If My Walls Could Talk
When I gutted my house to the studs I discovered a lot of things. Some things were unpleasant surprises, like a huge raccoon nest in my entryway wall. I evicted them. 
Some things were really interesting like deducing some history of the house based on the wall framing. My house was originally about 18' x 26' and only one and a half stories tall. It was neat to discover the original roof line when the walls were opened up. At some point the roof was raised making the original section a full two stories and a back addition (where my kitchen and craft room are located) was added on. A side wing, which I was told by a few older residents in my neighborhood was at one point a little local grocery store, completed the building of my house. I think it is neat that my house evolved in four stages and I wish I knew more about the history behind each of the additions.
Besides uncovering some of the building history, opening the walls also revealed an unintentional time capsule of objects left inside the walls. Many of the items, like newspapers or calendars, were paper and were almost completely disintegrated, but some items, like the whiskey bottle in the picture below was salvageable. On the left is a photo of how I found it and on the right is how it looks after I cleaned it up. I wonder how it came to be in my wall and who it once belonged to. I'll never know, but it is fun to uncover these little bits from the past from my house and think about what a long history my house has had.
Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 9:26AM | Posted by Lisa | 2 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (2)
Makes you want to plant something of your own in the walls before you close them up. Our house was new when we moved in, what we have old is the old rock field wall or what is left of it. I sometimes wonder about all the labour involved to move the rocks out of the field to make the fence and then plough the fields, a father and sons? several neighbours? Thanks for a great memory prompt today.
Mary-Lou- I had never thought about putting something in the walls before closing them up. That is a great idea! Maybe next time I crack open a wall...