#733 It's a Small World

The world just isn't that big and the shipping industry ties us all together.

We often see Hamburg Sud containers loaded on rail cars passing our historic Aurora train depot in Missouri, 4,714 miles from their home in northern Europe.

Even since this little guy came into our lives, we pay extra close attention to these trains coming to town.  Sometimes we stop and watch so we can see just who (JB Hunt, Hamburg Sud) is rolling by.

Hamburg Sud, mercifully short for Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft ApS & Co KG, ranks among the ten largest container shipping brands and is part of Denmark's Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company. It employs 25,000 on land and 7,000 seafarers on 800 vessels.  [from Wikipedia]

In 2008, we spotted this Maersk ship in the Baltic Sea.

And in 2014, we found this Maersk container welcoming us back to our ship, the MV Explorer, after a day spent exploring Isafjordur, Iceland.

Yours in following the shipping lines from our home to the world,
Mary Jo

#729 Lewis and Kate

When we purchased our bungalow in 2009, we immediately started researching its history.  We've learned so much since then due to the truly wonderful research tools at our disposal:

• Aurora Advertiser, microfilmed copies of our local newspaper housed in the Mount Vernon public library
• Aurora Historical Society, its collections, and its collective memory 
• Census records in Ancestry.com
• eBay and its numerous Aurora postcards by phenomenal photographer R.E. Hinchey
• Facebook groups familiar with the house and its previous owners
• FindaGrave.com
• Google Maps with its historic street views
• a Hairstylist who knows the locals
• another Hairstylist who knows the locals
• House owners and family of house owners
• Lawrence County Historical Society
• Lawrence County recorder office  
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps housed at University of Missouri and Library of Congress
• Yale University's Beinecke Library and its preserved and digitized copy of Hinchey's 1907 Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri book of photos

Our most recent discoveries are the photos of Lewis Shaw Coleman and Mary Kate Miller Coleman.  This young couple has captured our imaginations for years because while still in their 20s, Lewis and Kate built an architecturally unique airplane bungalow in small-town Aurora. We have been most eager to lay our eyes on their faces and thanks to the work of the Aurora Historical Society, we are thrilled to digitally hold these images in our house history collection.  

Lewis Shaw Coleman

Mary Kate Miller Coleman

We very much appreciate many library and archival institutions for the good work they do.  And we are especially grateful for those small-town organizations all around the country, such as the Aurora Historical Society and the Lawrence County Historical Society, for working on shoestring budgets in order to accomplish so much in the collection and preservation of historic documents and artifacts that help us tell our story.

Yours in appreciating the great work of local historical societies,
Mary Jo

#728 Ozarks Bungalow walls

We learn a lot during our Aurora haircuts!

In 2015, while getting a haircut at the Hair Shed, Jackie connected us with a descendant of the Seburn family who built the house on our lot prior to ours.

When Jackie retires a couple years later, we find Rachel whose shop is visible from our home.   It isn't long before we learn that Rachel grew up in our neighborhood and her grandfather knows a lot about our house. 

After an in-depth conversation with Rachel's grandfather, we learn the identity of the bricklayer and stone mason. Harry Darnold and his partner Charley Walters were the masons who built the brick and stone portions of our house like the columns on the front porch.

Charley Walters at lower left

Yours in gratitude for Aurora hairstylists and for the skilled masons who built our house,
Mary Jo

#725 A Very Mappy Museum

I love maps. I love museums. What if there was a museum about making maps?

We found just such a treasure at the US Geological Survey office in Rolla, Missouri.

Keith is a great guide. He knows his way around these mapping tools because he used them back in the day to create topographic maps. That makes Keith both a cartographer and historian. That's an enviable skill set.

Keith has tracked down and displayed the physical artifacts to document how mapping technology changed over time at USGS. On the second shelf from the top on the right, yes, those are 3D mapping glasses.

