WLM Winter 2016 | Page 11

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 www.wyolifestyle.com 9