The home at 156 Greenville Street, now owned by Lalla and John McGee, was originally built in 1897. It was a typical 4-room house with a wide center hallway; the front and back doors were at each end of the hall. The living and dining rooms were on the north side of the hall and the bedrooms to the south. The kitchen was separate from the house, and of course the privy was as well! Other outbuildings included a barn, well house and smokehouse, but they were all demolished over time. The McGees are only the third family to own the home. In 1927, the Camp family bought the home from the original owners, and later renovated it to the structure that exists today. The wide entry hall became two narrow but very serviceable rooms, while the pocket doors were removed from the interior walls. The Camps added a breakfast room and kitchen, a hallway connecting the front rooms to the bedrooms, two bathrooms, another bedroom with a separate entrance, and a back porch. The main front door was moved to into the living room, and the Camps added a covered front porch. The family later enclosed the back porch, and while it's an interior room now, it's still called the back porch. They also created a small, walk-through linen closet in one end of the porch, and it's still being used for that purpose. The original porch roof is visible - there is no interior ceiling. You can also see some of the original exterior clapboard on the west wall of the back porch, and inside the linen closet. Many of the original windows remain in the home, and have very large panes of wavy glass. Eleanor Camp was a very small child when her family bought the home. She never married but stayed with her family, caring for her father and maiden aunt after her mother passed away. Eleanor was well known for her baking - her beautiful cakes graced many a wedding reception table. After inheriting the family place from her father, Eleanor lived in the house until her health failed. But after being freed from her aged physical body, Eleanor came back. In death as in life, this has been Eleanor Camp's home. How can we say that with a straight face? Well, the McGees have made a few more changes to the house since buying it in 1998. Years of neglect, as Eleanor's mind faded a bit, meant that floor joists in most rooms needed replacing. The kitchen and breakfast room were combined into a larger, eat-in kitchen, and the old pantry was turned into a small laundry room. Eleanor was pretty unhappy with the changes, moving furniture in rooms and making people aware of her presence in a number of ways. For a good many years, Eleanor regularly walked down the hall in the evening, loudly shutting the bedroom door to show her displeasure. She now manifests occasionally, but not nearly as often. She didn't complain at all when the pantry and garage were added. She didn't mind the deck addition either, which John designed and built. Probably because it's so much easier to go up and down than the steep, narrow cement block steps that were in place before! We wanted Eleanor to know that we're glad she's still here, and that it's still her home even though it looks a little different than when she had it. So her high school graduation picture is hanging in the hall, and there are a few small pieces of her early and later, more accomplished hand-painted china pieces around the house. And if you're interested, Lalla will be glad to share Eleanor anecdotes with So now the place is a rambling, tacked onto and propped up farmhouse, bigger than it looks from the street. It's hard to heat in the winter, and hard to cool in the summer. Floors slant; some are on slightly different levels. Doors sag. But its character, created over the years by the people who lived here and loved the house, means it is a most comfortable and inviting place to live, and to visit. We welcome you into our home.