Way back when, I took a career test. You probably did too. Your results probably didn't come back saying you should be a "photogrammetrist".  Mine did.  But only today did I follow through. Where have you been all my life you gorgeous Kern PG2 photogrammetric plotter? Ours could have been a great life together.  You and me for eight hours a day, you creamy yellow temptress.

But when you're a rebel like me and the world says you should be a photogrammetrist, you instead take up drafting. Of course, Keith has a hands-on display for my first profession.

I didn't think it possible.  After our USGS visit, I love maps and museums even more. And oh, the gift shop...

Yours in mapping museums,
Kelly

#709 Reading 2016

According to Business Insider, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the most famous book set in Missouri.

Having already read that one some time ago, I opted to read these more recent Missouri books and loved each one.

• Mrs Grant and Madame Jule (2015) by Jennifer Chiaverini. 
• Bettyville (2015) by George Hodgman.  
• The Whole Town’s Talking (2016) by Fannie Flagg. 

 
In addition to books about Missouri, I also find myself reading literary adventures, books about books and booksellers.  According to Katarina Bivald, "you've got to be something of a dreamer to enjoy books."  She may be right.  These are my favorite literary adventures in 2016.

• The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry (2014) by Gabrielle Zevin 
  
• 84 Charing Cross Road (1970) by Helene Hanff  
• The Little Paris Bookshop (2013) by Nina George 
• The Red Notebook (2014) by Antoine Laurain
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend (2013) by Katarina Bivald
• The Bookman’s Tale (2013) by Charlie Lovett
• First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen (2014) by Charlie Lovett
  

Some books aren't categorized so easily, but I love them all the same.  Well, maybe I love that last one just a little bit more.   

• The Revolving Door of Life (2016) by Alexander McCall Smith. 
• Underneath the Lintel (2001) by Glen Berger.
• An Ideal Husband (1895) by Oscar Wilde.
• Love and Friendship: in Which Jane Austen’s Lady Susan Vernon is Entirely Vindicated (2016) by Whit Stillman.
• Eligible (2016) by Curtis Sittenfeld, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Book #4 of the Austen Project.
• Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (2015) by Matthew Burgess.
• Britt-Marie Was Here (2016) by Fredrik Backman.
• The President’s Hat (2012) by Antoine Laurain.  
• All the Light We Cannot See (2014) by Anthony Doerr - my 2016 favorite!

Yours in reading,
Mary

#707 National Register of Historic Places

Our house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places!

The NRHP is the official list of historic places worthy of preservation in the US.  It recognizes the architectural significance of the house and helps to raise awareness of the importance of historic preservation in southwest Missouri.

Though we often refer to our house as the Ozarks Bungalow, the official name is the Lewis Shaw Coleman House.  Mr. Coleman and his wife Mary Kate Miller Coleman, whose families both owned area lumber yards, built the house in 1914 on a corner lot overlooking Oak Park.  The Colemans chose a Craftsman bungalow for the style of their new home and included exposed rafters in open eaves, low-pitched gable roofs with wide overhangs, decorative gable beams, large windows to connect the house with nature, and a prominent front porch with tapered stone columns.  (For more details, see our nomination.)

The Craftsman bungalow style was unusual for Aurora in 1914 and so the construction project made the local paper.  The Aurora Advertiser reported the Coleman family was "completing a beautiful bungalow on East College" and the new Coleman bungalow showed "the progressive spirit of the city." 

Four homeowners later, we are thrilled to be awarded this NRHP listing recognizing the architectural significance of what the Colemans envisioned a century ago.  It is the only building in Aurora included on the NRHP.

In our excitement, we print this temporary plaque to hang by the front door!

Yours in living in an historic place,
Mary

#703 It Happened in August 1996

It's been 20 years since we first laid eyes on our favorite house in Aurora, MO.

