Journaling: Hearthside House | Stories of Hearthside | We have decided to call our circa 1830-1850’s house Hearthside, for the large stone & brick fireplaces which are the heart of the home. It was once part of a tobacco farm which also grew wheat, and apparently 50lb watermelons too according to an old newspaper. We have not discovered a lot of artifacts but some are pretty interesting none the less. |
Domestic Life at Hearthside It’s always exciting to find whole bottles in tact. This pretty blue one, Fletcher’s Castoria, was probably made sometime around the turn of the 20th century. The coin silver spoon, however, probably beckons from many years before. The initials engraved are GMA. I have yet to discover who this could be. |
Shattered Sherds For the majority of sherds, we find the common white ware. Being a farm this is not surprising. Occasionally, we have found fancier flow blue wares. There is also the cobalt blue stoneware piece found in the barnyard that was probably once a milk pail, whiskey jug, or butter churn. We have also found porcelain canning inserts with the zinc lid still attached. All signs of rural farm life. |
The Horses Have Been Here The barn of Hearthside is a hand hewn log foundation with a partial round log structure. There are very old large stones at the corners. We have found so many horseshoes here on the farm, especially around the barn. But we even found one up by the chimney on the East side of the house. Near the west side of the barn our once wild boar, Bear, unearthed an old horse bit. I call him my resident archaeologist. |
Under the Rafters Sometimes the best artifacts are still in tact and in place. Like the name & place of this piece of barn tin on the overhang. He is the man on the deed who owned the farm & homestead from the 1870s-1929. Apparently, his order of tin was labeled at, I assume, the depot - where it has become immortalized after he nailed it down. |
Park Your Carriage Right Here I believe the East side of the house is where the carriage [buggy] was parked. Due to the clues of the horseshoe found by the fireplace on that side & this carriage label found where our current garden is - not far from the fireplace. That side has also unearthed lots of glass, as well as white wares. | 2024-2026
Credits-> Unwritten (Lynn Marie) | Fonts: Abril Fatface & Geographica | Photos are my own | Also used page 32 from the magazine Old House Journal Dec 2015 issue (found on Internet Archive) as inspiration for this magazine style layout.
