Columbus was spared most of the destruction of the US Civil War.\u00a0 It did end up burying quite a few bodies.\u00a0 But the buildings survived.\u00a0 In the 1850s the place was really hopping with monied folks coming in from the countryside to build “town” houses, some of which are very large.\u00a0\u00a0 People who own those houses nowdays can fix them up and show them off.\u00a0 It sounds like an expensive hobby to me.<\/p>\n
Early in our marriage my wife and I moved from the Chicago area back to central Iowa where we grew up.\u00a0 And we looked at houses.\u00a0 There was one monstrous house in Dexter, IA\u00a0 (I think) which had more square footage in the attic then the home in which I now reside (it sure seemed that way anyway).\u00a0 And we looked at one near Drake university which was probably about as big.\u00a0 Monsters.<\/p>\n
We were back in Iowa last fall for a visit.\u00a0 We drove by a house where my wife lived for awhile as a child.\u00a0 I think it belonged to her maternal grandfather.\u00a0 She says it used to have a big porch on it. It really could use that now.\u00a0 I’d expect a house like this to also have a full basement.\u00a0 So there are almost 4 complete floors of living and storage space.<\/p>\n
Big houses have some mystery.\u00a0 They have places for people to be alone if they want to be.\u00a0 But they also have big heating\/cooling bills.<\/p>\n
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