* note from Susan , this house is c1850s and the yard is kept in the earlier style. The photograph is c1890 to 1900 period but the care the yard has is of an earlier style. I suspect an elderly womans long time home and she is still ablt to care for it. 
It had a fireplace in the past and was converted to a  wood stove after the railroads came in the 1870's.
   There is a little grave by the house, it was very very common to bury stillborn children by a house, especially by a chimney to keep it
warm. Mothers often made flower beds around their babies. Ministers were
 of the opinion that stillborn babies were not needing to be on consecrated ground though many did get buried in a cemetery but most  were moved   into the cemetery at a later date,  it was so common.
  New mothers were considered fragile and kept in bed 10 days at least. To take the baby very far was cruel. Often the husband carried her out there and sat her down to visit it over that period of time. This photograph speaks so  loudly that some interesting lady lived there. She is a really good housekeeper , note the perfet order and the swept ground, she liked to Home make and to garden.  The picture may have been to document the house/grave and flowers , all the things the lady of the house found homely and beautiful.
    In those days they did not allow grass to grow up to a house, only the plants they wanted. That kept bugs, snakes and mice away and they swept the 'dooryard' every day often. This is a very well kept house. The front is on stones and allows for chickens and visual contact under the house so nothing would move in under there they didn't want.
    It is a lovely and loving scene.