After years of creating memories in our 1800s Amish-built farmhouse, my wife Claudine and I have made the bittersweet decision to pass this extraordinary property on to its next stewards. And we want to tell you why this isn’t just another house listing.
More Than Just Four Walls
When we say “they don’t make them like they used to,” we’re talking about THIS. Our farmhouse at 6328 Sycamore Road in Trenton, Ohio, was hand-built by Amish and Mennonite craftsmen before the Civil War. Walk across those authentic hardwood floors, and you’re walking on the same boards that generations of families have called home.
But here’s what makes us truly excited: this isn’t a museum piece you’re afraid to touch. We’ve thoughtfully updated all the critical systems—new HVAC in 2022, modern water heater, maintenance-free well pump, and serious electrical service (200 amp to the house, 100 amp to the barn). You get to enjoy the romance of history with the reliability of modern living.
What 3-15.5 Acres of Freedom Actually Feels Like
Living here has taught us something: acreage isn’t just about square footage—it’s about possibilities.
Picture this: you’re sipping coffee on your porch, watching the sunrise paint the sky over YOUR pastures. Your kids (or grandkids) are running free across open fields. There’s no neighbor peering over a fence. Just mature trees, peaceful breezes, and a 42′ × 48′ historic barn that’s practically begging you to start that workshop, art studio, or whatever dream project you’ve been putting off.
And here’s where it gets interesting: we’re offering this property in flexible packages. Want just the 3-acre homestead with the house and barn? That’s $429,900. Want to add 5 acres with a pole barn and shooting range? Bundle it. Dreaming of a full 15.5-acre estate? We can make that happen too—with owner financing options on the additional land.
The Features That Made Us Fall in Love
The House: 2,500+ square feet with refreshed hardwood floors throughout. Currently configured as 3 bedrooms (though it can go back to 4), with architectural details you simply cannot find in modern construction. Every room tells a story.
The Outbuildings: That massive 2-story barn? Endless possibilities. The original smoke house? Still standing proud. And yes, we even have an above-ground pool nestled into the foundation of what was once the summer kitchen—history meets backyard fun.
The Land: Three acres of private, peaceful country living on a quiet road where you can actually hear yourself think. Epic sunrises. Epic sunsets. Two acres of invisible fence already installed for your furry friends. And the option to expand to over 15 acres if you want even more room to roam.
The Location: Just minutes from Trenton amenities, but you’d never know it. You get country privacy with city convenience.
Why We’re Selling Directly to You
As a For Sale By Owner property, you’re dealing directly with us—the people who know every creaky floorboard, every sunset view, every quirk and feature of this place. No middleman markup. No corporate real estate games. Just honest conversation about a property we genuinely love.
We’re offering up to 1% commission to buyer’s agents and covering standard closing costs. And for the additional acreage? Owner financing is on the table. We want to work with you to make this happen.
This Isn’t For Everyone (And That’s Okay)
Let’s be real: if you’re looking for a cookie-cutter suburban development with an HOA telling you what color to paint your mailbox, this isn’t your property.
But if you’ve been dreaming of:
A home with actual CHARACTER and history
Space for horses, gardens, or just breathing room
A place where your kids can explore nature instead of scrolling screens
A workshop/barn that could house any hobby or business venture
An investment in land that they’re truly not making any more of
A peaceful retreat that still keeps you connected to modern amenities
…then you need to see this place.
No Pressure, Just an Invitation
We’ve built a comprehensive microsite where you can explore every detail—full photo gallery, property diagrams, all the specs, and parcel options. Take your time. Show your spouse. Dream a little.
Browse the photos. Check out the parcel options. Read every detail. And if something stirs in you—that “what if” feeling—reach out. We’d love to show you around and help you envision your life here.
The Bottom Line
Historic craftsmanship. Modern systems. Flexible acreage options. No city taxes. Owner financing available. Direct seller negotiations.
This is more than a transaction for us—it’s finding the right family to love this place like we have.
On the heals of our epic 16 day trip to Italy I felt it prudent to review the places we stayed and ate. There was a lot that was epic, there was also a lot about this trip that was sub-optimal.
