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One of the projects that needs to be undertaken at the Ridge Road House is tackling the Wild Chervil (Anthriscus sylvestris, called Cow Parsley in England) that is invading/filling the fields on either side of the house. As you probably know, an invasive plant is non-native and may tend to overtake native species when it moves into an area. This one came from Europe and is sometimes included in wild flower mixes. Most people in Vermont know it as something that first showed up in great amounts along the Interstate Highways and was most likely spread from mowing there. Mowing equipment can become 'contaminated' with the seeds, thereby spreading them at the next mowing location. Farmers who mow along the road first and then later mow their fields might carry the seeds into their fields. In addition, Chervil sap can be irritating to some animals that come into contact with it. The bottom line is, if you want to grown something else in an area where Chervil has invaded, it is pretty difficult to compete with it. In an article in the White River Valley Herald (all the way back in 2003) Victoria Weber, from Bethel, VT suggested that Randolph, Vermont might be Chervil capital of the state. Vermont now has a sugaring season, a mud season, and a Chervil season (blooming from mid-May until mid-June). After mid-June you can make things worse and increase the spread of it by trying to work with it (since seeds will then be present). https://www.ourherald.com/articles/expert-to-lecture-its-wild-chervil-time/ The mystery is why this plant, which has supposedly been reported in the area since the early 1900s has become so aggressive in the 2000s. It doesn't seem to cause such great problems in N.H. Maybe it is simply a factor of time plus mowing methods, then throw in a little climate change intensity which tends to benefit aggressive invasives. Ironically enough, as I researched whether it is bad for horses to ingest (I want to recreate the paddock in front of the barn eventually), I found this article in "Irish Sport Horse Magazine" 2024, that recommended grazing your horse on Wild Chervil. They seem to relish it like carrots, the article states. Hmm, if they don't develop a rash from it, maybe horses could be suggested as a way to control it...let the horses in there until they continuously eat it all down to dirt. https://www.irishsporthorsemagazine.com/the-benefits-of-cow-parsley-for-horses/ However an article in Northern Woodlands, May 29, 2005, claims horses and cows don't like it. I would certainly agree that it is not conducive to baling in with hay, since it is a tough, big, herbaceous plant that will likely mold in the hay rather than drying properly. https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/its-wild-chervil-season An article in "Vermont Invasives" describes the plant and suggests control mechanisms. On a small scale you can dig up individual plants, being careful to leave nearby non-invasive native plants intact. The less you disturb the ground, the less likely Wild Chervil seeds will sprout there. Wear gloves, cover your body with long sleeves and pants (the sap can irritate skin). Of course it is a difficult plant to dig up, with strong roots. On a large scale basis you can try to smother the plants using a combination of cardboard and thick black plastic, though this can take years. And yes, there are herbicides you could use. Wild Chervil is resistant to many chemicals and you have to have knowledge and training to apply any pesticide. There are risks to native plants, animals, and water supplies. Don't apply during bloom since bees would be affected. Don't apply when windy since you will have drift, etc. Any one method above is not going to be successful in eliminating Wild Chervil. https://www.vtinvasives.org/invasive/wild-chervil#:~:text=General%20Guidance:%20%C2%B7%20Chemical%20treatment%20has%20limited,the%20species%20is%20resistant%20to%20many%20herbicides. It's going to be an interesting experiment. Charlie Cooley will be watching I'm sure.

Phil Godenschwager suggested a screen-in porch for the design of the Ridge Road house. I decided it would be a great idea (we loved one we had on West St in Amherst, MA and used it a lot in the 1980s). This would give us a covered porch area. We could leave the deck on the south side uncovered, letting as much light into the south side of the house as possible- the dining room and living room wouldn't be as dark as it would be with a covered porch. Thank you for that suggestion Sara and I agree. The screened-in porch could be off the dining room/kitchen on the east side of the house (with a little southern exposure), towards the back where the old fireplace living room/garage were. We would get the best of both worlds...one uncovered deck for days of sitting and looking at the view, one screened-in covered porch for shady insect-free dining or sitting. We could have electricity out there for sitting in the evenings with a lamp on for reading. I need Phil's help with the added roof line of the screened in porch (elevation) and what the siding/windows/screens would look like. I want it to blend in with the existing design of the house but also be one of the features that adds character. Something you look at and think, "I want to sit there!"

