Kelly's WHAT?

In the little town of Eckhart, Maryland sits a house on the side of one of the finger lanes off the main road. It's what I expect some would call an "old homeplace," a place where ancestors lived for a generation or two. The Kellys lived there: that would be my paternal great grand father, Francis Patrick Kelly (1854 - 1923) and my great grandmother, Christiana Eckhart Kelly (1861 - 1932). Here is a photo of that house taken last weekend, likely much changed from the original look. As you can see, the present residents are working on the house.

Back up the lane and across the street is a deep mountain spring called Kelly's Pump. When Mom and I drove up a guy was there filling his 5-gallon jugs with water right from the pump. Back in California you'd pay plenty for pure mountain spring water! Ha! And here there was spring water with my family name right on it -- for free! And if I had anything to say about it, which I sure as heck don't, good clean water would be free everywhere. Guess it runs in the family:)

Ya know, it's funny how you look at the same old place through different eyes when you're doing genealogy!

Kelly's Pump, still hard at work in Eckhart, Maryland!