The Dr. Benjamin L. Long House

Howell/Hobbs/Long

By Don Taylor
Having a blog provides many benefits. One of the most compelling reasons to have a blog is that it forces you to closely examine your findings and facts. Do they make sense? It operates much like a diary in that it forces you to articulate what you think you know. Your blog can really act as a primary social networking methodology. I’ve sometimes heard blogs as being “cousin bait” and I’ve certainly had distant cousins contact me because of my postings.

The Long-Haislip House c. 1979 The Historic Architecture of Hamilton, North Carolina.

I recently had someone contact me about a blog posting, not because she was related but because she and her husband purchased a house that a relative of my wife once built and owned. I shared with the individual what I knew about the relative that owned the house and they shared what they were doing with the house.

Long-Haislip House 2013 Google Maps

Long Haislip House, 2015 Photo courtesy: Historic Hamilton NC

The home was sold again in the 1990s and then fell abandoned in the 2010s. Its deteriorated state is evident in a 2013 Google Maps drive-by photo. The photo shows significant paint damage, foundation issues, and general disrepair. In 2014, the house sold to some people who wanted to restore it to its original beauty. It was those new owners who contacted me and let me know that the house was being restored and cared for. It is so wonderful to see one of these ancient beauties being restored. Good on them. Their letting me know that the house is in good hands made my heart warm.