A place where past times and modern days converge – Bluefield Daily Telegraph

From basement to back porch, I make my way through a timestamp of history. Decades are traversed with each step old coins uncovered beneath basement floors; pop culture headlines unveiled in newspapers stashed in the back of a closet.

I live in an old house. A place where past times and modern days converge.

The etching in the basement reads 1934. Eighty years ago someone poured concrete and was astute enough to mark the date. I wonder who it was, and what his life was like. Earlier that year, the Flash Gordon comic strip debuted and the first high school auto driving course was offered in Pennsylvania.

Did he own a car? Was he a Sunday funnies fan?

Did he watch Shirley Temple in her inaugural movie or chuckle at the first Donald Duck cartoon?

Did he cheer when Babe Ruth hit his 700th career home run in July?

Was he worried when Adolf Hitler became commander-in-chief of Germany in August?

Was he a scholar? Jokester? Blue-collar guy?

The concrete tells only the date.

September 17, 1943, was a Friday. I imagine the weather was nice. Temps have generally cooled at this time of year, but autumns chill has yet to arrive. I am sure the hardwood forest was still primarily green, but, perhaps, a tinge of yellow and red was beginning to tint the leaves.

On this day, someone poured concrete on my back porch. Unlike the austere 1934 in the basement, the stamp from nearly a decade later is much more artsy and imaginative. Scrolls outline the date, and a wagon wheel design rests beneath it. Its purpose appears to be purely decorative.

But who took the time to embellish the numbers to highlight and accentuate the calendar day? Was an actual wheel used to make the imprint, or did someone draw it?

As a child, my fingers played on the spokes, often highlighting them with white chalk. I would smile when running my fingers across the grooves; frown when my Jack rocks ball would take a bad bounce after hitting the uneven surface.

As an adult, I have simply pondered the date and designs wondering about their history and the person who made them.

I am a news junkie, but what about the person behind the scrolls and wagon wheel? Did he listen to the news on that date and lament the explosion of ammunition at Norfolk Naval Air Station? Did he read about it the next day in the pages of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph?

My old house has a rich history. According to family stories, it was built by a wine maker from Italy Dominic Zeoli. Land deeds back up this part of the tale. A little fuzzier is the lore surrounding the actual construction of the house.

Many have told me the house was built by the same Italian stonemasons who crafted the walls in Bluefield. Legend has it they worked in the city during the day and spent evenings in my small community of Duhring. They would drink wine and build Mr. Zeolis house. Bricks for the house supposedly came from the old coke oven in Goodwill, and sand for the grout from the Bluestone River.

Although I cant authenticate the story, I do know when my family moved in many decades ago grapevines covered the house, murals adorned walls and wine casks filled one of the basement rooms. To this day, it is still dubbed the wine room.

The year 1992 was busy in headlines and at home. Ross Perot was running for president, 16-year-old Tiger Woods became the youngest PGA golfer in 35 years and Amy Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco, spurring stories and made-for-TV movies for years to come.

And there was also that vote-for-your-favorite-Elvis-stamp craze, which ultimately gave our post office in Rock its own moment in history.

I spent the summer in frenzied bride-to-be state preparing for an August wedding. And at some point during those warm months my father worked for a few days repairing a portion of the backyard retaining wall originally constructed by the Italians.

Although I have vague memories of the work, they are sparse. At the time my mind was cluttered with white satin, wedding cake designs and pink and plum flower options.

I do know that my brother was visiting when the repair work was nearly completed. His initials, WEM, beside the date 1992 remain visible to this day. Alsospecial is the handprint beside them.

I imagine an enthusiastic Dad dragging a protesting Mom from the kitchen. She probably wiped her hands on a dishtowel before finally, at Dads urging, placing one palm firmly in the wet concrete surrounding the stones. At that moment, Moms imprint became a piece of history.

An old house is much more than brick and stone. It is a timeline of the people who have passed before.

Samantha Perry is editor of the Daily Telegraph. Contact her at sperry@bdtonline.com. Follow her @BDTPerry.

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A place where past times and modern days converge - Bluefield Daily Telegraph