Story Archive

May As Well

“Rod” is the owner of a little yellow house in Maysville, Colo., and says he knew about the tradition before he bought the house 7 years ago. It’s known to locals — and Maysville is tiny enough that “locals” are spread fairly widely — as the Honk House, as it’s tradition to honk at the house when driving by. It’s along a two-lane portion of U.S. Highway 50 in the Rockies between Denver and the more-rural western part of the state, and it’s been going on for around 80 years. Most of the people driving by therefore have no idea as to why they’re supposed to beep their horn, they just remember their parents did it. It goes back to Harry Miller, who bought the house in around 1940. His wife would sit in the window and wave at cars when they went by. When she died, Harry took over the job of waving: drivers considered it “good luck” as they headed up to the 11,312-ft (3,448m) Monarch Pass, which marks the Continental Divide, or as thanks for good passage on the way down. Harry died in 1976. The honking has never stopped. Rod says he recently spent 2 months in the hospital, and the energy he’s received from the honkers helped him heal. He still waves back. (RC/KMGH Denver) ...You know it’s OK since he uses all of his fingers.