My grandfather built his house. My dad gave him the property. At the time they were tearing down some of the old barracks from Pine Castle Air Force Base, this was before McCoy. I guess after WWII they didn’t think they needed it, the base there. So they were tearing part of it down. So my grandfather had been a carpenter up north, so he went over and.. he bought the lumber for his house for $200.00. And he would tear it down and he built his house out of that lumber. So he had a two bedroom, one bath house, with a living room and a little small kitchen and a porch on the front, but he had to take the nails out of the boards, too. And Joan my older sister remembers having to help him pull the nails out and straighten them out because you could reuse those nails. You didn’t let anything go to waste. So he built his house out of the lumber from some of the old barracks at Pine Castle Air Force Base. It was a different time…
Photo of Ruth Schankweiler Butler’s grandparents’ house in Pine Castle where she spent many happy days playing.
Her grandparents, William and Carrie Schankweiler, lived in the home in front of the Oak Ridge Cemetery where many of the Pine Castle pioneers are buried.
The cemetery is still there today. It is located on the north side of Sand Lake Road one block west of Orange Blossom Trail behind Walgreens. Ruth remembers hiding and playing behind the tombstones as a youngster.
In this excerpt from an oral history interview on April 16, 2014 Ruth Butler tells how her grandfather built the house.
LISTEN (18:54)
For additional memories and photographs search OrlandoMemory.info for Ruth Butler or Schankweiler.
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My Grandparents' House
Photo of Ruth Schankweiler Butler's grandparents' house in Pine Castle where she spent many happy days playing. Her grandparents, William and Carrie...
