If walls could talk this blog would be a series of books! We have not discovered any bodies… yet, but, if you want to know why the property has been called Magic Mountain, The Sweepstakes House, and the Cat Pee House you can take a look at the following brief history:

There are about a mile of stone walls on the property that were likely built in the 1700’s while clearing fields for farming.

The first recorded deed to the property is from 1890 and originally consisted of 41 acres of land. The original farmhouse was built in 1881 and the main barn, piggery, and carriage house were likely built around the same time. In 1901 the property was sold by Daniel Miller and his wife to Ervin J. Marsh. In 1934, after his death, the property was sold at auction to settle his debts. The property was purchased for $1525 by John Hofford, his wife, and his daughter, Gertrude.

1902 House
Original Barn

In 1963 The property was sold to Geraldine Parr for $1.00 – Probably a relative?

Our neighbor gave us this aerial photo from the 40’s? shows part of the property (much of it used for farming). The Farmhouse and barns are in the lower right corner.
Our Neighbor took this picture several years ago – no more fields – property is outlined in red.

In 1974 The Albertsons purchased the current 31 acres for $54,500 and in 1987 they built the larger home on the property and the Garage/workshop. They named the property “Magic Mountain”. Our Neighbors gave us the following flyer from when the property was for sale.

Now it gets interesting – In 1999 a 27 year old, out of work book keeper, won ten million dollars in the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. In 2000 she and her boyfriend bought the house from the Albertsons. She talked about setting up an animal shelter, but something went wrong, and 16 years later the bank foreclosed on the house. In a way, maybe she accomplished her purpose, because when we first walked in the house it definitely smelled like an animal shelter! Hence the name “Cat Pee House”.

I’m not sure what happened, but the house had been neglected for many or all of those years… every surface of the houses (with the exception of the stone fireplaces) inside and out, has been, or will have to be refinished or replaced.

The house was completely overgrown with trees and vines. Porches, gutters and roof were damaged.
we bought the farm main farmhouse before painting
By the time we had cleard everything it was too cold to paint and rebuild – Plenty to do in the Spring!

We bought the property about 10 months ago and have made huge progress… but we are still farther from the end than from the beginning. We figure it is a 2 -3 year project. Time to get back to work!