Chesterfield - a ghost town

Yesterday we decided to go visit Chesterfield, Idaho....a ghost town with a unique story.  Due to a number of factors, the town was pretty much abandoned about 40-50 years after it was settled.  The buildings that were still visible by the 1980s were just foundations and fallen down piles of boards.  The town was settled by various family members of the founder as well as his friends and neighbors which probably resulted in a fair amount of intermarrying.  As time went on, with a desire to preserve their heritage, some of these families decided to restore their old family homes in Chesterfield and furnish them with period furnishings.  Today there are about 20 buildings there which have been restored.  Volunteers take visitors on free guided tours and tell stories about the various buildings and the people who used to live there.  Today there is a foundation which helps to provide some of the funding for the renovations taking place.  We probably spent 3 1/2 hours there and really enjoyed it.

This first building is the Amusement Hall...home of plays, musicals, dances and such for the community.  Chesterfield is on a somewhat high piece of ground, so we heard the story of one fellow struck by lightning getting blasted about 20 feet off the steps of this building.  He survived and came to 4-5 days later.

This little house was the home of the founder of the town, Chester Call.  It is much larger inside than it looks from the outside.  The guide told us that the floors of the house were mopped every day...not just to keep them clean, but also to keep the wood in the floors a bit damp so they would stay somewhat swollen so they wouldn't squeak.  Clearly someone has NOT been mopping the floors because they squeaked a lot.

This is the sacrament trays from the church.

The church was leased to the DUP for 50 years as a museum, but that lease is now up so it was given to the Chesterfield Foundation provided they would restore it as it once was.

The pump organ in the church still works just fine.  I know this as I had a chance to test it out.  Pumping the organ while playing is tricky...sort of like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.  If you forget to pump, there is suddenly no sound!

This is the amusement hall from a distance showing how it sort of sits on a hilltop...waiting for lightning bolts to hit.  We were told that all of the restored buildings now have lightning rods.

Here we have the Ruger dugout.  It was originally a cave that the Ruger family moved in to.  Later the top was put on as sleeping quarters for the children.  The two levels were connected via a ladder from the downstairs through a small opening between the floors.

This monument was put up by the DUP to commemorate the Oregon Trail which passed through the town. We were surprised to hear that wagons were still using the Oregon Trail into the 1900s.

There was a variety of old equipment here and there around the town.  This one is an old hay derrick.

This is the home of Denmark Jensen.  It was a saltbox style house decorated in bright Scandinavian colors.  It also had a ladder up to the 2nd floor bedrooms.

Here we have the Tithing Office.  It was used for folks to drop off their 'in kind' tithing...10% of whatever they had...eggs, milk, hay...to be used to help poorer families.

This is the exterior of the Denmark Jensen home.  You can see the 'washing machine' on the back step.

This strange piece of equipment is a Fresno...used to scoop dirt and move it.

The Amusement Hall is now full of quilts.  This one in particular struck my fancy.  Each block has a different age of the little girl embroidered on it.  Then the block for each age is made of scraps from a dress the little girl wore at that age.

This house was called 'The Mansion" and was clearly the largest and fanciest house in town.

Our tour guide said he had parents, grandparents and all but one great-grandparent who lived in Chesterfield.  If you like a bit of history, I recommend this site which is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year....and it's free!

Hunting for Homesteads

Yesterday we decided it would be interesting to go hunting for some homesteads.  We had the BLM descriptions for 2 homesteads taken from the BLM website.  The first site we looked at we thought must be near Wilford, Idaho.  If you look for Wilford on your GPS, you will not find it.  I suppose that is because it is an unincorporated area.

 It is approximately between Teton, Sugar City and St. Anthony, Idaho, so we headed out with a map which showed the section lines in the area.  We had a bit of trouble finding a reference point, so we decided it would be easier to start from the Wilford Cemetery which is about 2 miles from the homestead location.  The owner of the homestead, Coriantumr Stephens, was buried in the Wilford cemetery along with his wife, so we first looked for the headstone.  We drove in on a little access road in the middle of the cemetery and then tried to decide where we should look.  In looking just left of the car, at the first headstone he saw, the woodcarver immediately announced he had found it! Sadly, the headstone records a sad story as you can see that three of the children died within four days of each other in 1896 in a diphtheria epidemic.  They have separate little headstones next to their parents.

