Gah! Sad piano!
The stairs are awesome. cdevon is right.
And those houses were not as old as I was expecting or derelict looking on the outside as I was expecting when I read your description! Most of the old abandoned farmhouses in my area are pretty gutted by the elements at this point. Lovely set though, if sad story.
(I was driving around with my partner the other day, staring off the highway at a giant suburban development going... who wants to live in these places? Expensive condos all crammed together like that, but still miles away from where there's anything to do. So you have to have a car, and you don't get your privacy...)