Odie's homes from start to finish!!".

Growing up this was the first nice house my family had and was completed in 1954 when I was 7 years old. Sitting there so pretty in the yard 98% done when Hazel decided to come straight through Nashville and I can remember going outside after the first wave and experiencing the complete calm of the eye of Hazel. Then the other side hit and took the chimney down off the old house we had lived in since I was born. At this time we were living by dad's store and close to his dad's house. The state decided to build 64 Bypass and it's path took the land this new house was sitting on about a year or two after it was built and the bricks had to be removed and it was moved to the location where this picture was taken in the Oak Level Community. It was in the woods behind this house that I found my school bus.

When I got out of the Army in 1970 and returned home my wife and my first daughter Pam was living in this house at 1018 Nashville Road in Rocky Mount.  We occupied the left side of this house "only".  Needless to say it was cramp living quarters but we managed for a time.

In May of 1971 I bought this house at 616 Starling Way in Rocky Mount brand new for $17,500 and it was a new housing development and we were tickled to be there.  A few years after we moved in a doctor dabbling in real estate had a number of cement slabs prepared at the entrance of the development and shortly after that had houses placed on them, literally stapled together with prefabbed walls.  It took me two year to sell my house and get out of what was to become the "hood".  All these pictures were taken today and sadly this house that I bought new is deserted and I really felt sad looking at it.

I really wanted to be back in Nashville so my next move after Starling Way was this house located at 200 Lumber St. in Nashville.  It was an improvement over the other home but the rooms were very small and after the furniture was in place it was really small and had two daughters by then.

This old two story home was our next home and we stayed there for 20 years.  I was a guy in a house with "4" females and "1" bathroom for 20 years.  Do you feel the pain?  This home was built about 1905 and built on a slope. the back of the house was literally on the ground while I could walk without bending under the front part that you can see in this picture.  It had two enormous beams that the house sat on that was so hard no insects had done any damage to them. The primary draw back to this home was it had no front yard. You can see the mail box in front of the porch where the sidewalk is. We learned to live with it.  The pluses was that the supermarket and drug store was almost a stone's throw from the house as well as the library and two blocks from the school for the girls.  I loved sitting on the porch watching a thunder storm rocking in a chair.  A lot of memories there. Oh, for the record, this was at 105 S. Alston St. in Nashville.

Finally the peace and quiet of Halifax County on Highway 903 about 5 miles from Roanoke Rapids and 2 miles from quaint little Halifax, NC.  I'll be seeing a lot more of this home after I get through with next week.  It has been different living in Halifax County verses Nash County.  This is primarily a farming county with little industry except the paper mill. It is also classified as one of the poorer counties in the state.  My boss always joked with me about crossing Fishing Creek which separates Nash County from Halifax County. He said it like entering a whole new world unlike the one I just left. In some respects I guess that has a thread of truth. Hope you enjoyed the tour.