My Village

Overlea Roots

Many Overlea families have deep roots. I can think of at least six families that have been in Overlea for multiple generations. I represent one of those families.

Then and Now

My parents bought their home in Overlea back in 1991. They thought it would be their starter house, and 35 years later they still call it home. It is where my five siblings and I were raised and ran the streets. When we got married, my husband Jason and I started off in Parkville, and after 6 years, we had the opportunity to move back home to Overlea. And not just back to the neighborhood, but into the home right next door to my parents. In fact, we had a duplex with us on the one side and my family on the other. It is where we raised our five children – hopping back and forth over the dividing porch wall to get to and from their grandparents. We quickly recognized that as the kids got older and bigger, our 1,200 square foot, three bedroom, one bathroom house was not going to fit these growing kids much longer. We also knew that we did not want to leave my family, the Overlea Farmers Market, nor our neighbors who make up much of our “village”. So when a much larger house with a much larger yard went on the market last summer, we jumped at the opportunity to continue raising our family only a block and a half away from our previous home.

Village Activities

How does a family of seven fill their time in Overlea? Well, I homeschool our five kids alongside other families in our neighborhood and keep our house from falling down around us. In my spare time, I run the Overlea Farmers Market (3 years now!) and organize grants for the community association. Jason and the kids can often be found walking around our neighborhood collecting a group of friends like the pied piper. Our children run from yard to yard finding friends to play soccer or football with on the church field behind our house. Now that the older two appreciate spending money, they have found jobs caring for dogs and mowing lawns for our neighbors. On a market Saturday, you are sure to find all of us bopping around the market lot, some working and some visiting with vendors and carrying on with friends. Familiarity is what brought us back to Overlea 11+ years ago, but it is the people in the community that keep us here.