In 1987 my husband and I purchased our second home. The former owners gifted us with a detailed list of all the home renovations complete with contractors' names, and dates of those renovations, and I still have this slip of paper!
As most new homeowners there were a few rooms that needed to be updated, one being our bathroom. After convincing my husband he conceded, and the project was soon underway.
Gold shag carpeting that covered the floor was replaced with a vinyl floor and the six colors were reduced to three. Plastic tile that lined the walls was removed, and a huge unframed mirror, 32.5" x 48.5" in size that hung over the vanity, still resides there. Our surprise came when we removed the mirror.
Jumping ahead to 2018 I took this photograph to preserve the house history in the event someone accidentally paints over it, like I almost did several times. I researched the builder and previous owners of our house. The project is still a work-in-progress and revealed more surprises.
A deed search proved the ownerships of the house from 1987 to 1960 and of the land back to the 1920s. The small plot of land on which our house is built is part of a much larger piece of land that was surveyed in 1738 by a Philip Shute/Sheetz. His land purchase was part of what was Digges' Choice.
I often what the reason was in the naming of our street. Research showed that the said land owner's middle name was Ruel, hence Ruel Avenue.
A surprising discovery was that of the said land owner's relative who married a Wildasin, and just happens to be in our family lineage. Talk about connections!
As it turns out, the author of this writing on the wall probably did not realize what this means to me. As for the future owners of this home and little piece of land, I plan to share this story with them and hope that they do not paint over the writing on the wall.
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