You learn something new everyday

That phrase sums up our experience of caring for and working at Willow Hall pretty well. Our most recent learning experience was actually rather anticlimactic.

When we first bought the house, its previous owner Fred pointed out sets of lines on the wood floors that appeared to be burned in. In some places, there were still bits of copper wire still stuck in grooves. Fred said these were where telegraph lines were installed. This was very exciting news, and a rather logical explanation, since the house's original owner, George Vail, financed his brother, Alfred, and Samuel F.B. Morse's development of the telegraph.

Well, it turns out that those grooves in the woods were actually used for an old security system in the house. The lines connected those wire alarms that used to be installed on windows. Needless to say, no one was particularly thrilled to learn this new revelation. But that's ok, because Willow Hall still has plenty of history and surprises to keep us (and this blog) busy for quite some time.