Patricia Mikkelson is a dear friend of Barbara Hulley, the owner of the Living Springs Log House. She is helping Barbara sell the house.

The happiest six months of my life were when I lived here in the log house with my son, daughter-in-law, and their four children, all under the age of 5. We realized that, for our situation, this house was too expensive for us all to buy. My dear loved ones found a sweet little place that was actually more suited to their needs, minimalistic lifestyle, and pocketbooks. So it is time to sell this beautiful log house.

We learned a lot in those months, and I still believe living together across generations can be a beautiful way to live. I want to share what we learned, in case it helps another family thinking about it.

For most of human history, multigenerational living wasn’t a trend. It was simply how families lived. Grandparents, parents, and children shared land, work, and meals. It was the norm in the U.S. for most of the 19th century, but that changed with post-war prosperity, the rise of suburbs, people moving more often, and programs like Medicare and Social Security that let older adults live on their own. Now, for money reasons, heart reasons, and practical ones, many families are finding their way back to living closer together, and discovering that the old way still has a lot to offer.

Why Multigenerational Living Is Making a Comeback

Caring for each other, in both directions. Grandparents can help with the children, and grown children can help aging parents stay at home instead of moving into a care facility. Care flows both ways over the years, and nobody has to hand it all over to strangers.

Sharing costs. Splitting land, utilities, and big repairs across two or three households can make it possible to keep more land, grow more food, or work fewer hours away from home.

Support close by. There’s nothing like having people who love you nearby on an ordinary Tuesday, not just for emergencies, but for the little things: someone to watch the kids for an hour, help fix a fence, or sit on the porch with you at the end of the day.

Skills and stories passed down naturally. When generations live near each other, gardening know-how, practical skills, family history, and values get passed along in everyday life instead of only on scheduled visits.

Caring for the land over the long run. Families who plan to stay for generations often treat land differently. Orchards get planted that won’t fruit for a decade. Soil gets built up instead of worn out. There’s a reason to think in generations, not just years.

The Real Question: What About Privacy?

The good parts of living close to family are easy to see. The worry is usually the same one: What if we drive each other crazy?

It’s a fair worry. When living together goes wrong, it usually isn’t a lack of love. It’s a lack of space. Grown children need to feel like the parents of their own household. Grandparents want to be involved without being on call. And everyone, sooner or later, needs a door they can close.

I’ve learned it doesn’t have to be one or the other. The right layout can make room for both closeness and privacy. It just has to be planned, not left to chance.

How It Worked for Us Here

Here’s what I saw when my family lived at the Living Springs Log House together, and what I’ve imagined since.

The basement suite could be a lovely home for a grandma or grandpa. Think of a spacious studio apartment, minus a kitchen sink. For years I lived in this space, making do with a hot plate and an Instant Pot, and finding creative ways to wash dishes. The hookups for a stove and sink are already there. The two windowless rooms were my storage, and a cozy place to sleep when it was very cold. I loved seeing the garden from the large windows, and my plants loved the sunny light too. A separate space like this lets a younger family keep its privacy and freedom while grandparents stay close.

The roomy upstairs and the two bedrooms downstairs could be remodeled to create more private spaces and entrances if needed. There’s a lot of room for imagination here.

With 14.75 acres and more than one spot to build, a family wouldn’t have to choose between everyone crowded into one house or living far apart. There’s room for separate homes that still share the same land, the same water, and the same view.

The water deserves its own mention. There’s a limestone cave spring here that has filled the cisterns consistently since 2017. I love what it says about this place: old, quiet, and shaped by the earth long before anyone built here. Good natural water also helps if more than one household is sharing the land.

The 40×60 insulated metal building with utilities could be a workshop, storage, a family gathering hall, or someday more living space, changing as the family’s needs change over the years. (If the family wants animals, much of the land was cleared years ago and could be made into pasture again. A barn built out there, ideally near the pond site, would suit the animals better than the metal building.)

The organic gardens give a family something to share besides an address. Growing food together is one of the oldest and most natural ways generations connect without being in each other’s kitchens.

And the forest and open land mean there’s always room to get away for a bit. A walk to the tree line, or down the gravel road in the neighborhood, is enough distance to let everyone breathe.

What Makes It Work

From what I’ve lived and learned, a few things help most:

• Separate spaces, not just separate rooms. Real boundaries, like walls, distance, and a little walk between one space and another, matter more than a closed bedroom door in a shared house.
• Shared purpose, not just a shared address. Gardens, water, and land to care for give the generations something to do together, which builds closeness more than just living near one another.
• Room to spread out. Enough land that everyone has a place that feels like their own, even while sharing the whole.

Those six months with my family here were a gift I’ll always treasure. I hope another family gets to know that kind of joy, wherever they end up.

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How this article came together: This piece was written collaboratively by Patricia Mikkelson and Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic. Patricia brought her knowledge of the property and the values behind why multigenerational living matters to her; Claude helped shape and organize it into the article you just read.

A few insights:

• The hardest part of living together across generations is often about space, not feelings. Freedom and independence, combined with leaning on each other, is the ideal mix.
• Separate living spaces on shared land can answer the privacy worry that stops many families from trying.
• Water, gardens, and a shared building give the generations a reason to be near each other, not just permission to be.