A Tour of My Mom’s Pilgrim Century Home!
I am so excited to finally share a tour of my mom’s Pilgrim Century Home with you all today!
Hey sweet friends! If you’ve been following my blog and YouTube channel for a while, you know how many times I’ve mentioned my Mom’s house and how ONE day I was going to give you a tour.
Well…that day has finally arrived! My Mom’s love for antiques and history is so inspiring, and she has taught me so much about furniture, time periods and styles. I was so blessed to grow up in this home that I’m about to show you, and I’m so thankful for the homemaker that my mom was.
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For this post, I thought I would let her write it and explain a little bit about each space that I’m going to show you. Be sure to watch the YouTube video above for the full tour!
Happy November! I’m Charisse Goforth and I’m so excited to give you a little tour of my home today. What an honor to share something I am so grateful for with all of you, and what a perfect month to do it!
I’m kind of a history nut. I absolutely love it, and my passion is everything Pilgrim. God gave me a special heart for this time in our history. It just speaks to me.
On the outside my home looks like a typical two story Michigan house, but as you enter I hope you feel as if you have been transported to the 1600’s. The Main Hall is the center of all our family activities. So many happy memories have been made with our children and their families in this room, and around this fireplace.
The beams, floors, ceiling and fireplace are not original to the home. My husband Mike added all of these to help me achieve a more original 17th century feel. He also built two of the tables you see in this room.
The Parson’s Chamber is just off the Main Hall. Our television and couch are tucked away in this room. This is also the room guests stay in when they come to visit. My husband made the bed, as well as the wattle shutter on the window.
The kitchen is the next room you enter off of the Main Hall. My husband made the hanging shelf and laid the flooring. We also gave all of our windows a leaded look by using Decra Led tape. My husband made the grid and I added the crystal glass to give it a wavy, early look.
(Be sure to watch the YouTube video for a close up of the windows!)
Our children’s bedrooms used to be located upstairs. When they all moved out, we turned my son’s room into a master bath and our daughter’s room became our master bedroom. My husband made the shelf in the bathroom and our bed! The floors upstairs are original to the home.
My parents always loved antiques and they instilled that love in me. They started with a few pieces here and there and ended up with a saltbox home that looked like you stepped back in time to the 1700’s. My love started in college, with a little bit of country primitive. Slowly through the years, because of my love of history, my decor changed over to the Pilgrim era. I couldn’t help but fall in love with it because of its reminder to me of our country’s humble beginnings.
As much as I love the furniture of that period, their furniture wasn’t their legacy. Their things weren’t important to them. God was. He was everything to them. They left us a heritage. They showed us what Thanksgiving is truly all about.
I am absolutely sure our Pilgrims had no idea that 400 years later Charisse Goforth’s life and perspective would be forever changed by them. I have learned so much from them. Continued gratefulness despite continued heart ache. Perseverance. Faith. Trust in God. A tremendous love for His Word and most important a love for God that cannot be compared.
That’s what I want my children and grandchildren to remember about me. That’s the legacy I want to leave behind. Everything else is only wood, hay and stubble. I cannot take it with me but I will strive to be a Pilgrim on this journey for a better tomorrow. A hope. A faith. A burning love for God that can change lives for generations to come.
Thank you for coming along with me today!
I hope you all enjoyed this tour of my mom’s pilgrim century home! Isn’t is beautiful? It’s truly a place of comfort for me, especially around the holidays. 🙂 Do you know anyone who decorates like my mom does? Have you ever seen a home like hers? I’d love to know in the comments below!
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This was so sweet and beautiful. I live in Pennsylvania so this kind of decorating is all over. Its one of the things I love about living in the northeast. I myself don’t decorate exactly this way but I am inspired by it. Great post!
I am so happy you enjoyed it, and yes my mom has many groups she is a part of that share her love for this decor!
I actually live in Plymouth Massachusetts! We’ve volunteered to clean the Plimoth Patuxet Museum homes ( used Murphys oil soap and water)and rake out the vegetable gardens and we’ve participated in the Pilgrim Progress walk in reconstructed clothing. I think you would enjoy our town and exhibits. The replica Mayflower is docked in Plymouth harbor. Truly inspiring how the Pligrims survived their first winter.
