My father got a job as the City Engineer for Spartanburg, SC in 1967. We moved to Spartanburg in February 1967. My parents bought this brand new split level home in a new neighborhood called Beverly Woods. My mother's parents had bought a brick ranch in the same neighborhood and their backyard adjoined our backyard.
The same house about 1975.
Here is my rendition of the floorplan.
This brand new house didn't have air conditioning. It was a couple of years before we got a large window unit. Dad would store it down in the basement during the winter and then have to struggle up the stairs carrying that heavy window unit. That was all the air conditioning we had. We used the attic fan a lot. Dad had planted a plum tree under my window and I really loved being in my room when it was in bloom. The windows were open and I would lay on the floor with a good book and smelling that plum tree in bloom.
Dad had half our 1 acre lot planted with a garden and fruit trees. He always thought trees should do double duty - shade and fruit/nut. So almost every tree was a fruit or nut tree. We had a couple of crabapple trees on the front and he had a peach in the backyard. Then he had his tiny orchard. He also had a small chicken coop. The yard was divided from the garden with a row of grapes.
Mom and Dad had an organic garden. Dad planted strawberries down the side of the driveway. He loved working in his yard and garden but we kids hated it!
In the winter we used the fireplace a lot. I remember Dad trying to make popcorn over the fire. For heat they had electric wires in the ceilings. I always wondered how that worked since heat rises and the wires were in the ceiling. But it did work. We had a nice home for the time. My parents sold it in 1977, the year I got married. The house is still there but it and the neighborhood have deteriorated badly.
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