Newborn House

We were very pleased today to have Mary (Pitts) Formo as one of our special visitors during the tour of homes that was part of the annual Newborn School Reunion. Mary Formo lived here for several years with her grandmother, Mary Pitts (aka "Aunt Mamie"). Mary knew that we are interested in the history of the house and shared some old pictures with us.

Above, the Newborn House as it appeared during Christmas-time in 1929 (notice the garland strung between the front porch columns. The basic shape of the house has been maintained through the years. One key feature we noticed is the railing around the top of the front porch and above the bay window in the dining room.

At left, Mary (Pitts) Formo is shown in the late '40s or early '50s riding on a wheel barrow being pushed by her father, Garland Pitts, the youngest son of Dr. J.T. (Julius Thomas) Pitts and Mary Pitts. In this photo, you can see that the stairs went all the way cross the porch and there is a shed roof sticking out over the well. We replaced a later, smaller (and more rickety) version of the wooden back steps with a set of brick steps. Otherwise, the back porch back then seems very similar to the back porch now.

Below, the picture shows one of the Pitts boys (J.T., we think) being held by one of the tenants who worked for the family. The photo shows a good view of the flower pit that was used to store plants through the winter and to start the seeds for the early garden. The basic structure is still standing, but all of the woodwork, roof and windows are missing. This photo will be very helpful when we get around to restoring the flower pit.