Holton’s Hollowed Queen

01/10/2026

Friends of Isabelle—we need your help!

As we continue this wild journey of bringing our Hollowed Queen back to her Victorian glory, we’ve reached a point where we need to bring in a professional. We’re looking for an architect—someone who understands historic homes, appreciates their quirks and character, and won’t flinch at a 148-year-old lady with stories to tell.

Here’s the thing: we don’t just want to restore Isabelle—we want to bring her gracefully into modern times. Modern comforts, modern functionality, but invisible. Hidden. Woven seamlessly into her bones so that when you step inside, you still feel like you’ve stepped back in time. We want an architect who understands how to honor the spirit of her era while quietly giving her everything she needs to thrive for another 148 years.

We’d love to find a Kansas architect from this area—someone who knows these old homes and the stories they carry. If you’ve worked with someone you loved, or know an architect who specializes in blending historic preservation with thoughtful modern updates, please drop their name in the comments!

Titus Leonidas, future master of Isabelle’s halls, has already commissioned his portrait in anticipation. He will be conducting all architect interviews, and his standards are exacting. 🥹😂

Thank you for being part of this adventure with us!❤️

01/01/2026

As we bid farewell to 2025 and step into the promise of 2026, we want to send our warmest wishes your way!

May this new year bring you belly-aching laughter that echoes through your days, abundance in all the forms that matter most to you, and moments of pure joy that take your breath away.

May you find magic in the unexpected, strength in the challenges, and beauty in the everyday. Here’s to a year filled with love, prosperity, adventure, and all the wonderful surprises life has to offer.

Thank you for being part of our journey. We’re grateful for each of you and can’t wait to see what we’ll create together in 2026!

With love and endless possibilities,Marshal & Theresa, from Isabelle Holton’s Hollowed Queen

12/26/2025

From our hearts to yours, Holton —

We've been so busy eating turkey and pies and all the delicious things that come with the holidays that we were remiss in sending this out!

But we couldn't let another day pass without reaching out to wish you the merriest of Christmases and the happiest solstice! We hope your day yesterday was absolutely wonderful, filled with warmth, laughter, and all the joy the season brings. ❤️🎁🎄

As we celebrate the return of the light after the solstice and embrace the holiday spirit, we're sending you all our love and best wishes. May this season wrap you in comfort and joy, and may the new year ahead bring you abundance, health, and happiness.

With all our love and warmest wishes,
Isabelle, Holton's Hollowed Queen, Marshall, Theresa, and the entire family

P.S. - Better late than never, right? 😊

12/07/2025

From Marshall and I, and from Isabelle, Holton’s Hollowed Queen — a moment of remembrance. 🇺🇸

84 years ago today, December 7, 1941, our nation was forever changed. On that quiet Sunday morning — while service members were still sleeping, eating breakfast, or preparing for church — the attack on Pearl Harbor began. 2,403 Americans lost their lives at Pearl Harbor — sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends. A date which will live in infamy, and in our hearts.

We honor those who perished that day. We honor the Navy Hospital Corpsmen and nurses who rushed into the flames and chaos to save who they could. And we honor the countless brave souls who answered the call in the years that followed — who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we might live in freedom.

Isabelle was standing then, already sheltering families within these walls. She watched as Holton’s young men and women left for distant shores, as Gold Star banners appeared in windows, as a small Kansas town — like so many others — sent its best and prayed for their return.

Some came home.

Some did not.

All are remembered.

To the veterans, to the families who carry their memory, to the Greatest Generation who showed us what courage and sacrifice truly mean — we honor you today and every day.

May we never forget.
With gratitude and remembrance,
Marshall and Theresa
🇺🇸🕊️

11/27/2025

From our family and from Isabelle, Holton's Hollowed Queen — Happy Thanksgiving 🍂🏚️

As we gather around our tables today, Marshall and I find ourselves overwhelmed with gratitude for this beautiful community that has wrapped its arms around us and our grand old lady.

When we first saw Isabelle — stripped to her bones, forgotten, waiting — we didn't just see a house. We saw possibility. We saw a piece of Holton's soul that deserved to rise again. What we didn't expect was how many of you would join us on this journey.

To the incredible young men from Holton High — Cody, Kannon, and Shawn — who cleared out decades of debris in the hottest months of summer without a single complaint, who treated every hidden treasure with the care of archaeologists, who showed up every single time and proved that the future is in good hands. You are a pride to your families and this entire community. Thank you.

To every neighbor who stopped by with encouragement, every follower who cheers us on through our highs and dusty lows, and to a town that understands why places like Isabelle matter. Thank you.