That is so amazing! My mom has been there, and she loves it so so much!
What a treasure your Mom has created! It makes me imagine what it must have been like to have lived in such a place and time! Love all of the wood tones!
Yes, that is truly something to think about! We are so blessed now here in America!
Oh Andrea! This was such a special blessing to read and see. I am better for having stopped by your blog today and many thanks to your mom for the beautiful message!
Warm regards,
Jenny
I am so happy you enjoyed it!
Wow! What an amazing work of historical art your parents have crafted together!! Even though I am quite partial to YOUR beautiful home/style, this is a delight to see! Was the downstairs at least in this style during your childhood, Andrea?
Thank you both for your hard work and dedication to home. It is such a privilege to create
She did such an incredible job, and yes we grew up this way! She always had a super cozy family room for us and we were able to decorate our bedrooms however we wanted, in fact she helped us decorate!
Andrea you are blessed to have been raised by a wise, loving, and Godly mother who loves the Lord with all her mind and heart! Thanks for sharing your mothers beautiful home and heart! The simple life and all the primitives as so heartwarming! It puts things into perspective what is really important and what isn’t! XO
I am so thankful for her and I am so happy you enjoyed the tour as well!
We have waited so long to see her home and WOW, that was worth waiting for! A good friend of ours also has a love for the pilgrim time period and I cannot wait to recommend this post to her. You’re so very lucky to have grown up not only in a beautiful home, but with such wonderful, loving parents. Then now, to be such wonderful grandparents and still there for their grown children as well, you are truly blessed!
I cant get over this home! So beautiful. I would love to know if these items that have been collected were from thrifting? Antiquing? Inherited? Gorgeous and really transports me back to 17th century I’m so excited you finally shared!
Thank you, I will pass this along to her! She has done a mix of all of the above on top of my dad building some pieces for her as well!
Hi Andrea: I so enjoyed your moms home and her perspective. Thank you. I grew up surrounded by antiques with very talented parents. Their period was 18th Century along with all the accoutrements that went along with that lifestyle. They too turned their 1963 ranch into a home of wonder. Not having deep pockets they very creatively spent their money on the things that were important to them and if she could imagine it, he could build it. He built beds, cupboards, desks, cupolas, carved folks art, made chandeliers, their talent was tremendous. I am the proud recipient of their knowledge, and I have some of their marvelous antiques. Some of the pieces of furniture he made for me as well. I too am a lover of the antiques and have been collecting for years. As a designer I want my home to be unique and not anything like my clients homes. I miss them every day and so grateful for all the knowledge they passed on to me. Please hop over to my blog you might enjoy it and go back to the archives. A Well Collected Life. .
Your parents passion and working together sound so much like mine, my dad was always building beautiful replica pieces for my mom! And I agree, unique designs are so beautiful, which is why I love to antique and thrift, the specific pieces you find can truly create a home unique to you. I will take a look at your blog as well!
Thanks for sharing this is such a great post that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value of providing quality information for free.
My wife has done a wonderful job making our little 18thc. home a haven filled with 17thc. (“Pilgrim” century) antiques collected over many years. Every piece we have has a story and a precious memory. She overcame an appalling tragedy and moved to New England from Illinois over 23 years ago alone, and with very little money. She bought a tiny period cape in NH that was a real mess, and spent 8 years alone before I met her working on making it a home and restoring it against great odds. She worked tirelessly overcoming loneliness and pain, and making a new life. She has taught me about faith and hope, trying over and over and never giving up. I am so proud of her and of our home—the little ‘cape’ we still live in and now work on together. We are both history geeks who live and appreciate the past. I hope others here will ‘visit’ us on our website, take a tour of our old home, and meet our animals, see what we’re up to, and share our adventures! Sincerely, Adam Spencer
This sounds so so beautiful! I encourage you to reach out to my mom on her blog linked in my post. She would love to see your home!
That’s the legacy I want to leave behind. Everything else is only wood, hay and stubble. I cannot take it with me but I will strive to be a Pilgrim on this journey for a better tomorrow. Craniotomy Adelaide