Air Travel : Air Canada Grade: C-
We chose to travel via Air Canada. I’m usually Delta loyal, but we had a ton of Chase Sapphire travel points. To get maximum value, we chose Air Canada. I didn’t make this choice lightly. I called a few Canadian friends and they assured me Air Canada, while generally shitty domestically was pretty good Internationally. They were also pretty direct flights. Well, one hoppers for us from Cincinnati, we weren’t getting into Italy direct no matter who we flew. We booked our outbound from Cincinnati -> Toronto -> Venice. Our return flight from Naples -> Montreal -> Cincinnati. We also went business class to get lie flat seats for the long haul portions and club access for the longer layovers.
All was well until 2 weeks before the trip Air Canada’s flight attendants went on strike, putting a trip that we’d spent 9 mont planning in jeopardy. Air Canada wasn’t helpful, in the least and while everything ultimately worked out, it was very dicey and stressful. In fact I had to buy fully refundable Delta tickets as a backup plan. Fortunately I didn’t need them.
On the way out, we initially had a 2 hour layover in Toronto. Our outbound flight was a little late. We landed then only had 30 minutes to make the next gate. The Toronto airport is HUGE. We hustled to the gate and got there with 10 mins to spare. But there was no plane. It took then an hour to get the plan (which spent the night there), to the gate. And that airport gate area was unbelievably crowded so we stood around for well over an hour, there was not enough seating.
The long haul flight was fine. ~7.5 hours to Venice, over night. The plane was 25 years old and the lie flat seating was dated and uncomfortable. The mechanics of the seat itself barely worked. I will give Air Canada an A++ for the food, it was fantastic.
On the return flight we had a newer plane (10 years old). with the same pods. Well used, and barely functional. Inflight entertainment and screen was fine, but the food on the return flight was not great. It sounds odd to be complaining about airplane food, but in business class, spending nearly $8k on tickets, you do expect better. The service by the flight attendants on both long haul flights was fantastic.
We had a 4 hour layover in Montreal. We went straight to the club above gate 73. What a joke of a club. Dirty, and the worker bees literally gave zero F*’s. I waited nearly 20 minutes for them to bring clean glasses to the limited buffet. Food was terrible, but the beer, once I got a glass was OK.
It is highly unlikely that I will ever fly Air Canada again.
Venice:
Rental Car: Hertz Grade: B-
We rented a car from Hertz, pickup could not have been easier. Car was fairly new (Audi A3), with 5k Kilometers. But I experenced a low oil light and had to stop, check the oil and buy two quarts. Returning it was a PITA. Signage wasn’t clear on where to park, they took forever to check the vehicle back in, but they did give me a credit for the oil I put in even though I couldn’t find the reciept.
We wanted a Castle like experience, that wasn’t part of the plan for the 14 days we’re spending with our friends so we opted to graft it on to the beginning of the trip.
B+ for value, D for bed, and room accomidations. We booked a Jr. Suite, which wasn’t all that large, but large enough. The furniture in the castle was all terrible. The bed was terrible and the sofa in the living room area was unsittable. It’s advertised as “period furniture”. They need to upgrade the furniture. It’s a castle so there is no lift and our room was a the top of 3 flights of stairs. It is what it is. The room itself was fine, and the grounds were fantastic. Breakfast was included in our package and it was a typical European breakfast but very well done. We also had a fantastic wine tasting event at this hotel/castle as it’s also a functioning winery.
If they upgraded the furniture, I’d stay here again.
If you you’ve read posts here before you know we love to travel and more importantly love to scuba dive. This year we did something a little different. This year we celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary with a 16 day trip to Italy. We share our aniversary date with some friends, and they too were crossing a mile stone (20 years), so we put a trip together.
If you know me, I have a bit of a reputation for ‘unfiltered feedback’. Italy is one of those dream vacation destinations. There’s so much amazing stuff in one little country. Mountains to the north, fantastic mountain towns on the sea in the south. And oh, so much history. It’s impossible to see it all in 16 days. We also like to avoid crowds and ‘touristy’ places when ever possible. So there’s no Rome in this trip, no downtown Florence, or Naples outside of transiting through it., though we did hit Venice. Our friends have been Italy a few times so while leaned on their prior expertise as we coordinated in planning. It was also their trip too so there were locations they absolutely wanted to hit. I’m going to break this down into two posts. This one that’s commentary about the trip, do’s and don’ts if you’re going to Italy to visit any of the places we visited, and a post that reviews the places we stayed and some restaraunts.
We learned a lot on this trip. Prior to it, I had many conversations with co-workers, friends, and even some family that had visited Italy. We were amped up and geared up for fantastic sights, and food. “Oh the food”, we were told, every meal is fantastic, you can’t go wrong in Italy. The food is so fresh, so simple, made simple ingredients, and is otherworldly. Well… that’s not always the case.
