Central Falls, Rhode Island

I don't have a lot of pictures from Central Falls- I have to say that it began as a very frustrating part of our trip- starting with negotiating into the city. There are a bunch of towns/city all bundled together - way more traffic than I am used to- and almost no one (make that no one) had heard of Izannah!  The Blackstone visitor's center was very helpful, but sent us to city hall to find a brochure, and city hall had no clue..... even where the historic district was. (I definitely wasn't talking to the right person.

We are nothing if not persistent, and decided that since Central Falls is only 1 mile square , we could drive down the roads, even if we had to go down every one,  and find the historic district. If you've actually been to Central Falls, you are probably chuckling at that thought.  Way easier said than done- and I got silly- taking pictures of houses I wanted to be Izannah's. I've included some of them just for fun .  Central Fall's homes- The green and blue ones are  NOT Izannah's! ( I thought the blue one was a pretty good candidate) One thing  we found was that it was very hard to tell the age of a house- so many have had siding put on, windows replaced etc.

Persistent again, I stopped a Postman, thinking that he could at least point us in the direction of the historic district. When he looked blank, we asked him if there were ANY houses with plaques.  He suggested we check at city hall. 

On my handy Iphone, I started googling Izannah and Central Falls, and came up with the  name of a realty company selling/renting new homes called "Izannah Walker Homes. " We called the company, and a nice man told us where he thought the house was. Apparently they had just picked a historic name that was local for the homes- they aren't actually near Izannnah's home.

We found the intersecting streets he sent us to- but realized that though  the Central Falls brochure said that Izannah had a corner lot,  the house could easily be mid street, having been built up around. But we had a general location - and again I began taking pictures thinking I could research the address later.

My traveling companion quickly darted out of the car- leaving the car WAY in the road , saying, "I 've got a hunch."  She had spotted a well dressed woman coming out of a corner house.   Izannah's house!

The house is well kept, with an old stone chimney. A porch has been enclosed in the front, but you can see the original shingles on the inside.  The owner has lived in the house for 40 years, raised a beautiful family there and said that her research says that the house was built in  1860.

The owner was on the way to teach a class , but invited us in for a tour. She is very proud of her house, had a copy of Monica Bissette's article, and says she has searched the house from top to bottom hoping there is a doll there.  Because it was a private home, I didn't take pictures, but will try to describe  the house  inside. She has done too much remodeling to be on the National Register, but the house is beautiful inside. The original wood floors are visible in some places, and are unique because the floors are laid with a border  outlining the room . There is a bay window in the living room, and a small but beautiful staircase with a landing that she said several brides have come down. There is an arch between the living room and living space, but she says that the original pocket doors are encased in the arch. There is a fireplace with an old mantel which reminded me of the one in my old house which was built in 1856. 

The staircase is enclosed with beautiful wood spindles showing from the living room. All of the woodwork in the house has rounded corners- the tops of doors and windows as well. Upstairs, the rooms have eaves in the corners , but there are high ceilings. There is  a laundry chute almost in the middle of the floor of one room, ending in the basement.  There is a built in china cupboard she thinks is original. She said she regrets replacing the cupboards- they were the old slat type when she moved in 40 years ago.