The man of steel’s been hard at work on his latest renovation project. He’s re-siding the garage and repairing the brick fireplace built on it’s north side. In the process, we think he uncovered a little local history.
For those of you who don’t know, our road is the last original bit of the pre-Civil War stage coach road that ran from Fort Dodge to Des Moines. The house up the road was a stage coach stop. Legend has it that John Brown, the abolitionist and rabble-rouser, traveled along this road. Civil War recruits from Fort Dodge followed it on their way to Keokuk where they joined the troops.
Since the oldest part of our house (solid-as-a-rock timber frame) was constructed in the 1840s, it had a front row seat as our national history unfolded. It saw–and still bears–some local history, too. Our dining room sub floor is made of solid oak planks, cut from native trees, so hard an industrial sander couldn’t make a dent in them. Timber frame beams, also of native lumber milled long ago, stretch from the basement to the second floor.
Last week, the man of steel discovered huge, horizontal wooden planks of rough cut lumber beneath the old garage siding. Each plank was at least 16 inches wide. Others measured 18 or 20 inches. Recently, our neighbor who lives in the house that was once a stage coach stop said there used to be a saw mill on her land and the lumber it produced was used in construction projects in the area.
Most likely, the man of steel thinks, these boards came from that mill. So before he covered them up again with tar paper and plywood and siding, I snapped a few pictures to share with you. It could be decades or even centuries before these old boards see the light of day again.
I wonder what other bits of history are hidden on this tiny stretch of gravel we are blessed to call home? There’s a book waiting to be written, for sure. Now if I can just live long enough to give it a whirl!
