As long as I remember, I've had a dollhouse. First a castle dollhouse that my dad made which got sold when we moved to Virginia from Iowa- then a huge lighted Barbie house my dad made (and later turned into shelves)- but none survived childhood. I made my first dollhouse when I was in college in the case of an old Cuckoo Clock. Anyway- long story short- I have always had a dollhouse.
You know that moment when you see something and know it needs to be yours? I had that with my historic house (real one) , and had it again when I saw this dollhouse, complete with provenance , on Ebay. I sold dolls so that I could afford it- bid, won and then the fun began. Imagine telling your house mate a house almost as tall as a 4 year old is coming! It had to be shipped, to the tune of $150 from Kansas (more dolls hit Ebay) and then picked up in Roanoke. The shipping guys eyes when he saw how big it was were priceless.
The dollhouse is at home, and even has a new stand made with parts of an old organ that didn't make the move. It became time to explore the history when I realized when we were in Old Colony that my dollhouse had roots in Rhode Island, and in fact was from the same area where Izannah was born. In the spirit of our trip, we went to explore, hoping to find the house Mary Merchant DeWolf had grown up in.
