Outside

Standing just North of the Chateau on the lawn

This is a spherical image that was shot in the morning

This is a wide angle image of the Chateau.

Straight on view of the Chateau

This is the picnic area behind the Chateau.

Straight on view of the Chateau

The main entry to the Chateau is on the left

I will try to recount a story that I heard about Charlie, Harry and Niece. Please correct me if my story is not accurate.

Charlie, Harry and Niecie were playing on the the playground equipment. Charlie was on the swing and his goal was to swing really high, launch off of the swing and try to land in an open laundry bag that was suspended below the horizontal bar. Charlie successfully made it into the bag, but not completely. His legs and body went into the bag, but his head was above the drawstring. His body weight closed the drawstring tight around is neck. He was stuck in the bag and he was choking. Apparently Harry and Niecie tried to hold him up, but he still couldn't get out. Harry told Niecie, "We need a knife… go get a knife so we can cut him down." Niece ran to the kitchen, snatched up a butcher knife right in front of the cooks and raced out of the kitchen full speed back to the playground. When she arrived she somehow started slashing at the cord above Charlie's head. I can image that was a sight to see little Niecie swinging a butcher knife above Charlie's head.

The iconic waterwheel. The waterwheel does not have a purpose, but the dam does have a purpose. The dam was built in the 1920's to act as the inlet point for a hydroelectric power system that generated all of the electricity for the Chateau.

It was little Niecie's job to go to the dam every morning and to remove debris form inlet grate. River water could then enter the 18" pipe and was sent onward to the hydroelectric turbine.

More… Building a hydroelectric system was certainly an engineering marvel at that time. It's rare to find privately owned hydroelectric power system. The house now uses power from the national power grid. The hydroelectric system was shut down in the 1960's

It's just a gravel path.

Daddyman found time for some peace and quiet by sitting under the pine trees in a lounge chair reading. I remember how he always made himself available when I walked up to him. He would put his book down and we would talk about boy stuff. He was always able to be present in the moment.

"Guy, do you know how to whistle really load?". I answer him, "No." Daddyman says, "Curl your tongue and press it up against the roof of your mouth. That's it! Now blow." As I blew my first LOUD whistle came out. I saw Daddyman reach up to his ear and yank out his hearing aid. It was also whistling.

I was about 9 years old at that time.

My sisters and I would visit the Chateau every summer. The most memorable visits were when we were children. On one of those visits I saw Mommy G building a small village. It was marvelous. During that visit I would see her sitting at a table outside with the new wire skeleton shape of a building. The buildings were first fabricated out of bent, tightly woven chicken wire. She used cement mortar and she would put small pieces of granite over the wire. Each building was elaborately made of stone. She built churches, houses, bridges too dazzle the grandchildren.

In the late 1950's or 1960's a large flood wiped out the entire village. All that remained was the tall lighthouse. It still sits there overlooking the pond.

The small bridge

This is a view of the powerhouse from the small island..

From the 1920's through to the 1960's the house produced 100% of its own electricity. The house had it's own hydroelectric power system that generated DC current (direct current). There is an 18" pipe that takes water from the dam. Just above the dam is a water inlet that puts the river water into an 18" pipe. That pipe travel towards the house then goes through the basement and onward to the powerhouse. Inside the powerhouse the water falls through a vertical turbine. It's is that turbine that generated the power for the house for more than 40 years. When Mommy G installed the elevator the DC current generated by the power station could not power the elevator. The elevator required 3 phase alternating current. An overhead power line was brought to the property and the house's electrical panels were converted to modern electrical panels.

Is it possible to use the water from the creek to power the house today? Absolutely yes, but a new pipe would have to be installed and a new 3 phase alternating current turbine would also need to be installed. That power could be fed into our existing modern panels to pick up some of that panel's loads. The power from the river could satisfy needs of the house. We would likely keep both power feeds for times when the river is low.