The Villa at Tin Can Acres, a Retro Trailer Retreat

Step back in time and experience the beauty and tranquility of simpler days on our 11-acre, mostly-wooded homesite. The 1959 Imperial Villa is one of the largest and most luxurious trailers produced by Spartan Aircraft Co. This fully-restored vintage park model (10'x45', triple axle) offers all the comforts of home with amazing original mid-century modern furnishings. Constructed of aircraft aluminum, the all-original interior is birch accented by walnut and brass. Almost all the furnishings are period pieces, fascinating to see and experience -- like entering a hands-on museum from the 1950s. Nestled in the trees and surrounded on all sides by curtained windows, the interior living space has an open, yet cozy feeling. There's a full-sized bathtub/shower, a full-sized & fully equipped kitchen (though it is not fully stocked with food), an on-demand hot water heater, and a two-ton heat pump which thermostatically controls the climate. Internet is available through the TCA Wifi.

Bedroom:
Surrounded by windows on three sides, the bedroom has a comfortable full-sized (double) bed. There is plenty of closet/storage space in the bedroom and more storage in the middle room.

Bathroom:
The bathroom has all original pink fixtures, including a full-sized tub with shower. Towels, wash cloths, toilet paper, etc. are on the shelves behind the curtain.

Middle room:
The beautiful mid-century modern stereo console has a turntable and an AM/FM receiver. The original instructions for the console are displayed on the console itself, and I can give you further instructions if you desire. Along with the stereo we have a list of more than 350 vinyl albums for your listening enjoyment. (The available albums are listed at the conclusion of this description.)

The mid-century modern hutch in the middle room also houses a variety of vintage dinnerware patterns. In addition to those pieces on display in the upper part of the cabinet, there are many more pieces behind the lower doors. All of these are available for your use and enjoyment.

The dove-tailed walnut veneer drawers contain a first-aid kit (in the upper left-hand drawer), extension cords, vintage massage and exercise equipment, as well as available storage. The larger storage doors provide further storage with hangers and a vintage vacuum cleaner and tools.

Kitchen:
The all-electric kitchen is fully furnished with period pieces, including the vintage stove and refrigerator. Period glasses and everyday dinnerware are in the cabinets above the countertops and above the stove. There is a built-in cutting board below the wood countertop and above the bank of drawers (to the right as you are facing the sink). Those drawers house your silverware, knives, mid-century kitchen tools and gadgets, dish towels, foil and plastic wrap, etc. In addition to the vintage pots on the top of the stove, there are newer pots and pans in the drawer under the oven.

A small microwave is in the cabinet above the refrigerator, as is a more modern coffee maker (if you don’t want to use the vintage percolator on the counter). There are more vintage kitchen tools (waffle iron, ice crushers, slicers, etc.) in the cabinet to the right of the refrigerator, as well as storage/pantry space for cans/dry goods.

The refrigerator has a small freezer at the top where we can leave ice or you can make your own with our vintage ice cube trays. There will also be bottled and/or filtered water in the refrigerator as the Denison water is not very tasty. In keeping with the period, the freezer compartment is not frost-free. That means you will begin to see frost developing inside the freezer over the course of your stay. Welcome to the 50s!

Under the sink behind the left-hand cabinet door there is a fire extinguisher; the trash can is behind the right-hand cabinet door. Should you fill up that trash bag, you may place it in the large metal can outside (located to the right of the red tractor seats near the other Spartan trailer to the west). There will be additional plastic trash bags in the bottom of the plastic trash can. If you ever need assistance with any of this, we are happy to oblige.

In addition to the living space, you are welcome to enjoy our outdoor seating areas, the picnic table, the hammock, ping-pong table, basketball hoop, two cruiser bikes and a trike, a see-saw and the larger playground on the other side of the house. We also have a portable fire pit and plenty of wood, though we ask that you only use the fire pit in open spaces (not under the trees) for safety reasons. The property has peach, apple and pear trees and a few small blackberry bushes, which you are welcome to enjoy in-season -- if you can get to the fruit before the animals! The Imperial Villa sits on our 11-acre, mostly wooded homesite, and you are welcome to hike/explore the surrounding area.

The exterior of the trailer has motion-activated lights for your safety and convenience, and we have four exterior solar LED fixtures for lighting the grounds. These ground lights can be moved for your convenience. The trailer itself also has exterior running lights and string lights in the trees. These are controlled by the upper switch to the left of the front door in the living room.

