Evansville natives Karen and Tim Walthall needed a home that, much like their 52-year marriage, would stand the test of time, and in 1993 they found it. The couple, who first met at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center’s cow barn in eighth grade and married on Valentine’s Day 1970, quickly began making the Craftsman-style home on State Highway 662 their own.
Built in the 1930s, the original facade was a plain white frame. In 2008, the Walthalls transformed it with a covered porch and stonework by John Elpers Homes and Interstate Stone Supply.
“We spend probably every night on our front porch,” Karen says. “A lot of people walking by wave at us; we have no idea who they are, but we wave back. We’re very proud of our porch.”
The home is elevated by a steep hill, part of the Walthalls’ three and a half acres. While the lot was originally one acre, the couple bought the land to the west in 2016.
The picturesque landscape, where their daughter was married in 2018, was updated with a fresh design and installation of laurel, soft touch holly, azaleas, drift roses, and ferns by Colonial Classics in April. Newburgh, Indiana-based Lawn Masters maintains the grass, and Francco Dorazi Lawn Services weed eats and prunes so the Walthalls can keep their view of the river.
“We actually own the property all the way down to the lowest water mark of the Ohio River in front of our house,” Karen says.
Photos by Zach Straw.