We had a grand plan; start in the north east, in Venice, a few days there, then head west to Stresa, on Lago Maggiore. Spend a few days there, then head south toward the Amalfi coast. We chose a farm resort stay south of Florence, north of Chianti (Salvadonica, specifcally). We planned high end stays in Venice, a high end hotel in Stressa. A medium to upper end stay at Salvadonica. Lastly we chose a VRBO experience in Massa Lubrense, south of Sorento. It also wasn’t a ‘budget stay’, and we chose this location for access to things in and around the Amalfi coast we wanted to see and experience.
In Dec 2024/Jan 2025 we did something we thought we’d probably never do. We moved.
After 25 years of living out in the country we traded land for interior space. Seems crazy right? Leaving 16 acres of country-living behind us. I don’t know how many people have looked at my cross-eyed and said “You did what? Why would you do that? Why would you leave this?”. Well, I’ll tell you why.
We have lived out in the country for 25 years. But like the previous owners that also lived there for 25 years. Times and seasons changed.
Our farm home out in the country was a fantastic place to raise our 5 kids. I wouldn’t change that for anything. The oldest moved there with us when he was 9, the youngest moved out with us when he was 17. The previous owners, the Daniels, also raised 5 kids there.
We’ve had plenty of fun; built a barn, was fortunate enough to have our horses on our property vs boarding. Hosted many a fall festival, 4th of July, and Hen fests, graduation and birthday parties (mostly outside). We’ve had plenty of animals over the years, built a shooting range, ridden dirtbikes, and overall lived some of our best life there.
Oh, and we did all of that with 1 and a half baths, go figure.
While we’ve loved our old farm house who’d bones date back to before 1857, and while we’ve updated plenty of it over the years, it was time for something newer. The house, for a farm house, wan’t really small, almost 3,000 square feet. It was still a farm house, full of chopped up rooms. There was no great room, and no finished basement. All significant entertainment was outside, which if fine 8 months out of the year. As our family has grown, most of our kids have significant others. We have grand children, 5, at the time I’m writing this. Things were starting to get a little tight. Entertaining outside was always easy, but inside was starting to be difficult.
So where we are back in a neighborhood, one with an HOA no less. If you know us, you know an HOA was one of the primary drivers for us moving to the country, but here we are.
I wish my mom could have seen it, I think she’d approve.
We traded massive outside space for massive inside space, yet still kept the ability to entertain outside as well. With a bigger better inground (over our redneck inground/above ground), as well as a hottub to boot. A fantastic basement with pool table and shuffleboard, as well as a bar area and media room. The kids and especially the grandkids all approve.
It took us a long time to find it. Literally 3 years. In fact our closing date was litterally 3 years to the date we met our agent when we looked at our first home. When it’s right, it’s right.
So the days of tinering with old tractors, having big gardens, ripping up the yard with dirtbikes, fireworks, and potato launchers are behind us. Sadly, I no longer have my own private shooting range.
But the future looks bright, the home is fantastic, and we have great neighbors, and a 2 mile walking trail literally right outside our front door.
We were due for our annual dive trip and have had Turks and Caicos on our bucket list for a while. Claudine found a sale on the Turks and Caicos Explorer II boat for this particular week, so we jumped on it. We’ve sailed with the Explorer Adventures company before and had a fabulous time. While the previous boat (Carribean Explorer) was older, we were told then that the one in the Turks was fantastic. Our experience on Aggressor in Belize was great but not awesome. The thing is, we really like liveaboards. But we love liveaboards that aren’t full, and this one was perfect. The boat itself can house 20 guests, but there were only 7 of us—Alex, Claudine, and I. Simon, Stan, who were both singles, and Curtis and Katie.
We needed to dive, and there’s no better way than a liveaboard. Wake up, roll out of bed, have breakfast, dive, snack, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, dinner, night dive, sleep, repeat. That’s literally the agenda every single day from Sunday to Thursday.
Friday, weather permitting, you get to squeeze in two dives (a dawn dive), then breakfast followed by the last dive. Diving stops about 10 am so that everyone can get in enough surface interval before flying home on Saturday.
While I participated in all 27 dives, you don’t have too. If you need a nap, take a nap and skip a dive. Don’t want to night dive? Then don’t. Stay up top and enjoy a beverage or 2.
