Keep Smiling

Keep Smiling

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Small Town USA


Today we traveled to Hartline, WA 
population 151.

It's a small town in the middle
of wheat county.

A little gem of hard working
farmers and people that 
know and love their neighbors & their community. 
This is the post office:)

Across from the Post Office is this
building . . . waiting to be 
torn down.
See the upstairs window on the left.

You can see the sky through the ceiling.
I love old buildings like these
and would much rather see them 
rebuilt than torn down.

The railroad tracks go by the
gain bins.

By the rust I am thinking that they
only get used during wheat harvest.

I love old barns and relics from the past . . . 
oh, the stories they could tell.

 Does anyone know what this is?
I found it very interesting.

Can you imagine turning it into 
a tree-house?

This beautiful home is next door
to the Post Office and it's for sale.
3 bedroom 2 bathroom $199,000.


 
 

Anybody want to move? 

If you are ever in Hartline, WA 
This is the place to eat.

We had lunch here and the food is great!
The service is warm and friendly 
and they make you feel at home.
Not only that but for the 2 hours that we were in town, 
I think a fourth of the population came here to eat.
That says it all :)

 These are some of the interior walls
I love them :)

Well, that's my post.

I am so grateful for my blogging sisters
and want to let you all know how 
much I appreciate your friendship.


If you are still here and reading . . .
Thank you for stopping by.

Keep Smiling!
Your blogging sister,
Connie :)


 

56 comments:

  1. Connie- What great pictures. That building that you wondered what it was.....I think it where they stored grain (or corn, etc) and then the trucks would pull up under it and they would fill the cargo bed. Not sure-but I think that is what it is.

    Love that house next to the post office and that post office itself is such a great little building. Thanks for the fun post and wishing you a blessed Sunday- xo Diana

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    1. I was thinking it might be something like that. They maybe used it before they had the modern bins of today with the shoots that pull out. Raising a family in a small town like this would be lovely . . . no traffic to worry about when your kids take off on their bikes all day :)

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  2. I love to see old towns and homes and imagine myself living there. What I would do when I got up in the morning...etc. A good cafe would go a long way to making it nice! I'm not sure about the grain storage up high like that. I'll come back and read your comments...I'm sure someone will know. Hugs!

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    1. These little towns are scattered all around wheat country . . . A town where everybody knows your name. Our friends bought a piece of land here and are building a new house for their retirement. They are just in the process of leveling the land and someone came over with a pie and an invitation to join them at church. 151 population and 2 churches in town, sweet :)

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  3. Connie, I loved all your pictures. Little town are so interesting...almost always very friendly too. The café makes me think of one in our town...every walk of life goes in there to eat. Just old home cooking, nothing fancy. Blessings to you and yours, xoxo, Susie

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    1. The food there was great. Steve says that sometime when we just want to go for a drive, we need to drive up there for lunch. We are putting it on our favorite spots to eat list :)

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  4. I LOVE these pictures! We traveled out west last year, and I loved seeing all the old buildings, grain elevators, and train trestles. I regret not stopping for a pic of the wooden train trestles. Everything here is concrete. Thanks for sharing your day with us! I'd love to live in that old house.

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    1. It looks like a little spot where time has stopped and life is simpler :) Although during wheat harvest I am sure that this little town is hopping.

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  5. Looks like a sweet little town. I hate to see old buildings torn down too. That house had me with it's beautiful covered porch. The house is nice inside too

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  6. Very, very interesting, Connie. Thanks for taking me somewhere I'll never see otherwise.

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    1. It's fun to explore and tour new places . . . even on-line :)

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  7. I loved exploring this little town with you.

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    1. Thanks for joining me on my little adventure :)

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  8. I think NanaDiana is right. It looks like grain storage where the trucks drive under. I'll ask my husband later and let you know if it's not. He has worked in grain storage manufacturing since 1978! Although the ones that his company builds are the huge silver silos.

    I love that house. I would love to live in an older home again. Our first home in Nebraska was over 100 years old! I adored that house. So much character. And small towns are the same. How fun for your friends to get to move there. Thank you for sharing with us today.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon. We saw two herds of deer driving up there, too :) If you and the hubby are out for a drive, stop in and try that cafe out.

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  9. A wonderful collection of photos.