Progress in the rebuilding of the Cooley house on Ridge Road- I have started to touch base with some excellent builders (but since they are busy I haven’t met with anyone yet, but am eager when they are available).  Phil Godenschwager can start on the floorplans and elevations for the house in June or July. Since I can’t start building the Cooley house just yet, I will make Charles’s barn my summer project.  This photo was taken January 4th so I’m sure the buds on trees are starting to soften the landscape now, the snow is gone, and the grass is starting to green up. I love the way the barn uses the hill to have an entrance into the loft.  The sleigh is parked up there. I want to sort through things, which will require heavy work gloves and may involve a dumpster. At least a metals pile.  I can make some trips to the dump myself. I want to check the structure and get ready for horses there.  I was pleased that Jim Hudson (my niece’s husband) gave it the thumbs up for the building.  He knows his way around structures after building his own house, his summer house on his pond, etc.  I wasn’t sure how adept Charles was with building but most farmers have some experience in the Jack of All Trades Department.  I had seen some plans for a barn that Charles had bought.  I know the barn has electricity and water and some stall space.  I’m excited to put horses back (or at least a horse, a mini horse, and a donkey) into that pasture where my <3 horse Fern Hill Alexandra, Lexa, once stood with her mother Suzanne Royalty (Suzie). Since I was once called The Mad Sweeper by another boarder at a previous barn, you can imagine I can’t wait to hit the place with a broom!  Get anything old and molding out, paint the entrance door to the barn, organize remaining useful tools.  I will let you know what I discover in there.  It will be a labor of love- for Charles and for horses, past and present. I need to work on the paddocks since Wild Chervil is prevalent there.  I will have to do a lot of work.  I am debating digging up and baking the pulled plants under plastic to kill them vs. covering an entire paddock with black plastic for 2 years.  Neither is an exciting prospect or very pretty either.   But herbicides don’t work on this nasty plant as most Vermonters know.  Mowing can only happen before seed formation or the equipment carries the seeds to innocent pastures.  I imagine it will be an ongoing battle there on Ridge Road since it has made its way onto the property. Here’s an article about Wild Chervil, Anthriscus sylvestris that appeared in the Herald, Randolph, Vermont way back in 2007. https://www.ourherald.com/articles/invasive-wild-chervil-blooms-again-unless-you-pull-it-up/

The first Cooleys started a farm on Ridge Road, Randolph Center. Anna (Hale) & Augustus Cooley, their son Harry Cooley center. Augustus's son Harry Cooley married Gertrude Small Harry's son Charles Cooley married Lois Rogers Charles's son Daniel Cooley married Sylvia Shepard Daniel's son Alex Cooley married Brittany Baumann Children: Harry Hale Cooley 1893-1986 Sumner Dewey Cooley Hollis Raymond Cooley Oscar William Cooley Emerson Frisbie Cooley Children: Idora Gertrude Cooley Tucker Ruth Hilda Cooley Demarest Godfrey (Marion) Marian Rogene Cooley Stouder Charles Henry Cooley 1926-2017 John Hale Cooley Children: Daniel Rogers Cooley 1952 (Charles) Peter Cooley Matthew (Marshal) Cooley Paul Andrew Cooley Children: Alexander Shepard Cooley 1985 Harry Cooley Charles Cooley Charles & Alex Cooley Dan Cooley

