We are starting to get some great questions about the house!
At this moment in time, I estimate that we have maybe published about 30-40% of the information we have in hand.
Our information has come from word of mouth, written accountings articles, artifacts, and books given to us from past owners; social media posts; websites we have researched; more books we have found on our own; neighbors that we have met and have shared their memories and knowledge; and more!
Robin Bardo, the most recent owner prior to us, allowed me to record her for 45 minutes while she took us through the house and site and retold her knowledge, also collected in much of the same manner we have as well as many things she discovered during the vast remodeling she completed.
We were given a 6" stack of papers that took me about 8 hours to sort through, spread all over the dining room table and chairs I arranged it by date (or no date) and category (HOMS, Underground Railroad, Misc.) and then recycled duplicate copies (except for newsprint duplicates) and then scan it all in to post on the website.
It seems that every new informational piece we uncover opens even more new doors! When reading one of the books, it referenced a documentary "Follow the NorthStar to Freedom" and led us on a new hunt to find a copy of the DVD. We have not been able to locate a copy we can purchase (yet - but we have a message into the rights owner) but after applying for a community membership we were able to rent one from the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
Some of the collections that we are still building on the backend of website that will be launched soon are:
Historical books
Facebook posts from several different group pages
Comments and short stories from community members
Robin's remodeling accounting - over 4 years - with photos (which will allow us to update each room with the exact year of the completed remodel)
The transcript from the recorded tour with Robin
Past home tour information
Our accounting since we purchased the home in 2021
Keep checking back to learn more about our beautiful HOMS!
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