Staircases to Hell!

At one time, you could enter our house through the bulkhead into the basement, ascend the stairs to the kitchen and then choose to either walk up the main staircase to the second floor or go up the quintessential New England morning staircase leading from the master bedroom to the kitchen.

From there, the attic was accessible up a steep but sturdy staircase that appears to at one time have been accessed off a corridor at the top of the main stairs.

During the 20th century, some of this changed. The attic staircase was walled in and rerouted to be accessed through one of the two master bedrooms in the house. And the morning staircase was encroached upon to put a bathroom between those two master bedrooms, leaving the staircase accessible but not friendly to anyone other than a very short human or the family pet.

The attic stair, meanwhile, fared poorly over time and eventually became a steep dark staircase lined with flaking paint.

We have done our best to remedy all of this.

The lovely main staircase has been left intact. The rest of the staircases are gone. The attic and morning staircase have been completely removed and the basement stair, while currently preserved, is not long for the world.

Here is our former attic staircase. Today, access is only achieved with a ladder.


In this next picture, LeeMichael is standing at the top of the former morning staircase peering down to the basement. Above him is the former staircase access for the attic, meaning that you can now stand in the attic (if you can get up there) and see to the basement.


Finally, my favorite staircase remaining in the house was the stair that formerly went from the attic stair to the morning stair. All I can say is watch your step - it's a doozy!