A story recorded in the personal history of Grant Stephens, a son of Coriantumr, tells of a neighboring family, the Kershaws, who also lost multiple children to diphtheria.  Their grave is nearby in the same section.

From the cemetery we were able to take the map showing the section lines to determine where the Coriantumr Stephens homestead was located.  Only a couple of modern houses are on the property now along with flat fields.  The road that goes from Rexburg to Yellowstone runs through the property.

I am sure they were all sorry to leave that place, but their own family needs and tragedies prevented them from staying.

From the pile of old wood in the corner of the top homestead picture, the woodworker found a likely branch that he brought home to see what could be done with it.  Here is the result:

Next we headed for another homestead which was filed on by my grandfather, Grant Stephens. We knew when we started out that we would be unable to find the exact location of this homestead as the BLM map shows it right in the middle of the Palisades Reservoir..under water since completion of the Palisades Dam about 1957.

It must have been a lovely place for a homestead, near the Snake River for water and rich bottom land for the crops.  In his older years he painted a picture of how he remembered that homestead.

On our way home we passed through various towns where family members lived or worked in days gone by....Alpine, Etna, Bedford and Freedom.  We did not stop at Etna to find the homestead of Joseph J. Clark as we didn't have the location at the time, but we will leave that for another day.

Baby Rattle

by the Woodworker

A friend of ours is being presented with a baby shower for her first child due in the very near future. As showers are a ladies only affair I decided to craft a souvenir baby rattle for her and have Mrs. Woodworker take it with her to the event. She will also add a gift of her own.

1. Somewhere in this pile of wood lies a baby rattle.

 

2. Here it is. A piece of West Virginia cherry. It been cut to length and properly chucked up in the lathe. Rounding is nearly complete.

 

3. Rounding complete and the top cut off. Note the shoulder on the top so it can be reattached later.

 

4. Hollowing out the rattle.

 

 5. Turning down the top to make it fit the hollowed out bottom.

 

6. The rattling will be provided by old screws.

 

7. Screws put inside and the top installed. Starting the rattle shape.

 

8. Finish sanding and decorative band added. One band is over point of contact between the top and the bottom. Unless you know where to look it appears to be one piece.

 

9. Good old Howard's Butcher Block treatment is the finish. 

 

 

 

10. A turning project can create a huge amount of shaving.

 

11. Project complete.

Bobbin Lace progress

Gradually I am understanding a little more about bobbin lace and how it works although I've still a LOOOONG ways to go.

The trick, of course, is translating a pattern that looks like this:

Into something that looks like this, mostly with no instructions other than a picture to work from, or at best 3-4 lines with very general suggestions on how to get the  job done.

Not entirely true on this one though as it came lavishly illustrated on about 5 pages. 

My goal is to be able someday to do a pattern called Running River which my great-grandmother, Euphemia Jane Carter Freeman remembers learning to make as a lace maker in England.

Rolling Pin Vase

by The Woodworker

For years I have been trying to figure out what to do with old rolling pins. They are available by the score in almost every antique/consignment store. A while ago it occurred to me that maybe they would make good cookie cutters after being cut down and turned on my lathe. I tried turning cookie cutters and it worked. Then today a new idea hit me. How about making them into vases? Here is a chronicle of what happened. What do you think?

1. Start with an antique rolling pin purchased for $6.00 in local consignment store.

 

2. Remove handles and cut in half. Save handles for unknown future projects.

 

3. Rolling pin half firmly chucked up in my lathe.

 

4. Vase shape roughed out and prepared to have inside hollowed out.

 

5. Inside being hollowed out. The lathe is actually turning here before the drill bit is inserted into the rolling pin.

6. Hollowed out and final shaping complete. Rough sanding completed.

 

7. Decorative bands added and final sanding.

 

 

8. Wax and oil finish being added.

 

9. Completed vase.

 

The next problem is figuring out if I should give it away or try to sell it. If I give it away who should I give it to? If I sell it what should I ask for it?