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  10. Your photo could make nice postcards! Thats house is only 199K! A house like that here would be in the 300’s. Beautiful Shots.
    Lisa

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    1. It's a pretty old house isn't it? Great place to raise a family :)

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  11. I was raised in a small town of 325 people. My favorite places are small towns. I would move into that house quick, fast, and in a hurry! I think the picture is possibly of a grain loading area. Trucks would pull under it and the grain would come out of the bottom to fill the trucks. Love all of these pictures. Made me allergy head happy!

    Grace & Peace,
    Pam

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    1. I am surprised that more young people are not moving to small towns these days. There are so many people making their living from home on the computer and small towns are great places for raising children.

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  12. Hi Connie, Another lovely drive! I grew up about three miles from a little town called Turner which had a population of 200. I would spend my allowance when we went there to get a big ice cream cone! Ice cream is still my weakness! Attended a little Free Methodist church there and took piano lessons from a lady that live in Turner. Instead of a tree house, wouldn't that make a lovely little guest house! Have a good week and hope you accomplish what you would like to! Nancy

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    1. Your right or even a bed and breakfast. The cafe should buy it and fix it up really cute inside and then offer free breakfast at the cafe. It would be one of those once in a life time memories sleeping up there in the sky :) That is if you're young and like climbing ladders, LOL

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  13. I like going through quaint small towns too, you always know a good place to eat when it's busy with the people of the town. That house on the stilts is very interesting, can you imagine carrying your groceries up that ladder. Sounds like a fun day out :)

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    1. Taking weekend drives has really helped me with the grey sky blues . . . that and the fact that we have been getting sunshine. It's still very cold but nothing like winter. My tulips are popping up and that's my first sign that Spring truly is on the way :)

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  14. Your photos capture the essence of this small town.

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    1. Thank you . . . everyone else in our little party of friends was standing around town visiting while I took off with my camera. I did my visiting sitting in the cafe :)

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  15. I so enjoy driving through old "small towns" USA. Thanks for taking us along on your little trip for I surely enjoyed it. Your photos are all wonderful, but if I were choosing my favorite (had to think hard on this one), I would probably choose the second railroad pic, or maybe the "old barns and relics from the past."

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    1. There is something charming about an old barn, whether it is looking good with a fresh coat of paint or tumbling out from age and neglect.

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  16. Looks like such a quaint and peaceful place to live. I am a small town girl at heart. I think it's the way to go. Maybe not quite this small but they're great places to raise families. I grew up in a town with only one stoplight. The restaurant probably serves as the social spot. Grab a cup of coffee and chat with your neighbor kind of thing. A more personal way to live which is whats missing today in most places. I love the pic of the old pick up truck.
    xx Beca

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    1. I agree small towns are so charming and friendly. Great places to live :) This one was a bit too small . . . no grocery store. I would need one a little bit bigger that this one too.

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  17. I just adore small towns like that! Wow, that's really a tiny population, that's for sure!!

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    1. I know people have weddings and invite more people than that :)

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  18. Hi Connie,
    I love this post! Love discovering small towns as we travel around the country in our little Casita camper. I just posted about a small town we just visited in South Carolina...Waterboro. Reminds me of your post. Thanks so much for sharing; I loved the photos.
    ~Cheryl at 22 Applegate Lane.

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    1. Hi Cheryl, thanks for stopping by to visit. I love the thought of traveling around the country and stopping at small towns along the way. My brother and sister-in-law made a trip from Oregon to Indiana and back and never got on the freeway, they took back-roads all the way and had a wonderful time.

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  19. What a great post Connie, I enjoyed the photographs and insight you've shared, thank you.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Hi Jan, so nice to see you and thank you for your kind words.

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  20. What a lovely little town, and it's a good sign that they have a popular watering hole :) Town unity around food! Glad you could visit and take us along.

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    1. That little cafe seems to be the hub of the town and it is run by the sweetest couple. You just felt like old friends when you walked through the door :)

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  21. Hi Connie :) I'm still here and reading :))) The photos are lovely, I love old towns too. Yes, that would make a fun treehouse!!! The cars are wonderful. Great shots! :)

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    1. Hi! Thanks for stopping by, I've missed your smile popping up in my comments. I'll bet that if that was on your land you could climb up there and turn that into something very unique and special :)

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  22. What an interesting little town! I have no idea what that abandoned building is...maybe some kind of old grain mill building? You should've asked at the restaurant! ;-) The interior of that house is gorgeous...all that beautiful wood, wow.

