Every list of projects has to have a first. Somewhere in our extensive “to do” list was take down the old homestead. The simplistic charm it must have once had was hidden by the years of neglect. Inspecting the interior revealed that it had many purposes before it was left to stand as a sentinel and reminder of the past.
It began life as a small 3 room house for Iver and Myrtle about 16ft by 22ft resting on concrete blocks. There were 2 bedrooms one for Iver and Myrtle and one for the daughters and a communal room that was the kitchen, living room, and Clifford had a cot in the corner.
Some time down the road 2 additional rooms were added to the back expanding it to 26 by 22. It appears that one of the back rooms was an enclosed porch at some point in its life. A post still jutted out of the ground, a relic to steps up to the back door.
Our best guess is that before WWII the Lannon Stone house was built and the homestead would have been retired as the main dwelling or perhaps Iver & Myrtle lived in one house and one of their sets of parents lived in the new stone house. Regardless, over time it was retired as a main dwelling.
There is evidence that it became a workshop, hunting shack, and storage. Then there came a time when it was retired from even those purposes. It is unclear if its retirement came before or after the roof started to leak. With the leaking roof the floor followed at some point and with time, gravity, and probably the help of critters the contents tumbled and became scattered reminders of the history the house once held.
Interior wall last fall 
workbench 
game scale 
ceiling 
addition roof – gone 
main roof failing 
Interior wall this spring
When we bought the property, we inherited the homestead. Looking at its state, our insurance wanted to know what we intended to do with the the building. Our original plan was a year or two from now to have it tore down. Our college age son made us a proposal that was too good to pass up.
He and some friends would demo the house. We would pay dumpster fees, and pay them. He put a max on what they would charge. Not sure where life would take him in a few years, the time to say good-bye to the old homestead became now.
Armed with chainsaws, saw-z-all, various other tools, and a borrowed tractor they went to work. The old homestead put up a good fight. Contrary to how the roof, floor, and interior walls looked, the exterior walls were still fairly sturdy and didn’t want to go.
It didn’t want to go. They broke 3 tow straps trying to pull it down. 
Pushing didn’t fair well. The addition complied, but not the original part. 
Cut the structural integrity. 
Remnants of the addition 
After a chain saw, sledge hammer, and tractor finally the front relents. 
With the front gone, the side begins to let go. 
It stood for one last moment, and then after a collective “awww” from the crew it collapsed. 
Foundation sill
The boys and friends rescued a steel beer can collection (through a window with a magnet on a stick). There were a few “treasures” that had managed to survive well enough to be deemed savable and were reachable from safe sturdy portions of the failing floor. The rest including the foundation sills that were hewen from single trees were loaded up into dumpsters, destined for their final resting place as the rest of the property awaits beginning a new chapter.
Lannon on the Hill 