Donn Piatt’s brother, Abram, also built a large house on the family land in Ohio. He was also a publisher, Civil War soldier and politician. And he also had two wives — the first, Hannah, died in 1861, leaving behind eight children. The second wife was named Belle.
Mac-A-Cheek is about a mile from Mack-O-Chee. It’s in much better shape, but we didn’t like it as much. The woodwork throughout repeated the theme of triangles and arches, and it was a bit overdone.
As at the other house, a young woman gave us an introductory talk. We had to chuckle because in her five minute speech she repeated the phrase, “and they were pretty happy” about eight times.
The library
Abram’s farm office
The downstairs hallway
The parlor, with display cases filled with Abram’s collections.
Upstairs bedrooms. That’s a rattlesnake skin on the floor, for some reason.
The bathroom isn’t original. It was stuck in later under a stairwell.
I’m not sure what this room was originally. It’s decorated to reflect the later generations of the Piatt family who lived in the house until fairly recently.
The dining room
Both houses were interesting, as was the family history. But we thought the $50 ($25 each) we had to pay to see both houses was a bit steep.