A treasured Storybook
This little vintage storybook, The Ghost of Windy Hill was my favorite childhood weekly reader. Remember those? Those of you close to my age will recall how exciting they were to receive. I loved this book and for some reason, this book stayed on my bookshelf, my entire life. Coincidentally, it was written in 1966 the same year I was born. It’s a sweet little story that takes place in 1851, ironically right around the same time our farmhouse below was built. Boo!
Front View Windy Hill Farm. Photo courtesy of Kim Bensing Design.
Historic Houses in Historic Counties
In 2007 we moved into this fantastic clapboard farmhouse in Doylestown, Pennsylvania- located in historic Bucks County. It’s an area of the country littered with gorgeous, old farms and stone homes. The first home we bought here was all stone and even older -built around 1780. That home was just perfect in every way until our 3 children came along and its ghosts rapidly spooked us out. Just kidding, It was too small for 5 people, so we were forced to search for a home nearby that was equally as cool, and uniquely historic, just bigger. That’s how we landed here.
Windy Hill’s wrap-around balcony is not original to the farmhouse. We think it was added sometime in the early 1980s. It’s very nice and provides a great place to catch 9 simultaneous fireworks shows on the 4th of July.
creatively naming your farm
A few years after the move we decided to name our farm. As far as we knew, all these years, it didn’t have a name. So the idea was that we’d install a pretty lampost so we could hang a pretty sign. Because isn’t that what you do when you want to name a farm? We thought so too.
At that time I ran my design business out of the small cottage on the property and I was beginning to plan out doing floral events so many names were considered. But “too feminine” was what I often heard from my husband when I’d throw out my ideas. So around and around we went for quite a while until…a cherished, little storybook came to mind!
Snow covered little Cottage at Windy Hill Farm. Photo courtesy of Kim Bensing Design.
Walpole Lamppost and sign created by McElHaney Signs here in town.
A ghostly wind
Before I continue, one thing you should know about me is how terrified I am of ghosts. In fact, I’m so terrified that on one of our first nights here in this house my husband had to travel out of town so I actually took the kids to a hotel for a night. True story. I bet you’re wondering why this is the 2nd historic home I’ve purchased. Right? Actually, it’s the third. I can’t help it, I just LOVE historic properties so much, but not if they are haunted. This one is not…so it’s all okay at the end of the day.
Windy Hill’s side view with a big old tree. Photo courtesy of Kim Bensing Design
So anyway, one day I remembered my old favorite book, The Ghost of Windy Hill while we were simultaneously discovering that this property produced hurricane-like winds on a regular basis. It’s hard to see from the road, but the farmhouse sits at the top of a ridge. And there are so many large, old trees everywhere that the wind whistles through the 21 original double-hung windows day and night. So when it’s windy, It’s Windy! Windy Hill- I had it, we would name this farm after a favorite vintage book, which added intrigue, and made sense too. Plus no one could argue that this name was the least bit too feminine. So off I went creating the sign and installing the lampost and giving our little home a forever name. Then some really spooky things started to happen.
View of Windy Hill’s Barn behind a lilac. Photo courtesy of John Arehart Photography.
Ghosts from windy hill’s past
I wish I could tell you how many people have stopped by over the last 15 years to tell us that, at one time or another, they lived in this house or better yet partied in this barn! It’s true. I’d say approximately 20 people over the years have stopped by. Some people doing work on the house or gardens grew up around here and told us that previous owners had bands in the barn and other visitors legitimately lived here between 1930-2007. We recently had a woman stop by after running a marathon in Philly to tell us that her aunt lived here and she would visit often in the summers. She said it was her favorite place on earth, it made her summers magical. She’s coming back for a full tour someday and I can’t wait to show her around. Windy Hill was a very popular farm so we are told, but wait til you hear this ghostly story.
Dee, her daughter, her cousin, Kim & Mike Bensing.
a farm’s story
One particular summer day a few years ago, an older woman named Dee and her daughter stopped by. Dee told us that she and her cousin spent summers on this farm in the 1930s. Dee asked if she could bring her cousin over to see the place. Turns out Windy Hill was owned by their aunt and uncle and I guess, to beat the heat, Dee and her cousin enjoyed summer months here during the depression.
About a week later, Dee showed up with her cousin, the older man in the photo above whose name I have sadly forgotten, anxious for a tour. They brought lots of fantastic old photographs and sweet Dee also created a hand-drawn diagram of the entire inside of the house for me -so we could compare it with today’s version. I mean look at this photo of these two riding around the grounds of Windy Hill in a tractor built for kids! Too perfect.
holes in floors
We quickly ushered Dee, her cousin, and her daughter inside for the GRAND TOUR, and what they shared was so much fun! They explained why one section of the house doesn’t make sense, and pointed out where doorways once were. We had suspected some of this but could not be sure. We learned that day that the house was originally broken into two spaces, with a back apartment, which explained the awkwardly hidden staircase, narrow hallways, floorboards that don’t go in the same direction upstairs, and why there is an outer doorway and clapboard siding inside the house.
Dee’s dear cousin slowly walked from room to room with his walker reminiscing, but before he entered what is now the dining room he said “There’s a big hole in the floor in the next room - it’s for the heat”. Guess what, ever since we’ve been here the hole has been floor-boarded up, and we never gave it much thought, until then. He was 100% correct, there was a big hole right where he said it would be. Here’s a photo of the dining room floor today and the doorway he was approaching when he said this. Spooky!
Dining Room Floorboards at Windy Hill Farm.
Old Photos to cherish
Here’s someone in Dee’s family leaning against a tree on the property. I cannot be certain this particular big windy tree still remains, but there is a very big old tree next to the house, so it’s possible. And below is a great photo of a baby in front of the original wooden facade of the Windy Hill barn. Sadly sometime around 1950, the barn facade was tiled for insulation, but it’s my dream to someday restore it and bring this old photograph back to life. I think now that we own this photo…it’s a sign from above of what we should do! Thanks for reading the story about the Story of Windy Hill. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. -Kim
Historic Images of Windy Hill Farm circa 1930s.
And I know I haven’t shared the inside story yet, but I did create a Shop the Windy Hill Look page if you’re interested. I’d love your feedback.
View of Property from the Barn. Photo courtesy of John Arehart Photography.
Learn: A great blog to read- How to Choose the Best Farm Names -by Tough Nickle.
Create: Gather images and drawings of your home for the generations that will come after you.
Inspire: Tuck that history into a little box and bury it in the backyard. (label with a sign)
If you are enjoying this, please sign up to receive my updates here - And find me on Instagram @Studiosprig -Kim Bensing, Art Director
I’m always here to help you with your creative journey. Please sign up to receive blog post notifications and follow Studio Sprig on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I look forward to connecting. - Kim