Anoka Home Tour 2016

Each year my hometown Historical Society sponsors a Home and Garden Tour. The very thought of allowing strangers to pass through one's domicile (and passing judgement!) makes some people nauseated. But other enjoy 'showing off' to their neighbors, and many people have done wonders in preserving older home that would have otherwise fallen victim to neglect. The more interesting part to me is the odd things that crop up, things you would never suspect from a cursory drive-by:



This livery stable, with its work room remarkably intact, was one of these oddities. This is from the nineteenth century, it is rare to find an interior of an outbuilding that hasn't been completely redone:



This fountain is part of a two acre garden, delusions of grandeur, perhaps, but I find it to be simply grand:



A local artist has turned his backyard into a hospice for dying pianos:



Although they don't play anymore, they can still produce 'music":