One thing that really makes the Tin Palace feel like home, is that this land has been in my family for many years. My son and I are the 3rd and 4th generation to live here.
My Maternal grandparents rented the house that was on this land when they were first married. They lived here from August of 1949 to October of 1951. It was the home they resided in when my Mother was born. The original house was a single room with a large closet and a wood cook stove. It was smaller then the garage that is maintained on the property today.
In 1951 my grandparents moved to a different home about a 1/2 mile away, but it wouldn't be long before they would once again reside on this land. In 1953 my grandfather was approached to purchase the property, which at that time was approximately 36 acres, which included the house and garage where the Tin Palace is now. It also included: another old house, barn, pump house, outhouse, and a house that was in the process of being built.
The little single room house is long gone although the garage to it has been maintained and over the years improved on and I use it to this day. The older house was torn down a few years after my grandparents moved back, and they then lived in the newer house for some time- which is still standing today and is the house next door.
Over the years the 36 acres was subdivided and sold off until only about 1/2 acre remained which included the original garage and the Tin Palace which had been added there in 1965. In 2006 my grandfather decided it was time to part with this last little morsel of land. After a lot of thought I decided that a little Tin Palace on 1/2 acre with a cute little orchard, room for a garden, and a yard to run around on in Maltby was a pretty good place for Matt and I.
That is how I became the Queen of the Tin Palace.
Matt lounging in the orchard right (2006).
