The Cherry Ames Page: Victorian Living in Hilton

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Victorian Living in Hilton

With hands that shook a little, Cherry fished in her purse for her key--which she had carried around the world with her, a talisman of home--and opened the front door.

--From Cherry Ames, Veterans' Nurse, p. 5

The home where Cherry grew up is a big old, gray Victorian house, shaded by oak trees, on a tree-lined street in the small town of Hilton, Illinois.

All in the Family

It's a real family home; Cherry's grandparents and their parents had lived in the same house. On the front porch, overlooking the lawn, is a porch swing. Fragrant honeysuckle and clematis vines encircle the porch. In late summer, asters, marigolds, delphinium, and dahlias bloom in her mother's garden. Home-made corn relish and sun-preserved strawberries are stored in the cool cellar, and Cherry can smell their aroma from the back porch. During the war, cherries and corn grow in the Victory garden so the family can save ration points. The house also has a big backyard and a garage.

No. 9 Standish Street

Cherry's quaint Greenwich Village apartment even boasts a fireplace--and of course there's that famous blue furniture. Click here to read more!

Downstairs, the front hall has a hall table, a mirror and a crystal chandelier. The spacious mahogany and blue living room, where Cherry's father likes to read the evening paper, has a big fireplace, a blue sofa, a leather chair, a mahogany writing desk, a radio, and a fragrant flower-petal jar that had belonged to Cherry's grandmother; Cherry's mother later repapers the room in blue with a silver sprig.

Also downstairs are a big, sunny dining room with double doors and a bay window banked with green plants; a gleaming white kitchen with a pantry; her mother's tiny sewing room; and a seldom-used extra bedroom.

Moving on Up

A wide, curving staircase leads upstairs to the other bedrooms. A grandfather clock stands on the landing, where a high window with green, rose, blue, and amber panes gleams in the sunlight. Cherry's parents' room is large and serene, with a hand-patched rose quilt. Her brother's room is orderly and plain, but decorated with models and photos and blueprints of airplanes. Charlie, a camera bug, later has a darkroom at home.

Cherry's bedroom window, with white ruffled curtains tied back with red ribbons, overlooks a lilac bush that reaches up to the sill, and a mulberry tree with nesting birds.

Her day bed has a cherry-red satin cover and matching pillow shams; there are bookshelves at either end of the bed, with twin crystal lamps. The walls are white, and her dressing table, which holds a little white clock, wears a white dotted swiss skirt punctuated with red bows. The room has a small slipper chair, and on the floor is an oval hooked rug made by her great-grandmother. Cherry, when bored, onec considers redecorating, but then decides she likes her red and white room just the way it is.

Startlingly, at one point Cherry's parents think about selling the family home (Private Duty Nurse), but quickly abandon that idea and stay happily ensconced in the big old house.