| Jacob’s Resting
Place 1790 Historical Artifacts |
| There are historical items that have accompanied the house, items that we have “uncovered”, history that occasionally climbs from its earthen bed, and an occasional find somewhere else that ties to the history of the structure or the Henderson-McKnight family. During our 17 years here we have found items in the ground, the barn, the now removed carriage house, the house, and the LeTort. We have found them plastered in the fireplace, bricked up over the cooking fireplace, lost under the floors, hidden in the barn floor, tucked away in an attic recess, forgotten in an obscure place, and thrown away with the trash or garbage. Not once did we look for items---each was a discovery of sort. We are sure that more treasures lie in wait---the mysteries and beauty of history. |
| When we wrote the contract offer for the house, we tried to purchase all the furniture with the house, but were unsuccessful. The house was chuck-a-block full of antiques. Everything was designated for someone in the McKnight family. Most had been passed down from one, two, or three previous generations. Every item from furniture to smalls had a family name of a child or grandchild on it. Two chairs, an exquisite Chippendale and a mellow comb back Windsor, had belonged to Carlisle’s own James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a co-writer of our Constitution along with Thomas Jefferson. Among other historical items, the McKnight family retains documents signed by George Washington, who was a friend of Robert Miller. From all the Henderson-McKnight household antiques, we were able to write fireplace pieces and outdoor attached pieces into our purchase contract. The outdoor attached pieces were placed in the contract to preclude their removal. |
The following items knowingly came with the house contractually:
- 2 Chippendale sets of brass fireplace equipment from the late 1700s or early 1800s, which included large footed fireplace fenders, numerous tools, and brass and iron andirons.
- Hand-painted bellows.
- A decorative sand cast iron stove plate signed Steuben (one of the best colonial master iron and glass makers) and dated 1769. An exact mate is displayed in the Pennsylvania State Museum (William Penn Museum). The stove plate was lightly held in the back of a fireplace by plaster and a shutter dog and was being used as a fire-back.
- A large cast iron bell that was attached to an adjacent structure.
- A rooster weather vane and lightning rods on top of the barn.
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Some items have been found tucked away and left in places on the property:
- In the carriage house we found an 1850s bible with a German inscription in the front. It was presented by a teacher to his pupil. A nice personal inscription was sprinkled with glitter to stand out.
- A whiskey flask in the floor of the barn was obviously hidden there for a secretive occasional snort.
- An actual heavy sand cast fire-back from the 1700s was being used in the back of a brick incinerator as a means of protecting the brick from heat deterioration. It has beveled edges with the classic colonial shouldered shape and about a 7 inch crack at the right top to give it character. We gave it a good cleaning by torching off the rust and quenching it with old motor oil for an absorbent protection. Today, it stands in the back of our walk-in kitchen fireplace.
- The barn and carriage house contained numerous items such as barrels, hearth brick, ladders, some carriage parts, leather horse halters and tack, an old spur, and other items. We have yet to look in all corners and hard to find places in the barn.
- A small wooden knick-knack container with cute applied painting remained in a recessed area of the attic. A set of old inexpensive andirons were also in the attic.
- Small cast iron figurative door knockers remained attached to doors.
- Other smalls or broken things were also left behind in out buildings and other places.
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Numerous items have been found when performing restoration work:
- The best find was two old shoes bricked up near the top of the large walk-in cooking fireplace in the kitchen. Marie found the shoes, some shreds of newspaper, and a repaired sock. Terry took the shoes to Williamsburg on one of his business trips. The senior cobbler excitedly described the shoes. It seems there are a few examples in Northern Virginia and Pennsylvania of shoes being bricked up in fireplaces and over door and window lentils for good luck when houses were built. He described the shoes in detail. Sparing all the detail, one shoe was made before 1750 (square toe) and was likely a gentleman’s fine dancing shoe because of the way it was made. The other was made between 1750 and 1765 and had a blunt semi-round toe. Peg holes were visible in the sole. Both were badly worn with evidence of buckles having come off and leather modifications made to permit continued use of the shoes. The worn shoes were selected for posterity because they were no longer wearable. One showed a disfigurement that must have been caused by a huge bunion. The rest of the story connects to a colonial saying, “You’re square.” This expression was used to poke fun at a gentleman wearing an outdated unfashionable square-toed shoe after 1750 according to Williamsburg. Fashion had its place even then.
- Also found in restoration work were the following items: Ben Franklin style glasses; an iron ax head; a masonry tool / hammer; a few assorted coins; hand forged spikes, shutter pins, and nails; hand wrapped tin water line connecting the old well to the summer kitchen for water supply; a beautifully decorated skewer for cooking meat; numerous types of pottery and glass shards.
- We frequently find some form of hand forged iron nails and pottery / glass shards whenever we dig down 4 to 5 inches within 50 feet of the house.
- On the backside of the house, the entire yard is full of huge oyster shells. Oysters were a staple brought up from the Bay for food for travelers. Since garbage collection did not exist, the remains were dumped out the back and not very far at that. When we put in the garden and buried incoming electrical lines, a backhoe would scoop half a bucket of oyster shells with each dig.
- When putting in the patio, stone walkways, and underground electrical lines to the pool house, we discovered the heavy foundation construction of the missing summer kitchen. We had seen only pictures of it. Evidently, it was torn down in the mid 1900s when cooking was moved to modern stoves in the main house. In short, the summer kitchen was no longer needed and in the way.
- Our grandchildren found some leather horse tack when wading in the Le Tort.
- We have found a horseshoe that the ground sort of spit out and an old railroad style spike used to construct a small working bridge over the Le Tort. We also found part of a horseshoe when digging postholes.
- We found a huge amount of animal bones in the dirt under the kitchen floor when we replaced the floor. It is the only part of the structure without basement. We placed a four-inch concrete barrier and footers to rest the joists on for the replacement random width pine floor.
- We expect discoveries to continue with every project.
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| No doubt many secrets still await detection with time. So it should be. No one should know all the secrets. Some must remain for the follow-on caretakers. After all, we are just caretakers of a small part of history for a short period of time. For us and for you, Jacob’s Resting Place has transcended four different centuries to take its rightful place in our history. |
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