One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure?
Treasure Hunting
They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. My distant cousin who had owned the home previously was a hoarder and had not been in good health for a while. Understandably, the house was going to have some issues and with no immediate family, his belongings were sold with the property.
How bad was it, really? The above exterior photo clearly shows that the house was in poor physical condition when we bought it. We sort of knew what we were in for on that score. However, the sheer amount of trash was astounding.
Taking Out the Trash
After carefully combing through his belongings, we found several land documents and some photographs. We found books that had been brought over from Scotland. It was amazing that, in a house where everything was rotting, that we found paper goods that were in good shape. When we were satisfied that we had found everything worth finding, we got down to the cleaning out.
We had a huge industrial dumpster delivered and backed it up to the front doors and started emptying the house. Once the enclosed front porch was emptied, we could start on the center hallway.
Uncovering History
With the enclosed porch and the center hallway emptied, you can see a little bit more about the architecture of the house. The center hallway was the breezeway for the dog run. The doors in this room are exterior doors (they have lock boxes on them). The door straight through the red doors isn’t original. That was the large opening at the back of the dog run. All the evidence points to the double doorway with the red screen doors not being original as well, but they are old and were installed with wavy glass in the windows and with square nails.
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14 Comments
Manon
I love it!!!!!
Jana Burch
Manon, I know you guys are super busy, but we can’t wait to have you visit. I promise I won’t talk about the yard during your first visit.
Karen Evans
Loved watching your post while you were working on house.
Jana Burch
Thank you! I hope I can figure out a way to include those videos here as well. It takes me a while to figure this stuff out. We worked like dogs, but we are having fun!!
Ann Hyles
Love all your hard work and determination.
Jana Burch
Thank you, Ann. I learned so much from my Nana and my mom, but I learned a lot from you as well. Thank you for all the love and knowledge you poured into us in (and outside) of your classes!
Carol Valentine
This is pretty amazing. Can’t wait to read more!
Jana Burch
Carol, thank you for saying that. I am blogging as fast as I can while continuing to manage (attempting at least) my mess here. Hope you can come for a visit!!!
Sheri Ferguson
Amazing journey
Jana Burch
Thank you, Sheri! I am so glad I have cousins who love family history as much as I do. So blessed to have you in my life!
Lena
You are amazing! So thankful you appreciate history of your ancestry!!!
Jana Burch
Thank you, Lena! It is a passion. I don’t think I would be me if I wasn’t trying to know them!
Sonya
I’d LOVE to see all the treasures you found!
Jana Burch
Hi, Sonya!
I’ll get started photographing all of the treasures we found. Most are books and family letters and documents, so they won’t be super exciting to look at. Mainly, I was so excited to just have things they they had touched! I imagined the thrill that Isabella Wood must have felt when she received a letter from her sons who were so far away and how awful it must have been to receive the letter that son John had died. This is “treasure” to me!