Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!

 I hope 2015 will be filled with blessings and good health for all! 

Our first installment of our family blog, Family Trails, is a day late, technically, but I thought it would be exciting to have a post on January 1, 2015.  I also thought it would be nice to have a short, but special post today. 

This picture is of a plaque on a brick fence post at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. The plaque honors the four Weaver ladies who taught school here. It was erected about one year ago thanks to the efforts of Robert Weaver.

There are plaques on each of the brick posts lining East South Street in Talladega, Alabama.  Uncle Robert knew that our Weaver ladies needed to be remembered in this way, so he asked the families of these ladies to contribute to this idea.  He did not want all the fence posts on the front of the school to be "claimed" before the Weaver plaque was planned.  

The Weaver plaque is easy to find. It is directly across the street from Heritage Hall. 

We are all grateful to Uncle Robert for his diligence in seeing this project completed….a very good lesson in not procrastinating. (I need constant reminders in this lesson!) 

We continue to be blessed by our dear family member, Robert Cooper Weaver, even after his death this past year. 

The curtain in the AIDB auditorium across the street from "Tee's House"

Let's start at the very beginning....

 A very good place to start.... Let's begin with the beginning of present day. Would you like a tour of the family home place as it looks today? You will be so happy to see these pictures. Thankfully,
305 Oak Street is now a very important part of The Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, serving as a host home for visitors. The AIDB has brought life back into the home with lots of care and preservation.

 I love mantels, so I took a picture of every mantel in the house.

Below is a picture of the upstairs bedroom. When you go up the stairs, this is the room on the left. Today it is used as a small dining area that connects to a back bedroom.

Details of mantel in the house

 Every room has beautiful beds. I think I am correct in saying that one of these beds is Nina's.

The next three pictures are taken in the turret bedroom and one picture taken of the turret from outside.

Did you know that one of the turret windows appears in this book? 

Alabama Memories by Chip Cooper

published in 1989

Here is the window when it wore a pink dress! 

See page 184 B

A big thank you to sister, Rebecca, for photos and information regarding 

Alabama Memories.

Each bedroom has been given a name on the door. The downstairs bedroom is perfectly named The Weaver Room.







More mantels and
details.

I think this is a front upstairs room, once called the sleeping porch?

The bedrooms are all very well decorated. They stay true to the time that the house was built. Each bed has a hand-made quilt. 

The picture below is taken in the foyer. There are some changes in the way most of us remember this area.
 The door on the right is the parlor door, but the door on the left is new. A few changes were made for better kitchen access and to make the house handicap accessible.

The picture below is taken inside the front parlor. The door that connected the parlor to the dining room  has been removed. The sofa is against this new wall.

Here is a close-up of the beautiful mantle in the parlor. 

What intricate carving!

A detail of the cherub tiles that surround this parlor mantel. Did you know this? Each tile is different!

Great-granddaughter, Mariellan and great-great grandson, Patrick in front of the mantel.

 The picture below is one of my favorite pictures.... the front door to 305 Oak Street.

 The original glass in the doors was RED. Yes, red, hence, a nod to that fact by painting the doors red. In light of the fact that several generations of children played in and around this house, it is important to note that the red glass was never broken and remained in the door for many years, into the 1990's.

Great-great-greatgrandson, Raughley.

 Many thanks to The Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind for preserving our family home. The AIDB is continuing the Weaver family tradition of open doors and loving hospitality to anyone who may enter.

I hope you enjoyed the first journey on our Family Trail. Let's leave the family home place now and begin our journey on our Family Trail.

So long, but not farewell.