Introducing “Curb Appeal”
Sean and Alicia Malone stand in front of their home on Barham street. Image courtesy of Susan Newell
This month we’re introducing a new feature - “Curb Appeal” - to recognize residents on each street who go the extra mile to create a lovely front yard. We’ll highlight a home on a different street each month, knowing that there will often be difficult choices to make on streets where many residents are working hard to landscape their homes. This is not a contest - it’s just a way of saying thank you to some of the many neighbors who beautify MorningSide.
We’ll skip “Curb Appeal” during the winter months because let’s face it, no one’s yard looks good in November or February.
We’re starting this month with Barham, a street that has had more than its share of challenges over the years, including illegal dumping and depopulation. That’s all the more reason to recognize the folks still there who’ve been determined to turn their homes into islands of beauty on a street where nature seems to be taking over.
Feel free to nominate a neighbor’s home, or your own. You can reach us at morningsidecommunity2@gmail.com/.
In the 30 years that Sean and Alicia Malone have lived on Barham, north of East Warren, they’ve put love and energy into their home, and it shows. Flowers and colorful flower flags adorn their front porch, where lawn chairs invite neighbors to come sit and talk a while.
Sean recalls that when MorningSide Community Organization held its annual Beautification Awards in the 1990’s, they always won an award for their block. “But that’s not why we did it,” Sean says. “We just want our home to look good.”
Alicia says that most of their neighbors are longtime residents as well. “We’re a close-knit block...We watch out for each other.”
Barham almost feels like a little rural community in the middle of the city. The Malones have seen pheasants, rabbits, foxes - even a deer once. On a summer day you’ll hear song birds and find wild pink sweet peas and day lilies growing on a hill that was once a pile of illegally dumped concrete. Mother Nature has covered and reclaimed it with vegetation.
Sean and Alicia love the peace and quiet of their block. ”We’re not going anywhere,” Alicia says with pride.
