THE BIG DIG

After two years of full-immersion renovations on the house, we decided to take a break from chaos in our living area and start working on the barn.  This had been on my wish list since we bought the property.  My dream was to convert our 170-year old Greek Revival barn into an artist studio.

                                                                                                 

The first thing we wanted to do was build a proper staircase to replace the ladder that we had been using to get to the second floor.  The barn is 28-feet tall with two floors so that seemed like a logical first step--haha.  Shortly after the work began we realized that one side of the barn would need some foundation work. This would require pouring a new concrete pad and stem wall to give more support for the additional weight of new walls and flooring. When we found out that Massachusetts code required a hole that was a minimum of 42-inches deep (to be below the frostline) we thought that was a bit extreme. When has the frostline gone that deep in the last 200 years?  Well, it ended up being a blessing in disguise!

                                                                                                                                 Let's start from the beginning.....

A year after we bought the house, we put in a water line that ran along the front of the barn.  When we dug the trench for the line we found all kinds of interesting things.  In addition to bottles and horseshoes, we found an old cast-iron water pump AND.....an old White Brand sewing machine that dated from 1860 to 1880!  It was an amazing discovery that felt very personal.  You see, for the past 20 years I have earned my living with a sewing machine!  This was the ultimate sign that this place was meant for me! 

Back to present day.....

When this most recent round of digging began I watched from the house as I didn't want to hover over the workers.  I knew there might be discoveries since this new dig was not far from where my beloved sewing machine was found.  Shortly after they began digging I noticed (while spying) that they were pulling items from the hole and setting them aside.  I couldn't really see what the items were, but my curiosity was peaked when one guy pulled an old cast-iron tractor seat from the hole!  I hastily made my way out to see what else had been discovered.  The following are photos of some of the items found...Needless to say, we delayed pouring the concrete so that we can keep digging!

To be continued.....