something I dont get...

[twinkle]

I'm guessing that, because Grandpa and Grandma built the house, it was because they were newly married and Grandpa wanted a house for themselves where he could start the lumber mill business. It was his land of course. Grandma states to Mary-Ellen in the episode 'The Awakening' in series 2 that she helped clear the land the house stands on 'right alongside my husband'. I guess the pioneers lived closer to nature where they could shoot and trap their food but into the 20th century it was more practical to be closer to where they buy and sell.