The "Welcome to My Garden" Tour

Jon Caulkett passes along a story from the Battle Creek Enquirer about the Marshall Area Garden Club's 15th annual "Welcome To My Garden Tour," showcasing some of the community's private and public gardens. On this year’s tour is the Zaharion House, formerly owned by the Cronin family, the house that is the inspiration for Bellairs’s The House with a Clock in its Walls. The tour is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 9 and 10. For more information visit the Marshall Chamber of Commerce.

While trimming back some overgrown plants at 407 N. Madison St., Tom Zaharion found a stepping block with the name J. Cronin Jr. etched into it. And then he found a post to tie up horses near it.

"I believe it was for the ladies to use to step into the carriage," the self-employed builder-renovator said.

And among the trees, he noticed a concrete path that led nowhere.

"I always wondered about that until we had a woman who was in her 90s over," Tom Zaharion said. "She was a friend of the Cronin sisters and spent much of her time at the house. She said the path used to lead to an outhouse. I plan to have one reconstructed for that spot."

Before the Zaharions — who are only the second family to own the home — moved in, the house was vacant after owner Virginia Cronin, age 97, passed away in 2002. Her sister, Elizabeth, died in 1989.