As mentioned in my last post, we have been finding belongings of old owners in the walls and closets of the house. The strangest find so far are two pairs of shoes that Kyle uncovered while pulling down lathe and plaster in the room on the top landing. After deconstructing the room, we noticed a small, awkward square board that didn’t line up with the rest of the wall. It bothered Kyle so he ripped it down, only to discover two pairs of worn-out black shoes behind it. We knew that because it was one of the walls from the original house, the shoes must have been placed there during its construction, which was at the end of the 19th century! Curious and a little creeped out, I decided to do some research and see if there was any significance to the shoes in the wall. This is what I learned: What we discovered are “concealment shoes,” which are actually common finds during the renovations of houses dating back to the 19th and early 20th century. Concealment shoes are a part of old English folklore and were believed to ward off evil spirits and to bring good luck to a house and its owners. Shoes were supposed to hold the spirit of the owner, and oftentimes, concealment shoes were those of children, who were believed to have stronger spirits than adults. Concealment shoes were also usually an old pair that was falling apart, because it would have been expensive to just throw away ones that could still be used. They were placed in walls around chimneys and windows, or other places of entrance. I cannot wait to unearth more treasures. I am also so interested in learning more about the early owners of the house. I see a visit to the Simcoe County Archives in the near future. …More history lessons to come ;). (Fun Fact: So many shoes have been found in walls in Britain, that there is actually one museum that has a “registry of concealment shoes”).
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About MeKyle and I just became new homeowners. The house we purchased is not what one would classify as "move in ready"; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Built at the turn of the 20th century, our Victorian style house is both beautiful and terrifying in its ancient status and will be a project in renovation. This is a documentation of our triumphs and lessons learned, as we deconstruct and reconstruct this house. The end result? A space that we can proudly say we created. Archives
December 2016
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