It would be paved in later years but McKay Street was a dusty, rocky uphill neighborhood road when the Kernen Family moved to their new home from the small clapboard bungalow near their Poplar Level Road Grocery Store. The house stood at the top of the hill with grassy fields on either side as well as across the street. Few houses were on McKay Street and the children felt like they lived out in the country.
Louise and Molter Kernen had intended to purchase a home on Union Street, but when Frances Kernen’s father became seriously ill, they gave up the sale of that nearby home so that he could be cared for and the couple waited for another house to come on the market.
The two of us girls claimed the bedroom in the upstairs room overlooking the drive and Brother Paul used the room toward the Sherman Avenue side of the house. The basement was perfect for winter activities such as roller-skating around and around the center coal furnace.
My mother’s sewing machine and an extra stove for canning vegetables were housed in the basement as well as my first art studio. My table was small but adequate for drawing and painting.
A propane tank stood beside the house on the Sherman Street side and both our cook stove and refrigerator were gas-powered. The refrigerator was a Servel make and stayed in our family’s use until we were told parts were no longer made for it. At the time it was a step up from the icebox used by the family in the bungalow.
The McKay Street home had a garage behind which was a large area where our father planted a vegetable garden each spring. Beyond the garden, a wire fence marked the back of the property. Cows grazed in the field on the other side of the fence and when our pet rabbits escaped the hutch, they made friends with them until they were once again hauled home.
The property had a front terrace with a Silver Poplar Tree growing at the edge of the yard beside the drive. The front windows on either side of the front door were decorated by green shutters with a white shamrock on each.
After purchasing the side yard, our father expanded his garden past the horse apple tree at the back thus doubling the size of his farming area. A cherry tree and several bushes separated the new garden area from the backyard. The front of the sideyard was a play area for great badminton tournaments. Silver poplars stood between the new side yard and the next field where several willow trees attracted locusts to make playing a carefree time of hearing their song in summer.