hamjobs posted:

oh hey, another story: once upon a time, after freeing the enslaved peoples from the plantation what is now a famous garden, my village was originally sharecropped out to lower middle-class people that were both immigrants who were indentured as well as the formerly enslaved, and there were a series of original crofthouses on this land; people were given odd crops and unseasonable types of plants to grow in an effort by the estate of said wealthy landowner, dooming them to fail and starve. then, white but affluent immigrant folks moved in, with money, and built the stately firebrick homes in this, and the neighboring village, causing an influx of cash made during the 1920s. when the cash boom finally busted, families here were relatively well protected due to being well invested in commodities that would fuel the coming second world war.

in the 1950s through the 1970s, this became a wealthy african american enclave after the white flight out of the north of this county to another area, during the era of a pond of the spaniards to put it very vaguely, and this became something of a nice integrated boomtown where the famous firebrick houses in the area were restored to their former glory. houses are still being lovingly restored and upkept, making this a gem of the area.

except this house.

this house wasn't touched for full restoration until 2009. and i'm still fixing it, and removing the atrocious wallpaper and babyshit yellow spongepainting and horrifying blue silver bathroom wall upstairs.

it's a long process, a very work intensive process, and well worth it.

i've also found several interesting artifacts in the house, mostly in the under-basement crawlspace into the cave access:

-photobooks of former families, dating well back to before the actual house was built onto with the downstairs bedroom, kitchen extension, etc.
-a tin box of small lead soldiers
-a large container of jewelry pieces and old buttons
-a tinplate photo of an african american family posing with the landowner, prior to the end of human enslavement federally within the united states, passed down between family members until the last living member likely died in the house or on the property
-a doll with a smashed in face, between the basement false wall and the exterior wall
-"finger bones" from a broken reliquary to the saints, likely carved into human-like shapes from chicken bones
-bags of various powders and herbs, yet unidentified
-a silver candle stick engraved with the monogram H
-a set of horse carriage bells
-two bibles inscribed to the family from 1949; returned to local family members still living

it's been very interesting.