We had a fabulous crew: Captain JF Jo, Tristan, Allison (Purser and Dive Masters) Miguel – Fabulous Chef Mark – Engineer Vardo – Night Watch and diver in training
Our trip also covered Halloween, and we partied a bit. But don’t let that fool you. Jo always had an outfit that somehow highlighted or emphasized the critters we were looking for. She brought a lot of energy and fun to the entire trip.
In addition to the Halloween gig, we also had Tu-Tu Tuesday and Pirate Wednesday, and yes, we dove in those outfits, but there are no photos of me in a Tu-Tu.
There are 3 things that can make or break a liveaboard; The boat itself, the crew, and of course the weather.
Our weather was almost perfect. Calm seas for the most part. We had periods of rain, and it was a bit windy and choppy on the last day. The boat itself is larger than most and has stabilizers that take out some of the pitching. We’re fortunate, none of us get sea sick, and honestly we like a little more boat roll than the Explorer II provided. Sleeping on a boat is the best sleep there is in my book and we actually look forward to the motion of the ocean.
Even with the stabilizers, which everyone else wants more than we do, the boat itself is fantastic.
The boat is a little bit older, but it’s extremely well maintained.
The Explorer II was initially a transport delivery vessel for gulf oil rigs, but was purchased by the Explorer Ventures company and rebuilt from the ground up as a liveaboard. It is extremely well thought out. The rooms are large enough, and each has an ensuite bathroom and shower, as well as its own thermostat and air conditioning. By contrast, the Carribean Explorer, while it had air conditioning all you could really control was the vent, no thermostat.
The rooms were also larger, probably 20% larger than the Carribean explorer and larger with more accommodating bathrooms than the Belize Aggressor. There was never a shortage of hot water, but the vacuum flush took some getting used to. The entire system is one, and you might push the button to flush and your request would go in the queue. So it didn’t always flush immediately. Nothing wrong with it, just took some getting used to.
The dive deck is spacious and easy to get around on. Plenty of table space for cameras, and a huge soak tank for equipment. There were also two dunk tanks on either side of the boat filled with simple green solution to quickly rinse your gear. Our first two liveaboards were during Covid times and there weren’t any ‘community’ dunk or soak tanks on any of the boats so that made things a bit interesting at times.
To get in the water you have two options:
Off the side which is a reasonable drop to the water as the dive deck is on an upper level. Not ideal if you’re getting in with a camera. But fear not, just swim to the dive platform and they’ll hand it to you.
Your other option is to suit up (without fins) and exit from the rear dive platform. It’s 5 or 6 steps down, but the rear deck is literally 5 inches above the water. It’s a little more cumbersome to make that trek. The Belize Aggressor is similar, however they stored your fins on that lower deck and put them on you which was helpful.
Exiting is easy via two large spacious ladders. There are also two hang lines for safety stops if you need them. And you often needed them as this boat ‘sailed’ a lot while on the mooring. Not just the normal swing you’d expect but it would sail across the mooring, turn around and sort of drift in a figure 8. They cover this in the dive briefings and are very clear about you targeting the front of the boat or you’ll miss it if she swings. Given the size of the boat this round trip could take 10-15 minutes which can be initially concerning as you navigate back to where the boat should be and it’s not there. Fear not, just be patient and wait and she’ll come back to you. We only had one dive where the boat moved opposite of where we entered and stayed there. Given the length of the boat, mooring line, etc, it could be 80 yards from where you expected it to be.
The Salon area is air conditioned and dry which is significantly better than the Carribean Explorer. It’s also the gateway to the rooms on the main and lower decks. Being a dry area means you need to be ‘dry’ before you can come in. We had the two VIP rooms on the top of the boat, which meant we could enter the upper hallway and get into our room while being a little wetter than others which was helpful.
In terms of room size though, they aren’t really that much bigger. The other advantages include not being underneath or across the hall from the kitchen. There also isn’t any movable furniture in the deck above so for all intents it was quiet up there.
Let’s just say, of the 3 boats we’ve been on, this one was my favorite. Super comfortable all the way around.
As for the staff… Simply amazing.
