The Red House on Ralph Avenue

Today's thought is going to be local to the Babylonian's who read this blog. Even if you are not from Babylon, NY you can still appreciate the story about the Red House on Ralph Avenue. If you looked in the catalog of houses in the Babylon Historic Society you would not see 112 Ralph Avenue listed as a historic house. No plaque on the outside of the house dating it back to the 18 century but to me this house is part of Babylon's history. If you ever attended Babylon Memorial Grade School you probably stared out the window or walked by this house everyday on your way to and from school. Those of you who knew myself or another Reilly from Babylon, you knew it was Mr and Mrs Reilly's house. Growing up my Grandparents had the most impressive gardens in the back yard. There used to be a huge evergreen tree that sat in the front yard, which my Grandfather used to decorate every Christmas. For me the memories from that house are so vivid and fresh that it seems like only yesterday that me and my cousins would be playing there. Growing up we spent every Christmas day there which was probably one of my most favorite memories. See my Grandfather loved Christmas, he used to carve birds and Santa Clauses out of wood. So during Christmas there would be tons of Santa Clauses throughout the house. People would bring Grandpa Santa's from trips they took. My parents and I brought several back from or trips to Germany. One of those now sits in my house, along with one of his carvings. At Christmas time I put that Santa out and tell my kids how their great grandfather loved Christmas. Then there was the sprawling village he used to put out. It included lights and figure skaters but this was no village you would find in a store today. This village was Grandpa's he thought of this long before department stores started selling them. I not even sure how he got the idea. That house was the first place I played Atari, my uncle who lived upstairs when he first got married, and he had one of the first Atari's on the block. Me and my cousins used to sneak up when he was out fighting fires to play till late at night. The family get BBQ's that happened there were awesome! Your probably reading this and thinking to yourself why is he writing about this today, well today the red house on Ralph Ave was sold, to young couple and is no longer in the Reilly name. It's pretty sad! Will the new owners even now the rich history of that house. That my Grandfather built that house from the ground up. Put every board and nail up himself. It has lasted many hurricanes and storms and tons of Grandchildren running through it. To me that house will always be an icon of Babylon and my family.