made the official offer to purchase the property. You can see our barn in the background. Curtis believed that a Ring-necked Pheasant siting was a sign, a good omen. He loved the idea of owning a property that was natural habitat for this majestic bird. Three days after we closed and began demolition, we spotted our pheasant nested in his piney perch right out the back door.
We believe this amazing creature has watched over our progress from day one. Quite often we will still see him strut across the backyard. In homage to the unique history of this property and the love we feel for it, we knew we had to give it a name. It was easy! Of course it should be known as Pheasant Run.
