Source: Wikimedia Commons
Walk round the outside of an older American house and look low on the foundation wall. There is frequently a small cast iron door, maybe eighteen inches square,…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
There is a thing in old barns and basements that defeats everybody: a set of four long wooden strips, adjustable, with small sharp pins or tacks sticking out…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Formal visiting ran on printed cards, and the surprising part is that you did not need to see anybody.
A caller handed in a small card bearing her…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
A barrel stood at the corner of the house under the end of the downspout, and the reason was chemistry.
Rain has almost no dissolved mineral in…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
There is a wooden box with a crank on top and a little drawer at the bottom in antique shops all over the country, usually priced as decoration.…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Look at a wood-burning kitchen range in a museum or an antique shop and there is a compartment at one end that most visitors cannot account for. A…