Today we're thankful for second chances — for blended families finding their way back together, for old houses given new life, for small towns that still believe in pulling together with a shovel and a hammer. We’re thankful for our family and friends, near and far, who fill our lives with love and laughter.

And to those of you who are missing someone at your table today — whether they're far away or have journeyed beyond — we hold space for that tender ache. The empty chair is felt. The love remains. May your memories bring you comfort, and may you feel their presence in the quiet moments between the laughter.

From Isabelle's heart to yours — where she has sheltered so many souls over 140+ years, where generations of stories still whisper through her rooms, where community gathers and dreams take shape — we wish you a Thanksgiving filled with warmth, connection, blessings, and hope.

With love and gratitude,
Marshall & Theresa
🦃🍁✨

10/28/2025

Update on our porch restoration project! 🏡

Great news - we’ve got the porch posts back up! They still need some filling and finishing touches, but we’re making real progress.

The adventure part: we discovered one post was missing, so we embarked on a 4-hour round trip out to Bearly Making It Antiques in Marion, Kansas on Saturday, hoping to find a replacement that would come close to matching. We brought one of our original posts along for comparison, and guess what—we struck gold! 🎯

Huge shout out to Ogdee at Bearly Makin' It Antiques—what a treasure trove that place is! We will definitely be back!

I may have also convinced Marshall to let me buy two awesome cement garden benches, a carved marble doorknob set (even though I have no idea what door it will eventually go on), and a couple of gorgeous Eastlake style corbels that I’m hoping to use on the future north porch one day. 😅

The two posts will be going up soon, and I’m so relieved to report that our porch is now much more stable than it was with those leaning support posts that Bellew's Handyman Service so kindly helped us install earlier this year (seriously, thank you to them for keeping us safe!).

We still have so many more trim pieces, corbels, balusters, and gingerbread that need to go back on or be recreated, but we’re making progress one piece at a time!

Now we can finally give Trevor Ray Eastland’s crew the green light to get back up there and finish the sheathing on the tower. One step closer to having our girl back to her former glory!

10/19/2025

🥂 **WHEN CHAMPAGNE HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN!** 🥂

Can we talk about the most EPIC champagne sabering moment at Isabelle’s first dinner?

Marshall was all set to demonstrate the dramatic art of sabering champagne for Tina and Mark—because champagne at Isabelle requires such a fancy technique. 🤣🥹 And yes, Marshall brought out his actual cavalry saber for this because why not? Very Napoleonic. Very triumphant. L’Empereur would surely approve! ⚔️

So Marshall makes his first attempt and… nothing. The bottle wasn’t cooperating. No problem! We had a backup bottle (because we’re professionals like that 😂). Marshall sets up for the second bottle, positions the saber, builds the suspense, and just as he’s making his move…

**POP!**

The FIRST bottle - the one that refused to cooperate - just sabered ITSELF! The cork flew off on its own like “Oh NOW you want champagne? Fine, here you go!” 🍾💨

Perfect comedic timing. The champagne clearly had a sense of humor and wasn’t about to be upstaged by bottle number two!

Tina and Mark loved it, and honestly, it set the tone for the entire evening - a perfect blend of elegance and unpredictability, just like Isabelle herself. Sometimes the best moments are the ones you can’t plan!

Who knew champagne could be such a petty diva? 😂🥂✨

*Never a dull moment at Isabelle!*

10/19/2025

✨ **ISABELLE’S FIRST DINNER - A MAGICAL EVENING!** ✨

We are still floating from the most incredible night! Our wonderful new friends Tina Marie Carson and Mark won the backstage tour and candlelit filet mignon dinner for two that we donated as a silent auction item to support the Holton Hospital Foundation’s Gala—and it was officially our FIRST dinner ever served within Isabelle’s walls! 🕯️

What an honor to share this historic moment with such amazing people. The evening began with Marshall dramatically sabering the champagne (because why not?! 🥂), then he left me to give Tina and Mark a full behind-the-scenes tour of our Victorian queen while he rushed back to our other house to finish cooking the steaks - because here’s the thing: Isabelle has NO electricity, NO plumbing, NO kitchen! Pulling off a candlelit dinner in a house mid-restoration was quite the feat!

We started with a gorgeous charcuterie board featuring gourmet cheeses, artisanal meats, and fresh fruit, followed by a fresh garden salad with Marshall’s homemade vinaigrette. Then came the main event - Marshall’s perfectly cooked filet mignon with gourmet gold, red, and purple garlic butter potatoes, finished with a decadent Bavarian strudel for dessert. Every dish, every candle, every piece of crystal - all transported from our current house to Isabelle to create this magical evening.

