Today was an amazing day and Cody worked hard making sure I got these items for the Sunshine Cottage. As we have been working at the cottage together I have made it known that I want a farmhouse sink. We’ve also discussed turning the enclosed back porch into a covered porch, as it would have been originally. When we do that we knew we would need to get a door for it.
Cody has been driving past a house for years that looks abandoned. Over the years he has watched it continue to decline. The other day he decided to stop at it and see what it looked like inside. As he was looking, an elderly man in his 70’s, Tom, came over, he lives across the street. He said the home is log under the wood siding and it was used as a “hotel” during the Civil War. He told Cody he has documentation proving that. The man seemed very eager to share the history and hopes to keep the history alive by telling the right people. Great thing Cody finally stopped!
Tom told Cody he could look inside to see if there was anything we could salvage. This house is very dangerous to enter and really no way to enter it. The back side is missing exterior walls, there are barely any floors upstairs. Here’s the crazy part! He looked upstairs from the exterior of the home and saw the exact farmhouse sink I have been wanting!! The big issue was, how does he get it down??!! If we don’t get it, that sink will crack when the rest of the house falls, which has got to be soon.
Look at sink on far back wall.
As he continued to walk around the house he saw an exterior side door that was perfect!! It even has the original screen door and skeleton key!!
Tom told Cody how much we could have the items for and Cody texted me. YES!!! That’s a steal! Let me share the history of the sink! It makes me love it even more! And when Cody told me the history I was like, WE HAVE TO HAVE THAT SINK!!! The fact that we can carry on the oral history of these items thrilled Tom.
That sink was in an upstairs bedroom. He was born in that bedroom! Once he was born the mid-wife or whomever was assisting the birth, carried him over to that very sink and he had his first bath in it! 🙂 How cool is that!
Let me share how Cody had to save that sink. He used a ladder on outside of the house. Opened window by the sink and managed to get it off the wall. This is a porcelain sink and quite heavy!
He then tied a rope to the sink and lowered it down out the window. On the bottom of the sink it is stamped with June 23, 1915.
While Cody was getting the side door off of the house the man went back to his home to find the skeleton key for the door. Sure enough, he came back with a key in pristine condition and it fits the door!
While loading the truck up he remembered seeing old Coca-Cola bottles near the sink and the man said he could take them. Once Cody got back to the Sunshine Cottage he took a closer look at the bottles, they are stamped with Danville on the bottom!
Cody said Tom seemed very happy that someone was appreciating the history of the house. So I had Cody ask if I could come back and do a video and have him on the video sharing the history. He not only said yes, but he has old pictures of the house to share with me! I cannot wait to do this and to one day have Tom’s sink proudly in my house and have it being used again.
Door and sink made it to their new home at the Sunshine Cottage!
