"Cold Spring" - Sierra Heritage Magazine, February 2006

Feature Story

Over the years, Keith Arellano, owner of A & A Stepping Stone across the street from Cold Spring, was saddened watching the gradual decline of the house. No one seemed to care. But something about the house drew Keith, so he made an offer to buy it but the offer was declined.

Keith's fascination with Cold Spring continued. He maintained contact with the owners, and researched the house's history. Finally, in 2002, the owners agreed to sell. Escrow lasted an entire year while the county determined how to make the house habitable again. Their initial recommendation was to tear it down, but Keith would not do it. He felt sure the house could be saved, and he was anxious to make a start.

Still, nothing could prepare Keith and his wife Diane, for the shock of what awaited them when they made an inspection of the house. "It was a drug den", says Keith. "More than half the windows were broken and some had plywood nailed overthem. There was so much trash and junk on the floors you could not see them. It smelled awful. There was even old food and dirty dishes still left in the kitchen."

The moment Keith became the legal owner of Cold Spring, the site became a whir of activity. Much of the decayed inside could not be saved - the kitchen was gutted and taken down to it's bones for rewiring, plumbing and the introduction of modern fixtures. The thin walls tacked up to create apartments were torn down and carted away, along with all the trash and old broken stoves and refrigerators. In the attic the remains of a previous collapsed roof lay piled all over the floor, so that had to be removed as well. The work seemed endless, but Keith was determined.

The beautiful hardwood floors were salvageable, as were the dark wood stairs and the original Victorian handrail. Throughout the rooms, additions of wide crown molding and baseboards, new lighting fixtures, doors and other finishing touches were Victorian-era reproductions. The old paint was stripped off, and the house was painted a pale sky blue with white trim, and a new roof installed. Sheds and outbuildings rotting where they stood were torn down and removed, and a straggly, pitiful persimmon grove next to the house cleared of weeds and pruned. The old icehouse still stands and there are plans to repair it.

This wildly expensive, somewhat Quixote-esque salvage project was a labor of love and seems obvious when you watch Keith Arellano as he conducts a guest on a tour of his house. His hand caresses the handrail, he reaches down to pick up a nonexistent speck off the floor, grabs a rag to rub a fingerprint from a cabinet in the kitchen. His eyes roam critically around the walls looking for any imperfections in his masterpiece, but there are none. He happily ticks off future plans for Cold Spring on his fingers.

The house finished, work has now shifted to the grounds, which Keith plans to make into a display garden to demonstrate how various stone products look when installed. It will include water features, a courtyard and built in barbecue area, more fruit trees and lots of paths to wander.

So life goes on for Cold Spring as it enters a new chapter in its long history. What was once the dining room and parlor for the family is now a garden design studio. You can still see where the heavy brocade curtains were drawn across to separate the two rooms, and garden design students sit exactly where the Adams family sat after dinner to play cards and talk, over 100 years ago. Though the view has changed, you can stand on the long front porch exactly where a little girl stood in her Easter finery at the turn of the century, clutching a doll.