Those Places Thursday: 20 West Home Place, Redlands, California

The address is for my mother's (maternal) grandmother's house.  (Bessie Carter Ranney)  Mom spent a lot of time there as a child.  She had a wonderful relationship with her grandmother... something I missed out on since both of mine died when I was so young.  I grew up hearing about "Home Place."  I finally got to go there and see it in person this year.  (Yes, it is STILL there!)  Mom got to see it again for the first time in 48 years.

This is how the place looks in my mother's memory.  According to the California Voter Registration lists on Ancestry, Bessie moved here between 1944-1946.  (She had been widowed in 1943.) This picture was probably taken in the late 1940's or early 1950's.  We believe the woman on the steps is my mom's aunt, Alice Ranney Thornburg.

This is how the house looks today (October 2010).  Very similar, right?  I tried to get my mother to knock on the door and ask the current residents if we could look inside, but since it was 8am, she didn't think that was a good idea.  :)

I could tell how happy it made my mother to see this house again... a place that means so much to her and holds a special place in her memories.