Z is for Zipping off to Altamont, NY: My parents settle into family life. Last of 26 posts in the April 2024 Blogging From #AtoZChallenge. Theme, My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots) — adding my parents’ story to the family history mix. Thanks for joining me on the journey!
We have now arrived full circle on My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots) — which outlined the lives of my parents Norm and Peg (Laurence) Charboneau, both before and after they met, married, and started a family.
Once I joined the family, to be followed later by two brothers then two sisters, my parents were on their way to the family life they both envisioned. But the first step, in their twenties, was setting up a permanent household.
A permanent household
This they accomplished by zipping off to Altamont, N.Y., along with my maternal grandparents Tony and Liz (Stoutner) Laurence, in search of a house large enough to accommodate a growing family and to start a potential family business.
Mom, Dad, and my grandparents looked around the Albany and Schenectady, N.Y., area, but nothing suited. According to Dad, the houses were too small, too expensive, or lacked enough property. Then they discovered the ideal 1850s farmhouse on 10 acres in Altamont, N.Y.
Excited about the farm
Dad captured my parents’ excitement in an essay he wrote years later.
A young family came upon one of these mansions and was hypnotized by its ten acres of land, big red barns, and a few tourist cabins. They could find so many possibilities that they could not wait to own this historical marvel. This was the start of the great adventure!
There was a barn with outbuildings for my grandfather’s automotive and machine shop. One of the buildings could be picked up and relocated near the main road, Route 20, for my grandmother’s antique store — and there was studio space in the house where she could teach painting classes.
Also near the road were three cold-water cabins and a rental office, which Mom could operate for fatigued drivers looking to stay the night. (It didn’t work out as well as planned, though — which you can read about in Peg: My post-war mom.)
And Dad? He’d get a regular job with a paycheck and benefits at the General Electric plant in nearby Schenectady, N.Y. (He also had farm-based aspirations about gardening and raising chickens — but they didn’t pan out well, either, which you can read about in Norm: My post-war dad.)
A great adventure for us all
Thankfully, my parents and grandparents bought the farm in a wave of enthusiasm. They named it Whispering Chimneys — the third place I’d lived in my young life, but the first home I remember.
I wrote about my six years on the farm for the 2017 A to Z Challenge, chronicling my early childhood there. And Dad was right about one thing: It was indeed a great adventure for us all!
Up next, Reflections and Recap of My Life: The Prequel (in Snapshots). Please stop back on May 2! Meanwhile, congratulations to my fellow A-to-Z bloggers and many thanks for everyone’s visits and comments along the way.
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