There’s plenty of unsubstantiated lore concerning the place. Folks believe that Alpha Paynter was buried in the backyard, although there are records of her cremation. Whatever the case, it’s believed that she never really left the place, even after she died. There are also stories of two sucides that supposedly took place in the building. In the 1960s it’s said that a woman hung herself in the back of the restaurant. Ten years later her daughter is rumored to have also hung herself, this time in one of the storage closets.
Ownership of The homestead has shifted since the pine log building was constructed in 1934. Before it became a restaurant, it was a boarding house prior to the late 1940s. The original owner was Ms. Alpha O. Paynter, who sold the place to Preben and Nina Johansen in ’62. They, in turn, sold it to Carmen Macri who owned the place until it was bought by the daughter of the Johansens, and the owner of First Street Grille, Kathy Marvin.
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