This 88-Year-Old Woman Lives in an Old Shed in the Woods – But Wait Until You See Inside!

An old shed at the edge of the woods

Walk to the end of the yard behind Dan's house in rural Vermont, past the woodpile and into the trees, and you come to an old wooden shed. The grey shingles are weathered, the roof is green with moss, and the little porch leans to one side. A thin black stove pipe sticks out of the roof. Most visitors think it is where Dan keeps his garden tools. It is not. This is the home of his mother, Edna. She is 88 years old.

Edna lived for more than fifty years in an old farmhouse a few miles away. She raised four children there, kept chickens and a big vegetable garden, and made a quilt for every one of her grandchildren. After her husband, Frank, died, the farmhouse slowly became too much for her. There were stairs, a long icy driveway in winter and rooms she no longer used. Her children wanted her close. Dan offered her the spare bedroom in his house.

Edna said no. "I love my son," she says, "but at my age I still want my own front door." Instead, she pointed at the old shed at the edge of the woods. Frank and Dan had built it together almost forty years ago as a workshop. The family thought she was joking. She was not. From the path, it still looks like a forgotten garden shed. But the story of how it became a home is only half of the surprise. Go to the next page to see what the family did to it.