While I think overall, it’s hard to get a bad crew, in all our liveaboard adventures the crew has been great. If I had to score them on a scale from 1-10; Caribbean Explorer Crew was a clear 10. They made that trip amazing, and they had a lot to overcome from a weather/Covid stand point. The crew on the Belize Aggressor was more like an 8. They didn’t do anything wrong, they just weren’t as personable, but were clearly accommodating. They also had a full boat to deal with which means you get less time with the crew. On this trip it was once again a small boat, so we got to know the crew better than you will on your average trip. On a 10 scale this crew was certainly a 10.
The standouts included all three dive masters. Jo who’s been doing this for 20 plus years was outstanding! Extremely skilled and extremely knowledgeable. She went above and beyond to not only entertain but enlighten us.
While every dive includes a briefing about where you’re about to dive and what you might see. Jo was extremely animated and had specific ‘fun’ signs for the different types of wild life she’d see to point out on every dive she led. Tristan was a little greener, but a very skilled diver. He’s still learning what’s available on each dive or reef but was outstanding at finding the big stuff. Allison who was technically our purser was in the water about half the time and always willing to help. She buddied up with our son which permitted Claudine and I to maximize our bottom time often eclipsing an hour which was fantastic.
The Chef… Miguel, you are the man. Our son has some specific dietary needs. We contacted Explorer Ventures up front, confirming they could accommodate. They were familiar and assured us there would be plenty of food for him, but advised we should bring plenty of snacks just in case. It turned out none of that was needed. Miguel made sure there was something for Alex, and when a meal didn’t fit his needs, he proactively had options for him. We were thrilled. All of the meals were outstanding.
Kudos to the Captain too, who did the grilling for the steaks and burgers!
Captain JF was certainly fun to hang around with. He wasn’t super visible as he was struggling with a cold and didn’t want to pass it on to any of us. He still made sure to give us daily weather and trip updates. In fact, due to requests of passengers who’d been on the boat before we hit some of the rarer spots and headed to French Cay first to make sure we got there.
Mark was around but since nothing broke we didn’t see him much, and we only bumped into Vardo in the evenings or early mornings, and he was very helpful. He’s also a new diver and did dive with us several times.
As for the diving itself: The Turks and Caicos Area is amazing. Very similar to Grand Cayman in my mind. Beautiful reefs, but with greater chances of seeing larger wild life. We literally had sharks on every dive, both caribbean reef sharks and nurse sharks. We also had multiple large turtle encounters and an eagle ray (both larger than I’ve experienced in Cayman) and dolphins!
Wonderfully warm water, I dove in shorts and/or a skin, but no wetsuit was needed from our perspective though some did dive in 2/3mm suits. Completely optional.
Great visibility, often around 100 feet. No clouds of doom, or sediment issues.
For the most part current was non-existent. Often a little surge but rarely did we encounter any significant current. We did do a number of live drops expected to be drift dives but did very little ‘drifting’. I realize it’s not always like this but that was the week we were given and it was splendid.
Sharks on every dive.
The night dives were equally awesome. Because I have the extremely bright lights on my camera rig we somewhat spawned a shark frenzy on the first night. Sadly though, I have no footage of that so you’ll have to take my word for it. That’s the one downside to the sealife smart phone enclosure. If the app crashes during a dive you’re hosed and I was hosed.
The downside to Turk’s night diving is the Black Jacks were a pain. Very aggressive and all over the place. They also have blood worms that are attracted to the heat put out by the lights and every 30 seconds or so you need to kill your light and move away. Other than that, I enjoyed every dive.
I can’t wait to go back, and I’d revisit this live aboard again without hesitation. 5-Stars all the way around.
All media captured on iPhone 13 Pro Max in and out of the Sealife Sport Diver underwater housing. This dive housing is amazing, and super easy to use once set up. Setup is a bit of a pain though. When I used a regular iPhone 12-Pro (non Max size) I could leave it in a slim case. The Pro-Max has to be removed. Setup on a wet dive boat can be challenging as everything must be DRY. I had multiple set-up failures where it would fail the leak test. I cleaned and lubed the O-Ring multiple times. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not terrible but you do need to plan well ahead of the dive. You need a good 15 minutes in case something goes wrong and you have to repeat the process.
The app is a little dated and can use a face lift. The cameras in the iPhone are simply amazing, the biggest issue can be the auto focus and getting it to focus on exactly what you want. While you can do ‘manual focus’ it’s not intuitive and requires a lot of practice ahead of time. I did find that the 13-Pro-Max in triple camera mode to be the best but it also struggled to focus if there was any back scatter or debris in the water which can sometimes be disappointing because you don’t realize things are out of focus until well after the fact.