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    1. I know, I was sold when I saw the pocket doors . . . so sweet. It will make someone a wonderful home :)

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  23. Oh my I love all of it!! I would so buy that house too! Living in a town like that would be right up my alley . Love anything old and rusty. Thanks for the adventure! Lisa @ Sweet Tea N' Salty Air

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    1. Hi Lisa, it was fun walking around with my camera. Have you noticed that when you have your camera with you, you start looking at things differently? It's like the things you might walk right by without noticing, suddenly are worthy of attention :)

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  24. What a lovely little town. I wouldn't mind at all living in that gorgeous house.....but it is just a little too far to move. Love old and rusty antiquities; I too wonder what stories they could tell.

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    1. Hi Kim, thanks for stopping by. That house reminds be of the Walton's. Do you remember that TV program?

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  25. Oh Connie, I'm late seeing this but sure enjoyed seeing the little town. Wouldn't you LOVE turn that thing into a tree house! I can just picture it once you got hold of it. I've always wanted a tree house.

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    1. I know it would be great fun. A pretty high climb . . . it would need a pulley system lift if an old gal like me were going up and down it, LOL

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  26. Hi Connie, First of all I wanted to say I am down right embarrassed that it has taken me so long to reply to the comment you left on my blog on March 4th. Absolutely one of the kindest and most thoughtful comments I have received in my eight years of blogging. Thank you and bless you and to answer your question, I’m a retired high school teacher. I taught Business Ed right here in Washington State and loved it. My love of history goes back to my days in college when I had a professor who was so wonderful and such a great teacher that she could make subjects that would be boring to read about come alive and be fascinating. When I first visited Yellowstone that triggered a renewed interest in history because the Park has an amazing history of its own. You will probably know that Yellowstone was the first area to be set aside by a national government for the enjoyment of the people. It was the first National Park in the world. The history of the Park is linked to another subject I love … railroading, and so I became interested in finding the old advertisements that railroads used to attract the first tourists to the Park. So, that leads me to your post here on Crafty Home Cottage. You will now know why I love the pictures you shared of Hartline and especially the ones with the rusty rails in them! Connie, I think the best compliment I can give a blogger is to say that their pictures of a place made me want to go and see it in person. And that’s exactly what you’ve done with Hartline! And, yes, I’m going to have lunch at Kenice’s Café too! Thank for sharing your excellent blog, your photography, and your kind thoughts. All the best to you from the “west side”! : - ) John

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    1. John, your comment made my day. I think it is great that you want to visit Hartline and eat at the Kenice Cafe. You wont be disappointed and I'm sure that you can strike up a conversation with the owner and find out a lot about the history of Hartline. Thank you for your sweet blogging friendship and your encouraging comments.

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  27. What a charming place! It was like taking a walk back in time to the mid 20th century. Small town USA! I loved it.

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    1. A slower pace, that is except during harvest when this little town is booming :)

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  28. I'm sorry too Connie for my belated comment! I was sick for over a week (as you know from my own blog post!) and am now feeling better and trying to get back to commenting on a list of blogs that I read and wanted to comment on! I lived in a town similar to Hartline, also in SE Washington - Waitsburg - population 1000 so was "booming" compared to Hartline! I think I've driven throught Hartline or a little town similar, when on my way up to Spokane once. Waitsburg is similar but bigger and was so perfect.. had everything I needed right there, and I wish I would have stayed there! I lived in a Victorian house that was over 100 years old (lived there 1990 through 1993) and it was wonderful and so historic. I would sit on my front porch and people walking by would stop and talk, and even one person had grown up in that very house! The town had the local cafe (of course), a little bank, pub, library, corner grocery store, one doctor and a couple of other things, and I could walk to town from my house. Absolutely wonderful.. and of course, the big grain elevators were at the end of the one street in town! Your pictures are wonderful of the old barns and buildings, old truck and the old post office building. Wish they'd restore it but would need enough interested people to do that and raise the funds, etc. Eastern Washington has many of those little small wheat growing towns which reminded me of simpler times. Like you said though, during wheat harvest things were really busy! I know you've made a couple of more blog posts since this one, so I'm onward and forward to re-reading those and commenting! It's 68 degrees here in Madras today! xoxo Marilyn

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    1. Wow! You are having a heat wave, how nice :) It was fun visiting this little town. As far as small towns go I think the one you lived in it more what I would want. The people of Hartline don't even have a grocery store. That's too small for me, LOL.

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