Libby wrote this recently, after visiting the original von der Hellen home out in Wellen, OR. 

"Last weekend when you gave us the gate code to the house on Meridian you made my childhood dreams come true.  I am the youngest grandchild of the original owner's only daughter, Agnes. Her family moved to the area from Germany when she was 5 years in 1885 and named it Wellen. Her father was the postmaster and a State senator. Wellen was were she grew up playing and riding horse with her brothers. The brothers were also very active in the growth of the Rogue Valley in the late 1800s.  

The family had sold the home by the time I was born but my Mother drove me by it frequently as a child and told me stories about her grandparents (Hugo and Atlanta von der Hellen) and her times there during her childhood.

I never realized the views and beauty from there until you allowed my husband and I to walk the grounds. I wish I had seen it before we aged or it got to the point of it's current status. Twenty years ago we would've enjoyed doing all the projects to bring it back to life.  If I return to Southern Oregon later this summer and if the property is still listed,  would it be possible to go inside the home?"

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