(By George McKale) When Selma Blanusa was remodeling the old barn on her rural Seventh Street property, she noticed something different on the interior walls, namely paper. Along with her contractor, Chris Grippi, she began to unravel other peculiarities regarding the barn’s construction, eventually determining that it was once a home and later converted into a barn.
Selma had collected a number of ancient wine bottle bases, a variety of iron thing-a ma-jigs, ceramics and square nails near the old 25 by 25 foot square home. The conclusion: why not conduct an archaeological excavation to see what other little treasures may be buried beneath the soil. That’s exactly what happened last May 17, as fourth graders from Peggy McClure’s Prestwood Elementary class made their way to Selma’s property for an almost three hour dig!
The children had been studying California history from teacher Peggy McClure — what better way to appreciate history than to get a little dirty? City Historian and archaeologist George McKale was on hand to provide a little expertise, along with screens and shovels.
Students were eager to get digging, and after a brief introduction, grabbed shovels and trowels and began moving soil to buckets and buckets to screens, in hopes of finding clues to the homes 19th century past.
Old maps indicate that Mary Shaw lived there from at least 1877 to 1898. One of the more interesting artifacts collected in the screens was an old hairpiece. One can only imagine Ms. Shaw, donning that accessory before taking the wagon into downtown Sonoma to stock up on supplies.
Many of the artifacts collected — wine bottle fragments, a 1915 mason jar, a hairpiece, a foot to a wood stove and ceramics — indeed point to a habitation site rather than items one would normally associate with a rural barn.
It was a great day to be out, everyone got dirty, and hopefully the students walked away with a deeper appreciation of history.
