Salvaging History

Anyone who knows me, 

or who has spent any time at all reading this blog

knows that I like old things and history.

Abandoned, dilapidated buildings make me sad.

I see old dreary farmhouses, and I can see their potential.

I want to know their story

and share it.

In my town, there is a building slated for demolition

(actually for today, but not sure because of bad weather).

Part of the building is the firehouse built in 1886

(Shown here as it was originally built. 

There have been 3 additions since)

The other portion of the building was the public school built in 1901.

It was later turned into the Community Center in 1963.

Unfortunately, the buildings fell to ruin,

and the cost of repairing them was apparently

more expensive than destroying and building new ones.

So when friends of Big E and I needed help saving artifacts,

I was eager to help.

Our friends had a dilemma.

There was a large cabinet that they wanted to save, 

but it was too large to go down the stairs.

The cabinet was built in place,

so the only option was to saw it in half.

Long story short, it got cut in half, moved downstairs, 

loaded into a truck and taken to my garage to live for a bit.

(It's their story to share which is why I went for the quick overview on this part)

While all the sawing was going on, 

I commented on how sad it was that the wainscot 

was just going to be part of a pile of rubble.

Big E mentioned how nice it would look in the dining room,

but unfortunately, we had no hammer.

Until our friends mentioned they had a hammer-

and a crowbar.

So began my job of carrying wainscoting down to the first floor

to load in the truck.

The wainscot was the old type-

the thick tongue and groove wainscot

not the thin MDF type you find today.

So I carried entire sections of wainscot,

and I carried armloads of bundles.

Some from upstairs, 

some from the 1901 elementary rooms downstairs.

I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough for the dining room.

What I ended up with was a truck bed full of wainscoting.

As you can see, the entire bed is filled to just past the top of the bed.

But that's not all.

I also saw a door with textured glass that I thought would work well

as a door between the kitchen and laundry room.

While not original to the building,

the door was still on the old side and solidly built.

It would let the light in from the laundry room

(which is full of windows)

without allowing guests to see into the room

(the dog that eats everything stays there during the day,

 plus the laundry and it's also the "mudroom"- literally,

 so I don't really want people to see it).

Big E was saying no to the door though.

But while Big E was busy loading the wainscoting,

one of the people helping with the cabinet said

if I just wanted to get new hinges for it,

he could tap out the pins for me.

So, knowing if I got the door off and carried it out,

Big E would have no choice but to take it home-

I hoped-

I had them take the pins out.

Big E was a little not thrilled about the door

making the comment that it might not even fit.

But like our friend said, we can cut it down.

I love friends who think the way I do-

that old is good, that historical items need to be saved 

and that I really needed to have that door.

The door ended up riding home with a section of the cabinet,

because our truck was full

(and if it had slid and busted out the window of Big E's cap

 I'd be in big doo-doo).

The next day while I was in the garage admiring my new door, 

Big E started talking about how he was planning on redoing that door frame

when he works on the laundry room anyway

so the door won't have a problem fitting.

(this is where I smirk to myself)

So, thanks to this salvaging crew,

some local history will be preserved and used.

The cabinet and a few odds and ends are being saved 

for inclusion in a museum in the future,

and the wainscoting and the door will be used in our 100+ year old home in town.

(so look for all the blogs about that process in the future)

I'm going to try not to be too upset over the original hardwood floors,

or the gorgeous old wavy glass windows 

or the rest of the wainscoting and woodwork

that we couldn't save.

One last look out of the school windows before demolition

What's In a Name

Bannister that is original to the house- LOVE IT!

A month ago, I talked a little about some of the obvious changes going on with this blog (you can read that post here).  One of the biggest changes was to go from The WannaBe Farm to The Historical Homegirl.  I imagine for the handful of people who read/follow this blog, that posed the biggest question.  Why in the world would someone change the name and all links to an already established blog??  First, I was noticing that there were an awful lot of people using the name "Wannabe Farm".  It was no longer a unique name, but one that could become easily confused.  And second, I decided I didn't want to start a separate blog to write about the upcoming renovations on my soon-to-be new-to-me house.  My option was to use the existing blog for everything and come up with a catchier name.
It wasn't easy to come up with a new name.  You'd be amazed at how many cool blog names are already taken.  I finally settled on The Historical Homegirl (The Historic Homegirl was taken, but that wasn't a bad thing).  There is a distinct difference between the definition of the word historic and history and that came into play.  Historic is an adjective that refers to something important or influential from the past (i.e. The Battle of Gettysburg was an historic event.) while the word historical is an adjective that refers to something from the past that may or may not be important (i.e. historical romance, historical replicas, etc).  While the soon-to-be new-to-me home is old, it is merely historical not historic as it isn't part of any important or influential part of history (at least nothing I know about yet.  One never knows where George Washington might have used the outhouse).
It wasn't just the house that lead to the name.  I'm also big on canning, and that is a process that is from the past, as is the idea of homesteading.  And by that I mean that homesteading and producing and preserving your own food was a common thing back in the day, it was a necessity, and during WWII, it was encouraged by the government. Now it seems that preserving your own food is growing in favor again because of increase in food costs and all the GMO food concerns.  Historical seemed like the perfect name.  And homegirl, well I was a girl who was going to be talking about her home and it also fit in that homegirl means a woman from your hometown or neighborhood, or a woman who is your close friend.  That's me: your good buddy here on blogger.
So stay tuned! There will be some of the same blather about chickens and gardens and canning, plus renovations, historical information, and whatever whatnot I decide to throw your way.