Exploring Brouse Road, Part 1

It was a brutally cold day, and even colder weather was predicted for the rest of the week. Well, at least it was sunny and the roads were plowed. So I headed toward Massena, just to get out of the house although I pretended my trip was to do some shopping. But I turned off onto a side road south of town and headed into the tiny settlement of Grantville. But the former farmland along that road had pretty much become suburb, so I then turned onto Brouse Road for a bit of sightseeing of a more rural nature. Now, this was more like it - tractors, pickups with plows, old sheds:

There were old farm houses, all fixed up and in great condition:

Everything seemed to be in tip-top shape:

This old carriage house was a classic - or maybe it was new, but built in the old design. Either way, it was lovely:

Dumas Corner Stables, with a giant old barn out back and a very large chimney:

This home had a sign which said it had been a school house back in the 1800s:

And someone was insulating this home. Given the sub-zero temperatures at the time, I imagined they wished they'd been able to finish the job sooner:

I saw this sign for "Grantville Tree Farm," but there was no hint of what kind of tree farm it was. The sign looked quite old, and I wondered if it had been a Christmas tree farm many years ago, but the business was given up and the trees just kept growing:

This interesting home appeared to have had several additions over the years:

Sheds, wood furnace, tractor, dump and firewood. I guess it was clear what was going on here:

It would be easy, given the deep snow and cold temperatures, to fail to notice the nice porch on the left side of this house but I'd bet it is a pleasant place to sit and contemplate life in warmer seasons:

A spectacular old barn near the edge of the road - so close, in fact, that it was difficult to fit the whole barn into a photo. But there was still more to see on Brouse Road, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: