We decided on a beadboard ceiling, made easier by using pre-primed MDF planks. They were attached with adhesive and 1 1/4" nails. It is almost done - just a final strip at the top to complete. We'll be painting it porch ceiling blue. Wallboard and trim is next!
We are now wired for power and lights! We did some prep work by pre-drilling holes to the basement to feed the wires. While doing that it was discovered that the sill closest to the door was fairly rotten on the inside. This will require some more work - namely adding a 2 part hardener then filling in the void. More to come on that work once the material shows up. Meanwhile, we put up the insulation which is working very well. Temp was only a few degrees cooler than kitchen this morning after a 25 D night. Next step is to install the ceiling material - right now beadboard is the leading contender.
Okay - here's the wallet. It is fine leather that has hardened over the years. The name on the inside is Convers Purington, a well known Bowdoinham name. It is dated 1867. Inside were 3 $5 bills from the 1860's and 1870's, also 4 or 5 $1 bills from the same era. They were folded up tight and were ripped but you can make out quite a bit. These are "green backs" as signified by the green reverse side. There was also a calling card from S D Thorn who published the Bowdoinham Advertiser. We're not sure of the owner or vintage of the boot - it is made of leather and is fairly good condition. The bottle is blown glass, maybe an apothecary bottle? And the last item looks to be something that many young men would carry folded up in their wallets - yes, it appears to be a prophylactic. We checked and they started making them with rubber in the 1840's so this appears to be authentic to the times. This made for lots of fun on Halloween night with our special guests, the former Town Historian. We'll do some more checking and see if we can get some hist
ory on Mr. Purington for a future post.
Halloween is over and we're back to work getting ready for the electrical installation. We decided to remove all the sheathing to make it easier to put up the drywall. This involved removal of a lot of blown in insulation done when the second story project was accomplished. One shot shows the very old with the new of the second story project - that is a dead space created to run the plumbing and shore up the floor beams that had hacked into previously. The string represents a chase for the electrical to run up from the basement. The open spot on the end wall is a hollow area between the formal front door and the outside wall. This is where the treasure was found. More on that to come soon.