We couldn’t have pulled this off without our amazing friend Keli and our son Gabriel, who helped transport everything and stage this entire candlelit experience. Turns out creating Victorian ambiance in a house with zero amenities requires a small army, a sense of humor, and possibly a touch of insanity! Nothing says “casual dinner party” quite like hauling crystal, flatware, candles, tablecloths, china, and hot food across town! 😂

But here’s the thing - the menu and the logistics were wonderful, but what made the night truly magical was the company. We ended up talking and laughing by candlelight for hours, sharing stories and “spirits” late into the evening (decidedly NOT the 70-year-old bourbon we found in the attic - haha!). Tina and Mark aren’t just auction winners - they’re genuine friends now, and we feel so blessed to have shared Isabelle’s first dinner with them.

Thank you both for making this milestone so special! And huge gratitude to everyone who supported the Holton Hospital Foundation’s gala. This is exactly what Isabelle is meant for - bringing people together and creating unforgettable memories. 💜

*Candles, Romance and Magic* - Isabelle never disappoints! ✨

10/16/2025

ISABELLE’S WELCOME BACK GIFT: A 70-YEAR-OLD SECRET! 🏚️🥃🕯️

Okay, friends… we need to confess something. We haven’t been posting much this summer, and you deserve an explanation. It got HOT. Like, really hot. And while we never stopped working on Isabelle (especially inside demo work with the incredible help of our Holton High School young gentlemen—**Cody Rodriguez, Kannon Seganhagen, and Shawn Ireland**—who have been absolute rockstars!), we definitely became “fair weather” social media managers.

But Isabelle, patient queen that she is, clearly saved the perfect discovery to welcome us back to regular posting. And what a discovery it is!

Hidden beneath her attic floorboards for 70-80 years, we found someone’s secret stash: a vintage Red Brook Straight Bourbon Whiskey bottle from the 1940s-50s (with a couple swigs already enjoyed!), still in its original paper bag, paired with an emergency red candle.

WHAT WE FOUND:

This Red Brook bourbon tells a fascinating story on its label:

- Distilled in Pennsylvania during the post-WWII era
- Bottled by The Sherbrook Distributing Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 20 months old, 90 proof
- Labeled as having “superior flavor and bouquet… the result of expert distilling and aging in white oak casks”

But here’s what makes it special—this wasn’t fancy bourbon. This was working-class whiskey, what regular folks drank after a hard day’s work. Honest, affordable, unpretentious. Just like Isabelle herself.

THE REAL MYSTERY:

Someone took a couple swigs from this bottle, carefully put it back in the paper bag, tucked it alongside an emergency red candle, and hid it all beneath the attic floorboards. Why?

Picture this: It’s the 1940s or 50s. Maybe it’s a cold winter day and someone’s working up in the attic doing repairs. They take a fortifying nip or two to warm up, then carefully stash the bottle away for next time. The red candle sits ready for power outages or emergency light.

This was the mindset of people who’d lived through the Depression and World War II—always be prepared. Keep essentials hidden away for hard times. A little bourbon for medicinal purposes (or morale!), a candle for when the lights go out.

Those missing swigs make this discovery so beautifully human. This wasn’t just stored and forgotten—someone USED it, valued it enough to save the rest, and tucked it away thinking “I’ll need this again someday.”

WHY WE LOVE THIS:

This bottle represents the Pennsylvania-to-Ohio whiskey trade route of mid-century America. It’s a tangible piece of the regional commerce and daily life of that era. The fact that it survived seven decades with its label intact and most of the liquid still inside feels like a small miracle.

And that someone took those couple swigs? We can almost see them—maybe sitting on a rafter, catching their breath from the work, taking a moment with a drink before carefully putting everything back “for next time.” That next time never came… until now, when we found their secret stash exactly as they left it.

ISABELLE’S STORY:

Every layer we peel back in this grand old lady reveals more stories. From surviving the 1913 fire, to the Purvis family who rebuilt her, to the countless people who’ve called her home—Isabelle holds these memories in her walls, her floors, her very bones. This little cache of bourbon and candle is just one more chapter, one more person’s life intersecting with hers.

We’re not just restoring a house. We’re stewards of living history, connected to everyone who came before us. And sometimes, that connection is as simple and profound as finding someone’s emergency bourbon stash from 70 years ago.

