Throwback Thursday

We have started moving FORWARD on quite a few projects (update to follow) but today I thought I would take a quick moment to look BACK.

The previous owners were gracious enough to leave us with a small treasure trove of documents pertaining to the house’s history. I had given them a quick look when we first moved in and then filed them away in our fire box for safe keeping. My plan was to look at them as a reward once we had finally gotten everything moved in and were settled. It has been a cold and dreary week and the documents have been calling to me to take a look, to get to know the house’s past before moving too far into the future.

I am still early into my research but here are a few fun and interesting facts I have gathered from the documents and the locals (who are an invaluable resource because oral history runs deeper than written records in this area.)

–The house was designed and built by architect Alfred S. Eichberg. He was a famed architect out of Savannah who designed many historic buildings including Brunswick’s Old City Hall and the Temple Beth Tefilloh, which is right across the street from our house. He apparently lived in our house while working on the temple. According to the previous owner (who still owns the house across the street and whom we have gotten to know) a caravan of Eichberg’s relations once stopped by and asked if they might have a quick look at the house after their tour of the temple. (I hope that does not happen to us for at least a year as they would be horrified by the disarray of things at the moment….)

–It was used as a boarding house for teachers who worked at the Glynn Academy (also across the street.) This explains some of the odd doorways and deadbolt locks on some of the inside doors.

–According to our realtor, the front gate is missing because during WWII people were asked to donate iron. Some families opted (or were forced) to “donate” their entire fence. I am glad our original fence survived as it is one of the only remaining iron fences still (mostly) intact in the city.

–The newspaper clipping left in our packet of information tell that the house was zoned commercial, named Storyhouse, and used as a framing shop/visual arts studio in the early eighties. I love this so much!

–One local historian I crossed paths with at an event, old me daffodils had been planted in the front yard by one of the original owners. A descendant of that owner is rumored to have dug up the bulbs and moved them to her house. In the spring I plan to plant my own.

There is still so much we are discovering about our old girl and much more research to do and I would love to get my hands on the original blueprints. My trip to City Hall came up empty but I was given the name of someone who might be able to make that happen. Fingers crossed.

As fun as it is to be making progress, I feel it is important to pay homage to and remember the past. Someday my husband and I will be part of this house’s history and I hope the next owner and the one after that will take a pause to remember us.