I had the chance to see a friend of the family that I hadn't seen since 1984. That's just crazy, right? Was only going to meet for lunch, but that got changed this morning when she said she hadn't seen the battlefield, ever.
Everyone, each person I've ever taken to this park, comments on the size of it, the scale. I always remind them that ALL the combatants were on foot or horseback. It is huge, and as an added bonus, people are trying to kill you! And it is HOT, humid in July.
I am no battlefield expert, there are plenty that are and certified. I'm not one of them. Some things have seeded in my head, like General Farnsworth. There is a B&B and restaurant in town named after him. He was a general, twenty-five years old at the time of his death, sent by his commanding officer on a suicide assault. Because I ride, and ride locally, I have true empathy with this hapless endeavor that he knew was fool-hardy and wrong-headed. He did it anyway. The footing was treacherous for a horse, a rock field that had boulders the size of cows, and people are trying to kill you. And succeeded. When we came upon his battlefield placard I yelled out, 'STOP THE CAR!' Plenty of parking in this park, just pull over to the right side and you're good!
I pointed out the Wiekert house, the house that was missing the large rug from the dining room. It was used to bury the dead in their yard.
We went for lunch at Garryowen on Chambersburg Street, a civil war house that is now an Irish pub.
On our way back home we passed the 'old house' and pulled up to the curb. No. 307 Baltimore Street has been used by a CPA firm before turning into a museum store front. When we pulled up a woman came out onto the porch, in period costume, and we ended up going in!
We got invited into the foyer - the stairs have been recovered in industrial grey carpet, and the living room now hosts a counter to buy tickets to the house museums. When word got out that the former owner was in the house, everyone came from all corners. I mentioned the flooring, which is beautiful, but was coated in layer upon layer of grey deck paint. Surely it was lead at that time, too. The sawdust pile had looked like termite hills.
I also mentioned the previous owners, and it came out that the daughter, Olive Smith, committed suicide soon after her mother died. The kitchen was located upstairs in the rear and that's were she hung herself. Put that in your gossip lore of this old house! There was more that I could have said, but didn't want to disparage the reputation of a woman that has been dead over 40 years. Maybe next time.
The dining room is decked out in shelving for t-shirts and other items for sale. Also included is the cabinet and counter from the summer kitchen that had been torn down for the huge addition in the rear. The side porch, that went from the dining room to the summer kitchen, has been enclosed and is used as an office, with copier and like that. A door was cut into the wall where the kitchen window had been and the kitchen window was now on the wall that enclosed the porch. The original glass panes are still there, wavy.
Nostalgia got the best of me, later I was weepy about the whole thing. Some things you don't even give a second thought to, then it all comes back like it was yesterday. For instance, I haven't played Euchre since they moved out of that house. Now I think I don't know how to play anymore.
I miss my uncle, I miss my dog, I miss the way life was. I want to believe I'm the same person, but so much has happened, so much has changed.
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