One woman turned down a $1,000,000 offer for her Seattle home and over a decade after her death, her home still sits surrounded by business buildings.
Edith Macefield is a modern-day folk legend, having resisted the pressures of the outside world to leave her home, and withstood the literal outside noise of construction around her house. If this sounds like the plot of Pixar’s hit classic movie Up, some people believe Edith’s battle was the inspiration for the film. Even if it wasn’t, the home quickly became associated with the film, with people tying balloons to the house’s fence in solidarity.
Google Street View
Two years before she died, Edith was presented with a $1,000,000 offer to sell her house so contractors could build commercial buildings on her lot. She refused, saying, “I don’t want to move. I don’t need the money; money doesn’t mean anything;” and that was all there was to it. In the midst of noisy construction, Edith stood her ground. She said at the time, according to her obituary in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “I went through World War II, the noise doesn’t bother me.”
Edith was an extraordinary woman who spoke three languages, was widowed three times and was honored by an army of tattoos. In a world where it’s easy to be forgotten, Edith is remembered by countless people in Seattle, who look to her fighting spirit for inspiration.
When the world seems to come closing in all around you, be like Edith Macefield and stand by your convictions.
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