Cumberland Winter

I spent 5 wonderful winter days at our other home in Cumberland last week. It's a few degrees colder there so we got snow as the eastern part of the state was getting rain or worse, wintry mix. This is the view from the second floor. The sun was trying hard to break through the snow-filled clouds so there was a golden glow over the mountain.




I tried to drive to the college which is outside of town a bit. I put my truck in first gear and inched down the hill. I wanted to take a left at the bottom of the hill, but my truck insisted on going right as I slid and slipped. I creeped around the block, back up the hill and parked the truck. Cumberland is built on mountainsides and we live on a steep hill, so parking and walking was the way to go. This cemetery is just a block from the house and I always love walking around in it. It's so peaceful, especially in the snow.








Cumberland is one of the few places in the country where home prices have not gone down and continue to rise. Probably because they are so low to begin with. I looked at one house for $32,000, (the price of an SUV!) built in 1890, 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths. It had sold in 1990 for $4500!!!! It wasn't even too bad, had lots of potential. But while walking I saw this house, just around the corner from us. The sign had just been put up and had been on the market for 2 days. I looked at it that afternoon. It was built in 1902, 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, great architectural detail, nice layout. Of course it needed to be painted (yeah!) and updated a bit, but was in great shape. The price: $79,000!!!! I asked the realtor to let me know if anyone puts an offer on it. She got back to the office and said there was an offer on it. No surprise there. Damn! My dream is to flip a house. I know I watch too many of these home shows on cable tv, but I really do have the bug. And Cumberland seems the place to do it. I guess I'll keep looking.