WLM | home
of Upton. “{Tony and his company} performed very professional work
and did an excellent job,” Linda shares. “We also received help from
friends and neighbors.”
Walking through the home, completed in 2016, there is a piece of the
past in everything you look at, and usually a story to go with it. Fine
handcrafted log furniture made by Linda graces the bedrooms, with
family heirloom quilts, photos and antiques, including an antique 1920s
radio in the loft belonging to Linda’s grandparents. The cylinder stove
from the old Carlile Store and Post Office sits in the dining area, polished
to a shimmering black and nickel. The stone found in the landscaping
comes from the Belle Fourche River, and an artistic, curving cedar
pole in the loft came from an area ranch where Gene used to work.
The reclaimed barn wood kitchen cabinetry bears the brand of Dry
Cabin Creek Ranch, and the barn doors used decoratively in the upper
levels outside the home are repurposed from the Edward Blakeman
homestead barn. Two saddles, one belonging to Gene’s father and the
other belonging to Linda’s father, sit together in the loft on saddle stands
handmade by Gene. The couple is saving the original broad axe from the
Blakeman family to hang in the bedroom bearing its name. They even
repurposed the curtain rods from the old store – ingenuous little swinging arms
that turn in and out to open and close. The home is both impressive in its scale,
but even more impressive in the amount of sweat and elbow grease the Roberts
poured into it to make it a reality.
Sitting on the 1950s side table, a ranch oak style along with the couch
in the loft (rescued from a Rocky Point family and reupholstered by
Linda), sits a copy of Cabin Creek Homesteaders, a delightful book
by Barbara Zimmerschied Crowl with Elbert Zimmerschied about
homesteaders in the Carlile and Cabin Creek area. This fitting nod to
the past joins the area history that oozes from every nook, cranny and
item within the house. To think of the generations of area homesteaders
– Langenbacher, Zimmerschied, Blakeman – and now the Roberts
family, that have traversed its rooms, raised children, lived and died,
is sobering. As a store and post office, a number of area homesteaders
collected their mail and daily needs over the years. This was truly a
place that affected many lives. If environmental conscience is more your
leaning, the sheer repurposing of materials has to earn your kudos. For
me, a history buff, I am in awe of Linda and Gene’s work to preserve
the past of the Carlile area. May they live for many happy years in the
comfort of their hard work, and may it pass someday into the hands of a new
generation who will respect and appreciate its real and intrinsic value. WL M
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