January 9th, 2010
Growing up working on one of the oldest farms in America (run by the same family since the 1680s), my interest in local history was definitely the cause of some long-winded conversations with some of the old-timers. The farm was located adjacent to Maudslay State in park in Newburyport. In fact, the park itself used to be part of the farm before it was sold off to the Moseley family (Originally spelled Maudesleigh) around the turn of the century (1900s).
One bit of local history that always really interested me was the “Moulton Castle” that used to sit on what is now called “Castle Hill” in Maudslay State Park. To sum up, Henry Moulton was this civil war soldier. After the war, he came back and built a very real castle in Newburyport. I’ve know about it since I was a teenager, but every time I tell someone about it I always get the same response; “Yeah, right. A castle in Newburyport…”
Well, alas I have proof that can share! A close friend of mine, and son of the farmer I grew up with, just gave me what may be the “only” remaining copy of this:
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Castle Hill, Maudslay State Park, Newburyport
Posted in Rants & Reviews | 3 Comments »
January 4th, 2010
I just acquired this from close (and slightly mental) friend of mine. He is dealing with some family estate items and gave it to me because he knew I really liked it. I’ve been a big antique roadshow fan for years, and anyone that has seen that show has heard of the infamous “card table” that turned out being one of the highest valued pieces they had.
Now, I’m not claiming this is one of them. The thing is, my friend said the appraiser took a quick look at it, got “very” interested. She said it was most likely an authentic late 1700s antique table. I know a little about these things, but not enough to claim I have anything extraordinary. I’m not sure I would sell it even so, I really like how it looks and would want to keep it in the family.
I can say with certainty, this came out an authentic 18th century farmhouse. It was a farmhouse on a local farm run by the same family since 1683. The house is literally a museum of authentic, pristine colonial and federal relics. This table was just one of three similar tables my friend has.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
December 21st, 2009
Ok, this is just getting crazy now. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m helping a friend of mine deal with his late aunt’s estate. I’ve been friends with the family most of my life. During this process, he has offered me a couple of the items in her collection. Perhaps as a thank you for the help, or just because he knows I like this sort of stuff. Regardless, I’ve acquired a couple of absolutely stunning antiques.
The latest is this:
From what I can tell it’s the real deal. I’m no expert, but there are pictures from the late 1800’s with this item on the wall in the background. I can see the impression from the plate, and after studying it for some time it’s pretty clear (at least to me) that it’s an authentic, 150 year-old engraving print.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Misc. Blog entries | 1 Comment »
December 14th, 2009
For the past two weekends I’ve been helping a friend deal with his aunt’s estate. While cleaning out some items, he gave me what appears to be an original 1857 print titled “The Return (First Class)”. I’m not an antique specialist by any means, but I have a decent interest in this sort of thing, and have definitely seen my share of Antiques Roadshow.
I know a lot of these are reproductions, but I took a closer look when I got it home (out of the frame) and the image is actually pressed onto the paper. There are no “print dots” or signs of mass-production. In fact, you can clearly see the impression marks around the border from what I assume was the engraving plate.
I’ve done a little research, and learned the image was originally part of a set. The other (I don’t have) was titled “The Departure”, and my friend thinks he saw that in the estate as well. He’s looking for it for me.
The paper is great condition, and only has minor discoloration. I can’t believe how good condition actually, considering the “assumed” age. On the back of the frame, there are some papers glued to the wood. One is a letter to the directors of the “Branbury and Chatham Railroad”, dated 1875, requesting some sort of railway extension or something. It’s pretty cool.
I have no reason to think it’s a fake, it came out of an incredible collection of items from 1700 – 1900. I’m wondering if anyone has any information on this sweet Victorian-era antique? I’d love to learn more.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Misc. Blog entries | 1 Comment »
November 23rd, 2009
Nearly two years ago I wrote a post about “my attempt to finish a stone wall basement“. It was shortly after I purchased my first home and was overwhelmed with the desire to start some projects. Well, it didn’t really even get started until about two and half months ago, but the project is now underway. With our first child quickly approaching, I figured it was time to dive in and start the basement project while I still had some free time.
It’s the biggest home project I’ve ever attempted, so I wanted to be sure and plan everything as well as I could. I’m not new to construction, but I didn’t want to half-ass it.
My basement is dry, but has a stone wall. That presented a number of unique challenges, and I was not sure of the best approach. I drew up some plans and talked to the local building inspector. He told all about the code requirements and limitations for the “proper” usage of the space. The ceiling was already finished, but is too low to actually declare the space additional “living space”. Instead, it’s going to be used as “storage space”. Granted, I want carpet, drywall, crown molding and an electric fireplace in my “storage” room – maybe I want my stuff to be comfortable. 
One of my biggest concerns was the ability for the foundation to breath. I’m going to vapor barrier and drywall, so it’s not going to be very easy to get access to the stone if there is ever an issue or moisture problem. My solution was to build the walls about 3-6 inches from the stone. This allows for a cavity of air between the wall and the foundation. I’m then going to put a ventilation fan at one end of the basement to pull the air from that cavity and vent it outside. This way, I can occasionally turn a switch and change the air. Got stale air? Not me.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Basement Finishing, Home Improvement, Stone Wall Basement
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
September 18th, 2009
I recently ran into a frustrating issue when WordPress (2.8.4) started acting bad once the server was updated to the latest php 5.3.0. The main issue is pretty well documented if you search Google, and is not a WordPress code problem rather a php bug. My issue was that my “General Settings” screen stopped loading, and hung with a mostly blank page. This was nothing more than a pain. I’ll wait to update my php for a real fix, rather than rolling back to 5.2.
Here’s what I did to make the problem go away.
Open your /wp-admin/options-general.php file and look for this:
<select id=”timezone_string” name=”timezone_string”>
<?php echo wp_timezone_choice($tzstring); ?>
</select>
This “wp_timezone_choice” function is the culprit. Until the actual php bug is fixed, this will continue to fail. You can easily fix it by hard coding your timezone as a selected “option” like this:
<select id=”timezone_string” name=”timezone_string”>
<?php echo //wp_timezone_choice($tzstring); ?>
<option value=”America/New_York” selected=’selected’>New York</option>
</select>
Notice how I commented out the function and added the “selected option”. You can update the value to be what ever timezone you live in. Here is a list: http://us3.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php
Hope this helps someone, it made me crazy until I worked out this fix.
Cheers!
Tags: Php 5, WordPress
Posted in Web Development & Tech. | 2 Comments »