Happy New Year!

The Hegeler Carus Mansion
La Salle, IL
Some call it "The Biltmore of the Midwest."

Well, it appears that I have fallen back into my old habit of not taking the road less travelled, and not doing much outside of work.  This realization has lead to a New Year's resolution:

I will start going places other than work, and I will write about them. Maybe this won't happen every weekend like when I first started writing, but more than once every six months.

This blog was intended to be the accountability piece that forced me to take time away from work and home.

Just over two years ago, I landed my dream job. I work as the Executive Director of the Hegeler Carus Foundation. We are preserving and restoring The Hegeler Carus Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, in La Salle, IL. I have always been fascinated with history, old houses and the stories of the people who live in them. I am so fortunate to work in my hometown.  My commute to the Mansion is less than four minutes, unless the stoplight is red or I stop at The Bean Box for a coffee-which I usually do.  The trouble is, my work is so interesting and fulfilling that I find it hard to take time off.  Our staff and volunteers worked hard in 2012 and it shows!  If you haven't been to the Mansion lately, come for a visit!

Today I will write about how my obsession with houses began.

This portrait of
Juliette Gordon Low
started it all.

When I was six I joined Girl Scouts.  When I opened my Girl Scout Handbook, the inside cover had a photo of a portrait of Juliette Gordon Low and her home in Savannah, GA.  I read that her beautiful home was open for tours and immedietly started a persistent campaign that my parents should take me there on our way home from our vacation in Florida later that year.  My parents, being the wonderful people that they are, drove several hours off course so that we could see her home. 

A private historic home
on Lake Geneva, WI

I remember how much I enjoyed the tour and how special they made me feel because I was a scout from so far away.  Our tour guide was an older lady who told us she was one of the original Girl Scouts and was related to Juliette Gordon Low.  She told wonderful stories about the family and the house.  She talked of how some family members would slide down the banister of the beautiful staircase, and told the wonderful tale of the romance of Juliette's parents.

The Biltmore
Asheville, NC

And so it began...Since age six, nearly every vacation has included a historic site or two.  I've seen the historic homes of presidents, poets, musicians, architects and captains of industry.  I find it extremely difficult to drive past a sign with an arrow on it that indicates a "historical marker."

Many weekends over the years have been spent wandering and road tripping-often right in my own back yard.

After visiting The Biltmore in Asheville, NC last October, I have made it a goal to see more historic homes from all over.  I hope to share these wonderful places with you this year.  Stay tuned!