Living room:
The television picks up six local channels (depending on the weather and your positioning of the antenna). There is a DVD player with a selection of period DVDs (i.e., shows/movies from the mid-twentieth century or whose subject matter is about the mid-twentieth century).

There are two radios in addition to the stereo console -- one in the living room and one in the hall leading to the bedroom. They are both fully functional for am/fm reception. The one in the living room is equipped with a 1/8” jack to use with your phone or mp3 player or portable cd player. The one in the hallway must be turned to “phono” if you want to play your own music through it. The “phono” switch is on the back of the radio.

Parking:
Follow the driveway to the left of any parked cars, driving past the house and curving around toward the trailers. There will be a concrete pad in front of the garage on your right where you can park, or continue straight past the concrete pad and pull up closer to the picnic table (if you want to park as close as possible to the trailer). The Spartan Imperial Villa trailer is straight ahead with the two turquoise chairs in front of it.

Outside Activities:
If you hike the property, you may encounter thorns and burrs and poison ivy and chiggers and fire ants. There is little in the way of paths, and most of these are overgrown. We rarely see snakes, armadillos, possums, raccoons, skunks, owls, bobcats and coyotes; we always see squirrels and rabbits and many birds. You will often hear "noises in the night" within the trailer, from crickets outside to squirrels on the roof to birds flying into the windows. You shouldn't see any mice or other rodents, thanks to our three cats who roam outside our house by day and spend the night in our garage. No pets have been allowed inside the trailer due to family allergies.

Artists Available for Your Listening Enjoyment Include:


The Allman Brothers Band
The Animals
The Association
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Pearl Bailey
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Pat Benatar
Chuck Berry
Blind Faith
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Bread
Karla Bonoff
Jackson Brown
The Buckinghams
The Byrds
Glen Campbell
The Carpenters
Johnny Cash
Chad and Jeremy
Chad Mitchell Trio
Harry Chapin
Ray Charles
Chicago
Petula Clark
Patsy Cline
The Coasters
Nat King Cole
Commodores
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Jim Croce
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Bill Dana
Bobby Darin
The Dave Clark Five
Della Reese
John Denver
Neil Diamond
Dire Straits
Donovan
The Doobie Brothers
Bob Dylan
Duane Eddy
The Everly Brothers
Marianne Faithfull
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs
Fleetwood Mac
Dan Fogelberg
The Four Freshmen
The Four Preps
The Four Seasons
Peter Frampton
Aretha Franklin
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Earl Grant
The Grass Roots
The Guess Who
Go-Go’s
Heart
The Hollies
Johnny Horton
The Ink Spots
The Isley Brothers
Jackson 5
Ahmad Jamal Trio
Jan and Dean
Jay and the Americans
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Starship
Joe & Eddie
Billy Joel
Elton John
Michael Johnson
George Jones
KC and the Sunshine Band
Carole King
Kiss
Gladys Knight & The Pips
Led Zeppelin
Brenda Lee
The Lettermen
Gary Lewis and the Playboys
Gordon Lightfoot
Loggins & Messina
Trini Lopez
Miriam Makeba
Mama Cass
Barry Manilow
Johnny Mathis
Pat Metheny Group
The Steve Miller Band
The Mills Brothers
Charles Mingus
Joni Mitchell
The Monkeys
The Moody Blues
Anne Murray
Ricky Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson and Leon Russell
Nilsson
Osmonds
The Partridge Family
Les Paul & Mary Ford
Peter, Paul and Mary
Gene Pitney
The Platters
The Pointer Sisters
The Police
Elvis Presley
Charlie Pride
Prince
Procol Harum
Boots Randolph
Paul Revere and the Raiders
Charlie Rich
Lionel Richie
The Righteous Brothers
Linda Ronstadt
Boz Scaggs
Seals & Crofts
The Searchers
Neil Sedaka
Bobby Sherman
Carly Simon
Simon and Garfunkel
Paul Simon
Sly and the Family Stone
The Smothers Brothers
Sonny & Cher
Bruce Springsteen
The Statler Brothers
Cat Stevens
The Stylistics
Three Dog Night
Tommy James and the Shondells
Frank Sinatra
Barbara Streisand
James Taylor
Conway Twitty
Bobby Vee
The Ventures
Village People
Bobby Vinton
The Vocal Majority
The Vogues
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys/Tommy Duncan
Dionne Warwick
Andy Williams
Stevie Wonder
Johnnie Wright and Jack Anglin
Tammy Wynette
Yes
Neil Young
2nd Chapter of Acts

As well as assorted compilations (Country, Rock, Soul, Big Band, Jazz) and Sound Tracks