We pulled into the village that was formerly Heuboden, the home of the extended Harms
clan.
Upon asking we were directed to the location of several houses built by Mennonites,
four on one street. There was also the remains of a school, and two more houses on
the other side of the village.
At this house,
the babushka was happy to show us around her vine-shaded house. The windows bear a
pretty embellishment, and are painted green in a country where almost all houses are
trimmed in blue. Indoors, the house had a stove of the type common among 19th
century Russian Mennonites: built into the wall so that it could heat four rooms with the
stovetop in one room, cooking oven in a second, and the stoker opening in yet another.
An indoor scene from that house is shown below. Mary inspects the ubiquitous
embroidered towel, used to drape photographs on the wall. Ginger studies a wardrobe
with a scene painted on the front.
The owner of this Mennonite house with whom we are privileged to have been
photographed. |