Supplied by Tim Cooley from his father John Cooley's slide collection

I can't decide if I am just obsessed with recreating a similar house or if I am truly inspired by the old house to get new ideas. At any rate the old kitchen got me thinking about wood cabinets (rather than an all-white kitchen), light countertop to contrast with the wood cabinets (and brighten up the kitchen) and white appliances (rather than stainless steel). The old kitchen: OK, so not exactly inspiring. Here's my playing around with these ideas- I like minimalist cabinets without all of the hoopla (of fancy edges, curved molding, added framing, or too many details). There is a cabinet company in Greenfield, MA near us named Boxco, https://boxco.studio/ that makes simple cabinets that I think would help make a new kitchen look older (surprising, since minimalist usually means modern). Compare these Boxco cabinets below to the original 60's cabinets above. Try to picture just these cabinets in a lighter color (not the green backsplash, not the black handles, not the black countertop). I could even try to replicate those 60s silver handles- One way to create an older impression (in a new kitchen) is to use upper shelving rather than upper cabinets. I love the wood cabinets above (simple lines, no extra framing) but too dark, grainy/oaky. I think I like Maple. I do like the countertop. But I would choose different handles (though these do look old.) Here's a kitchen with wood cabinets and white appliances: I like this wood of the cabinets above (but do not like the 'holes' substituting for cabinet handles). Instead of the half-wall separating the kitchen and dining room, I would just use more lower kitchen cabinets to create sort of an island like this (except picture wood cabinets and light countertop): You'd have to make sure the back side of it (towards the dining room) has a nice finished appearance, like this: I have thought about using white wooden shiplap or white wainscoting as a backsplash. Less modern than subway tiles. Still bright and light with a contrast to darker wooden cabinets below. And I do want the 3 windows over the kitchen sink. Should I do this? Or this? Thank you for letting me have fun here and thank you for your input!

These are very basic. I don't have all details on them yet. If you see the trim I drew on the front of the house (west side) imagine there is trim on all other windows and doors on other sides. Full of erasure marks, etc. But SO MUCH FUN! I will post them twice. Once without comments, then again with what is behind each window or door for rooms. It's important to me that the front of the house look as much like the original as possible. I have tried to capture the molding, the big front door with its side lights (but I'm sure Phil will help me capture it more accurately from photos.) The living room is located where it was in the old house. The downstairs bedroom in the same spot. I want to have the stairwell and that wide front hallway open to the living room, doing away with the wall separation.  There won't be the 3rd bedroom upstairs, but it will be saved as a Reading Nook/extra sleeping space (as suggested by Sara Tucker.). The south side (below) was always the 'usual entry' for most visitors. Here the difference will be French doors at the entry (let in as much light as possible). I left space along the wall in the dining room for Grampa Cooley's (Harry's) desk, so it can be in its usual spot. I have not drawn in the covered porch yet...I need help with that. Nice big deck area with room for company to sit out beside the dining room/living room and enjoy that view. Phil suggests a screened in porch for part of it (maybe along the dining room area?). Should I have the living room windows be French doors as well...a whole side of the house that opens to the deck/porch via doors? Or keep it more traditional with the living room windows as they were? There will be a 'new' dormer along the back of the house to allow for an upstairs guest bathroom. Here you can see new dining room windows (where the connection to the 2nd house/saltbox Fireplace room used to be on the far left of the drawing), the usual door into the kitchen area, the kitchen windows above the sink, then to the north of that- the matching 3-paned windows up high for the laundry and mudroom. (Note…I decided in a later post that this is not good aesthetically so see future changes.) We may have a garage along the north for entry into the mudroom. On the north side of the house you can see the mudroom entryway (that will lead past the laundry and into the kitchen). (Note…this gets switched to the back of the house in a future post.) High windows in the 'master bath' and the master bedroom north windows. Upstairs the other of two guest bedrooms.

