Tusnee McDaniel of Gloucester grew up one of 10 children in a small house in her home country of Thailand. All the children slept in the same room, on mats on the floor. In the morning, they rose, rolled up their mats and put them away, and used that same room for all of the other activities the family engaged in during the day.
Home ownership means something to McDaniel. She believes in taking care of a home, cherishing its past, and restoring its usefulness if it’s fallen on hard times. And that’s exactly what she’s doing with an old farmhouse she bought several years ago on Flat Iron Road.
McDaniel said she purchased the land in 2016 on the advice of her real estate agent and had no idea there was even a house on the property. The surrounding woodland had overtaken it, hiding it from ready view. When she discovered the two-story home, paint peeling, windows broken, and in various stages of disrepair, she decided to fix it up and turn it into a gathering place for her extended family...