YOUR TURN: Why do you think they took a couple swigs and then hid it away with that red candle? Construction worker’s secret stash? Emergency kit? Hidden treasure? Drop your theories below! 👇

HUGE THANK YOU to everyone following along on this journey. Your enthusiasm keeps us going! A special shout-out to our amazing Holton High School heroes—**Cody Rodriguez, Kannon Seganhagen, and Shawn Ireland**—whose hard work on demo this summer has been invaluable even when it was sweltering hot inside. You guys are the real MVPs!

We promise to be better about posting updates. Isabelle clearly knows how to get our attention when we slack off. Nothing says “get back to social media” quite like 70-year-old bourbon! 😄

09/17/2025

🏛️✨ We apologize for our summer silence - when the heat hit, we retreated to cooler corners… elsewhere! 😎😂 But we're back with exciting news: we've donated an unforgettable experience to Holton Hospital's 2025 Foundation Gala: Denim & Diamonds!

"Holton's Hollowed Queen" - An Evening with Isabelle awaits one lucky bidder! You'll step into history as our personal guests, experiencing Victorian elegance in our beloved historic home.

This exclusive evening includes:
🕯️ An intimate candlelit dinner for two ($250 value, but the memories? Priceless)

🥩 Marshall's gourmet menu: filet mignon, fresh garden salad, garlic parsley potatoes, seasonal dessert, and the theatrical flourish of sabered champagne.

🏡 Dine alfresco on one of Isabelle's porches (weather permitting) or in the romantic ambiance of her front parlor, where candlelight reveals authentic Victorian charm.

📚 An exclusive behind-the-scenes restoration tour, complete with the fascinating history and stories I've uncovered in my research.

This isn't just dinner - it's a journey through time where Victorian craftsmanship and romance come alive in their most authentic form. You'll discover how we're lovingly bringing this grand dame back to life, one careful detail at a time.

We're thrilled to support Holton Hospital while sharing our passion for preserving history! 💎

Bid here: https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/112659/auctions/187397/auction_items/6372641

Auction item 'Holton's Hollowed Queen' hosted online at 32auctions.

07/17/2025

🌟 What a dazzling day at Isabelle, Holton’s Hollowed Queen! 👑 We claimed our perch on the north porch, hearts racing to take in the 4H parade, and let me tell you—Holton brought its magic! THIS is why we chose to make Holton our home! ❤️ Our lawn was a joyful mosaic of neighbors, friends, and families, all nestled in their chairs, swapping stories, laughing, and cheering as the parade strutted by.

Shout out to the Eastlands, Heros who helped restore Isabelle’s roof! And Holton High School’s football team’s float with Cody Rodriguez (we saw you wearing that crown! 👑 ), Shawn Ireland, and Kannon Seganhagen—the young gentleman that are helping restore Isabelle. They are not just hometown football heroes—they are the discoverers of Victorian treasures! They are also our restoration heroes!

The floats & candy flung! (Some water balloons too! 😱🤣). The Tractors gleamed, Holton’s 4H kids waved like they were born for the spotlight, pouring every ounce of pride into their show-stopping displays. To Our first responders—Holton Fire Department Holton, KS, Jackson County Sheriff's Office Kansas, and our vets—thank you for your service! AND the candy!! 😂
Last but not least—the horses—majestic as all get-out, prancing with such grace!

The air pulsed with our small town’s pride, candy soared like confetti, and smiles lit up every corner of the street.

My eyes got misty when people stood and placed their hands over their hearts as the color guard presented the colors—old glory never looked so good! We couldn’t stop beaming, so proud to be part of a community that shines this bright. ❤️

A massive thank-you to everyone who turned out and made this parade a memory we will cherish forever—Holton, you’re the true royalty! 🎉

07/11/2025

🌟 Isabelle’s Porch Progress Update! 🌟

Friends, the transformation of Holton’s Hollowed Queen’s front porch is coming along beautifully!

🏛️ Marshall has worked his magic, installing sturdy helical piers to give her a rock-solid foundation. The deck has been completely rebuilt, and now it’s my turn to bring those 147-year-old posts back to life! 🪚✨

I’m carefully repairing and restoring these structural beauties using liquid wood epoxy to reinforce their strength, followed by wood filler to prep them for their big moment. They’ll be standing proud again soon! Next up, I’ll be crafting templates from the remaining bits of corbels and gingerbread, channeling the spirit of Victoriana to recreate Isabelle’s intricate charm. 🏵️

This labor of love is all about honoring the history and soul of our beloved Queen. Stay tuned for more updates as we bring her porch back to its former glory! 🖤