The upstairs will be very similar to the old house except for no walls around the '3rd bedroom,' (keeping it open for light into the hallway upstairs while still providing extra sleeping space and a reading nook, thank you Sara for suggestion), and the bathroom will have a true dormer to not be so squeezed into the space. I have added lots of closets along the two window-less walls for storage and for guests to use, and figured the bedrooms do not have to be huge to be useful (but may have overdone it). I need suggestions for the most aesthetically pleasing and safe way to 'rail in' the stairs above (without that wall there). I don't especially like the idea of stair balusters lining the side (and it would have to be high enough for kids to not lean over the top)...but if there are especially cool ones or attractive ones or design-appropriate ones I'd like to see them. The downstairs (already shown in earlier post except the mudroom entry here has been moved to the back (east) side of the house and the two high windows in the mudroom/laundry has been replaced by one conventional window. Still pondering the porch/deck. I am with Sara...porches can darken rooms and I don't want dark rooms. But having the protection of a roof from sun or rain could be nice and cozy out there. Either way, I definitely want at least a deck for enjoying that view.

A reader/family member suggested changing the north side less (from the original house design) and to do that have the mudroom entrance on the east side instead of the north side.  Good idea. So now the only difference from the original house on the north side are the bathroom windows. On the east side (back of the house) I changed two of the little high windows in my design to one conventional window.  I didn’t like the little windows all in a row there aesthetically, though they would have allowed more wall space.  I kept the one above the kitchen sink as it was in the original design. This is what suggestions by readers can help with, thank you!

I got inspired to play my with house plan ideas after visiting Phil Godenschwager who does architectural drawings. I want to have some basic plans in place for him to work with when he is ready. It is so much fun to play with floor plans. It helps you see glitches and research things like "how much space do you need around a kitchen island? How wide should useful doorways/walk-through areas be? Can you put a refrigerator next to a doorway?" And to think about cozy vs. open space. Here is my initial plan at this point. It maintains the beautiful wide front door with sidelights (windows up both sides), the evenly spaced two windows to the right of the door, two windows to the left of the door...so the front of the house will look the same from the road. The sides just along the the corner from the front edge of the house will also be the same with those two windows on each side. Otherwise, from halfway along the side to the back, it will be slightly different from the original house (French doors into dining room on the south side, bathroom windows on the north side and a mudroom entry door). And all along the east side (the true back side of the house) it will have many more windows, but mostly matching those that were above the kitchen sink...the three smaller higher windows in a row letting light in from morning sun. Except the dining room on the east...where the door to the 2nd house used to be, it will have two windows that match the front window. More morning light there too with no garage in the way blocking light. The porch can be reminiscent of the same house in the 1800s that had a porch: https://www.ridgeroadhouse.blog/post/the-original-land-grantee Phil and I talked about the importance of the angle of the roof on a covered porch, the porch beam size and style and finial style. I want all of that to be appropriate to this house style (in the past).

On the first day of spring, March 21, 2024, I visited with Phil Godenschwager at his studio in Randolph, Vermont on Weston Street (in the former Tewksbury Store). If you have never had a chance to tour his studio, you are missing an experience. As a life-long artist, it is filled with his creations. Even the building itself has been preserved and enhanced from his stewardship. Front porch posts with a whimsical design (preserved from a nearby house that was torn down) send a warm welcome to those who enter. Tucked towards the back of the building is an old door he found beside the road. With two long narrow curved spaces for windows, he completed them with handmade stained glass, gradations of pale yellow to gold. http://www.philgodenschwager.com/about-1.html He generously gave me a good chunk of his afternoon to talk about the plans for this Randolph Center house. I am excited to say he will draw up the architectural plans for us. I was so impressed with his work both artistically and professionally and at a reasonable 'Vermonters only' rate. He will help bring my ideas to life with floor plans and elevations that a contractor can use to build the house again. http://www.philgodenschwager.com/architectural.html In the meantime, I can dream (and ponder, analyze, research and brainstorm). The circular driveway as it comes up from the northern side of the property: The circular driveway as it passes along the back of the property: The driveway as it exits the south side of the property: I think of this short, strong guy as a sentry on the property:

As this video pans to the left, remember the 2nd house was located there, pushed out to the south a bit, connected to the far 'left' corner of this foundation. You can kind of see the rectangle where it was (the garage, the fireplace room).