The Farmhouse 

The Dobson family home has been in my family for over 100 years, and I maintain it much as I remember it when I was young. It is a memory of an experience that I  share with the guests who want to come visit and “rest a spell” in the majestic Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina. 

I share the Farmhouse with guests who oftentimes become friends because of our shared love of the farm and the mountains in western North Carolina. 

Aunt Id and Uncle Ralph Dobson lived in the Dobson house on the Dobson family farm a good part of their lives. The farmstead supplied all their needs and afforded them a cozy home on the mountain. They enjoyed a lifetime of beautiful Smokey Mountain springs, summers, falls, and winters in their home.

My favorite holiday memories are those times that I spent on the mountain with Aunt Id and Uncle Ralph Dobson. I often spent summers with them. In the days before air conditioning, the cool summer evenings on the porch with my aunt and uncle were some of the best memories. Being a town girl, all the Dobson farm experiences seen through my eyes were a wonder to behold. My cool private mountain retreat with two wonderful people to dote on me made for perfect summer vacation retreats. 

I remember Aunt Id's pet Jersey milk cow named Brownie. She milked Brownie daily. We had the best milk. She had a big garden beside the house and canned many different kinds of vegetables and fruits. She made the best apple pie and pound cake. I still imagine the smell of her pound cake when I walk into the house.

Aunt Id sewed little sundresses for me and saved the scraps to make me a Flower Garden quilt.

The table we ate our meals on was made from trees on the farm by Uncle Ralph's dad, William Dobson. 

The rocking chair and the small pictures presently in the master bedroom are of Uncle Ralph Dobson's mother, Elizabeth. She is the one who planted the boxwood hedges in the front yard. In the spring, lilacs bloom by the house and yellow double heirloom daffodils display their sunny faces.