Do you like old historic houses? I put this link at Old House Dreams about a Georgian style mansion up for sale in my town on my Facebook page and it’s grabbed a lot of views and interest.
Actually a writing friend I met at the Writers Retreat I recently attended in Monterey, CA posted the link on my Facebook first. Internet is a world shrinker and enlarger both. It brings us friends from all over the world and so makes the world smaller while at the same time it also opens up our vistas to see things we would have missed except for the internet. This might have been one of those things I would have missed even though the house for sale is right here in my hometown. It took a California friend to point it out to me.
Many of us like seeing historic houses and this one is a beauty, both in looks and in history. The site noted above not only shows the outside of the house, but takes you inside to tour the interior too since the house is up for sale. For the last several years, it’s been a bed and breakfast and also a restaurant. I’ve eaten there several times with groups or sometimes just with my mom and sisters when we were celebrating one of our birthdays. I think once I even spoke to a group there about my books and writing. The last time I was there was with Mom a few years ago for her church circle. She was already having memory trouble then but still enjoyed socializing.
As beautiful as Kavanaugh House is, its history is even more amazing. My grandmother, my mother and my aunts all went to high school there. My dad went one day, didn’t like it, and didn’t go back. He would have made a great student because he was gifted in math. Could look at an Algebra problem and get the right answer even though he didn’t always follow the prescribed steps that our teachers wanted us to use when we were in school.
Mrs. Kavanaugh was a true educator and she insisted on the best from all her students. Some young men boarded at the school or with others in town to attend the school as preparation for enrollment in military academies. Kavanaugh School was sometimes called “little Annapolis.”
She also loved the game of basketball, thus the gym in behind the school. My grandmother played basketball while she was attending high school. That was something I could never imagine – my grandmother playing ball. She seemed more comfortable working a crossword puzzle or playing cards.
I had an easier time imagining Mrs. Kavanaugh. My mother said she carried a cane with her and did not hesitate to rap players with it if they weren’t performing up to her expectations on the basketball court or perhaps in the classroom either. Several of Kavanaugh’s players went on to play for the University of Kentucky including Forest “Aggie” Sales who became an All-American.
My teacher in Angel Sister was created with Mrs. Kavanaugh in mind. I never knew her while she was alive, but she lived on in the stories that people told about her.
Hope you enjoy the Kavanaugh House tour and if you decide to make a bid on the house, maybe someday we’ll be hometown neighbors.