My land search saga for future cabin

[poppy]

OK, I think I got Photobucket figured out thanks to Don, so here is my land story.

The following saga is for the second piece of property that I bought.  The first one is a long and sad story with some lessons perhaps for others as well as me.

This is the rear of the old 5 room house that the realtor did not even mention in the ad.  This was taken a few days after I took ownership and my wife helped me take my extension ladder out to the property from storage in my daughter's garage.

One of my search criteria was to get 10 acres or more, mostly wooded with a variety of hardwoods, and any improvements would be a bonus.  The 20x30 tobacco barn was mentioned in the ad and is certainly a bonus.  The outhouse, like the house was not mentioned.  In between these "improvements" is about a half dozen nut bearing black walnut trees.

Me and my first purchase; a 16' travel trailer; a place to stay until the cabin is built.

The front of the house with some of the fall folliage.

The garage, also not mentioned in the ad.  Between the pine tree and the garage is a nut bearing shell bark hickory; a definite bonus.

One of the dozen or so good sized sugar maples.  This is looking in from the new driveway culvert that the previous owner put in for the doublewide that he never built because he was killed in an auto accident.

One of the NE views from above the pond.  I bought the property before I was aware there was an across-the-valley view, another bonus.

The pond that the previous owner put in behind the barn.  It is still fairly new and still muddy, even 'till today.

Well those are the photos from the first fall.  The property is in Adams county, Ohio about 2.5 miles outside a small town; a little less than 10 acres, mostly wooded, deeper than wide, surrounded by larger farms; on a blacktop township road; no zoning; no restrictions. 

Public water is 1000 feet away so is not practical; I was able to get the electric service turned back on to the old house after I put in a new circuit breaker box.  I ran an extension cord to the trailer and even had a TV signal until they went digital.

I spent the fall and winter scouting for cabin sites and inspecting trees for potential timber.  The previous owner had sold off the larger hardwoods and cedar, but left some pretty big oaks and maples.  There is also a variety of hickory, some nut bearing.  The loggers left some of the felled cedar for some reason and they will make good porch posts.

So far I have only cut dead trees for timber; oak and hickory so far, and have about a half dozen standing dead that will come down this fall and winter.  That's all for now.

[ScottA]

Looks like a really nice piece of property. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Pretty... what is the plan for the old house?  Will you just leave it standing as long as it will, or tear it down, or use it as a barn/storage or what?  It looked rough, but not totally unusable.

[poppy]

what is the plan for the old house?

That is an excellent question.  You're right, it is rough but dry. My sister who is also my insurance agent suggested that I fix it up and live in it during construction.  Since I found the trailer right away, I ditched that plan and the old house is working well for storage and shop area.

It would be nice to have a tenent to look after the place while I'm not there, but I would probably be better served to move in a small house trailer than to attempt to fix up the house.

I don't plan to tear it down though.  One reason is that the electric power comes into it.  That may have to be permanent if the utility won't let me run power to the cabin site without a septic system in place.  I may be forced to run power from the old house to the cabin.

One thought I had was to tear out the interior walls and even a couple of the outside walls and make a shelter out of it.  Maybe add a fireplace and turn it into an outside/inside living room.

Another, more practical idea is to make a permanent shop in it.  I would prefer my shop be in a shed addition to the back of the barn because the house is so close to the road, but who knows.

I don't like to get rid of things, so the house probably stays even if electric power ends up going directly to the cabin.  The old garage on the other hand is another story.