What Lies Beneath

One of the benefits of owning an old house in Old Town Laurel is what you can find from the past. Our house is about 106 years old, and sits on a lot previously part of a larger lot and house. We have a former out-house (honey pot v. latrine) that now is used as a garden shed/home for stray animals/bees' nest.

When the shed floor finally collapsed beyond safety and ability to store our lawn mower, I persuaded husband Ken that all it needed was a couple of sheets of plywood, cut in half. Piece of Cake. Huh!

The collapse was due to rotten joists, so they had to be replaced, and the old cut out etc. Nothin is easy when old is involved. Delightful neighbor Kathryn found this fascinating, so joined in. I designated myself the digger to clear out the accumulation of dirt etc below the old floor so the new boards wouldn't touch wet. In addition to some really good dirt (from leaves. not....other stuff) our former outhouse dig revealed artifacts from the past. A bottle, a jawbone (possum I think) and large lumps of coal. Catherine found the latter particularly fascinating.

The dirt hump in the middle yielded the biggest surprise, however. A brick pathway -- two bricks wide, right under the floor. We decided that perhaps the shed/outhouse was once closer to the previous house, and this path led from it to the now-disappeared alley behind.

We've laid a new floor, but left the bricks. They'll lie beneath for another owner and another mystery.