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    Kitchen to Bedroom: Wiring, Insulation and Exterior Work

    Working From the Inside Out We were to the point where we needed to focus on some important elements of the restoration.  Things like electrical wiring, insulation installation and the first layer of the exterior of the house on the kitchen/bedroom corner of the house.  The interior walls were all original shiplap and  I didn’t want to touch it anymore than we had to.  I was learning that once we touched something, we caused three times the work.  Old houses don’t like to be messed with.  Therefore, the shiplap in the former kitchen needed to remain in place, ready for spackling and a coat of paint (hopefully, all it needed).…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Kitchen to Bedroom – Structural Repairs

    Assessing the Structural Issues Once the room was gutted,  structural repairs had to be made before this kitchen could make progress towards becoming a guest bedroom we would feel comfortable putting a guest in.  The termite damaged wall would have to be replaced.  That wall was supporting the weight of the ceiling in the kitchen and also in the large north pen.  Supports for the roof were also resting on this wall.  I need to remind you that this wall was a series of 1″ thick planks nailed to the sill log at the bottom and to boards in the attic.  The boards were bowing under the weight. To complicate…

  • The Homestead's History

    The Colony of Kent

    The Colony of Kent The failed Colony of Kent is a fascinating part of the Woods’ story.  It was here, we believe, that they meant to settle.  We are basing this on a couple of bits of information.  One, Lt. (or Capt.) Charles Finch MacKenzie was in charge of leading their group of settlers.  The Colony of Kent articles included here both indicate that MacKenzie was still engaged with that endeavor when the Woods arrived in the spring of 1851.  Also, the Wood family were taken to Fort Graham, very near the site of the failing/failed colony. The news article below by John Banta indicated that “within a year” the…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Kitchen to Bedroom Restoration – Step One

    The Condition of the Kitchen Our plan was to gently use the old house.  The small pens on the north and south would serve as guest bedrooms.  The small pen on the northwest corner of the house had been converted into a kitchen.  The previous owners removed the door between the kitchen and the large north pen.  They had installed a bank of cabinets along one wall.  When they did this, they replaced a long window with a shorter one that fit above the sink on the north wall.  Sheet rock was installed on the walls and ceiling.  Aluminum windows had replaced the original wooden ones.  We really were focusing…

  • The Homestead's History

    A Long Way From Home: The Elisha Smith Wyman Story

    Elisha Smith Wyman It is a long way from Maine to Texas, and yet, that is the path of the life Elisha Smith Wyman.  He was born in Livermore, Androscoggin, Maine on May 15, 1811.  His parents were Thomas and Susannah Smith Wyman.  On August 8, 1833, he enlisted in the U. S. Army in Boston, Massachusetts for a three-year term.  By 1846, Elisha Smith Wyman had made his home in present day Hill County. What we know of his military career comes from his enlistment records.  Wyman was stationed at Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma in May of 1836.  On November 2, 1836, he was at Camp Nacogdoches, Texas.  Wyman enrolled…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Curb Appeal – What Are We Going to Do About the Front Yard??

    Is There Any Hope? I thought there was tremendous hope for the house.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bought it.  There may have been some hope, but there was absolutely no curb appeal to the yard.  The yard was in bad shape…just like the house.  When we bought it, there were two cars and a truck parked in the yard.  The truck had a tree growing through the bed.  In the back yard, a lawn chair had turned over and been left for so long that a tree had grown through the arms, lifting it three feet off the ground.  On the back edge of the yard, we found the plow…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Relocating the Bees at the Old House

    If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.  Rotting wood, incapable workers, cold weather.  And now, bees.  Not just one hive, either.  We were blessed (and really, I do mean that.  Bees are awesome.) with two hives.  No work was going to get done until we focused on relocating the bees behind our old house.  For one thing, the next project was to work exactly where one hive was located.  One hive was behind the clapboard siding and the interior walls of the house.  The other hive was in the tree that had fallen over and crushed part of the shed.  (yup…just something else to repair.) Help with Hives I posted…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    Original And Functional: Our Front Porch Restoration Plan

    Our Plan We needed to work on the front porch.  It had been badly renovated in the past and was in dire need of help.  Because of the single-board walls on the porch, there was no way to insulate what were destined to be guest bedrooms unless we found a way to do a front porch transformation that would restore the look of the original porch while taking into consideration the structural issues we needed to address. front porch restoration plan We visited Barrington Living History Farm and the Joe E. Turner House before we started on the renovations to try and get an idea about what we were getting…

  • 1846 Homestead Renovation

    What Lies Beneath – Hoping for Original Hardwood Flooring

    The Day We Discovered Berber Linoleum Once the house was emptied, we saw the floors for the first time.  Imagine our surprise when we saw that some very forward thinking soul had installed rainbow Berber linoleum.  It was so outrageously ugly that I was thankful for all the dirt and rat poop that obscured the flooring from view.  Offensive as it was,  the linoleum remained while we removed the sheet rock.  I hoped the linoleum would protect what I prayed would be pristine, beautiful, original hardwood floors.  My wishes almost came true. The North Pen and Former Kitchen The kitchen (aka the Cynthia Ann Parker Room or CAP) floor was…

  • The Homestead's History

    Isabella Wood’s Letter Describing Their Journey to Texas

    Click here to be taken to the Heart of Texas Tales website where the images of the original letter are found. Copy Mrs. Wood’s Letter Received Oct. 1851   Sent away an answer to Mrs. Wood Letter on the 27 Oct 1851 Copy Mrs. Wood’s Letter Ft. Grame Texas America 1st Sept 1851 Dear Mr. & Mrs. Smith. No doubt it will alarm you My writing in place of Mrs. Park, your daughter who died on the 15 June at a Mr. Lamb’s in Leon county on their way up the country 30 miles from the place where I was taken sick and three of my family.  They thought me…