On August 2, 1996, we are living in Kansas City and visiting family in southwest Missouri.  Kathy and Mark are moving to Texas so we're all getting together to celebrate their move, either that or to try to talk them into staying in Missouri!    

During the weekend, the family meets for a meal at the Plantation in Aurora (can't remember if big hats were worn) and accidentally, serendipitously, we drive down College Street and discover the house.

Our first photos are taken in 1996 when the house is owned by the Duncans and the grounds are so beautiful and well maintained.   

We continue to drive by (or stalk, if you must) the house for the next 13 years whenever we're in the neighborhood until we eventually learn it is for sale, which is yet another story of serendipitous good fortune.

Yours in serendipity,
Mary

#688 Wood Splitting for Relaxation

When Kelly wants to take a day off from home renovation projects, he likes to relax.

A couple of decades ago, Kelly and I were relaxing at the Peterson Lake Cabin in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, the country's largest national forest.

And before our relaxing was over, Kelly had filled the wood bin.

Again about a decade ago, Kelly and I were relaxing with friends in a much more comfy cabin at Minnesota's beautiful Ten Mile Lake.

Before our departure, the wood pile was high.   

 Again this weekend, Kelly relaxed with some good wood splitting.  Ahh. 

Yours in watching Kelly relax,
Mary

#684 The Wheel Horse Gets a New Stable

I admit it.  We haven't been mowing our own lawn.

We got out of the habit back in 1999 when we moved into Indy's Lockerbie Square neighborhood.  And since we moved back to Missouri last year, our attentions have been focused on the inside of the house.

That's all about to change because today, we bought a 1987 Wheel Horse 312-8 lawn tractor.  The Horse had one proud owner for its 28-year life and was sold at an estate auction this morning.  (Some proud owners have even been known to join the Wheel Horse Collectors Club and meet in Pennsylvania each June for some Horse trading!)

To break in the Horse, Kelly saddled him up and rode him home through the streets of Aurora. 

Past the Pate Early Childhood Center

Past the beautiful Aurora countryside still proudly wearing his bidder number

Waiting for the traffic to clear on Carnation Drive

Past downtown and our favorite store. (Kelly must have run inside Modern Variety to pick up something.)

And finally arriving at home.

I'd love to get a copy of Straight from the Horse's Mouth: The Wheel Horse Story at a fair price for the new Horse owner in the family.  Please let me know if you find one.

Yours in Horsing around town,
Mary

#683 Construction is in our DNA (part 2)

Construction just may be in Kelly's DNA.

Though Kelly and his father Glenn only got to be together for 19 years, Kelly learned a lot from him. Early on, he learned how to wear overalls and how to pose for an adorably cute photograph.

Glenn and Kelly early in their relationship

Glenn worked as a carpenter on many projects in Kansas City and central Missouri.

1971: Penn Valley Community College across the street from the BMA Tower.

1974:  Glenn, on right, works on Warrensburg bank building.

In addition to his full-time job, Glenn built a house for his family.

1966: Glenn painting the back of the almost-finished house in Warrensburg.

1966: Family house complete

Some carpenter/life wisdom passed down to Kelly:

• Give a tool to someone handle first.
• Return a borrowed tool in better shape than when you borrowed it.
• Blunt the point of the nail to keep the wood from splitting. 
• Work smarter by keeping your tools sharpened.
• Go into construction if you'd like, but consider less dangerous jobs that would make good use of your talents and wouldn't be so hard on your body.

Yours in luckily marrying the son of a carpenter,
Mary

#675 Butterfield Overland Mail Route in Missouri

Five miles south of our home, the historic Butterfield Overland Mail Route meanders through the Missouri Ozarks and we are on a mission to find it!

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company held the US government contract for mail delivery between Saint Louis and San Francisco from 1857 to 1861.  Using stagecoaches, celerity wagons, and 139 horse relay stations along the route, the mail could be delivered nearly 3,000 miles in 25 days.

We knew parts of the old trail still existed, so we set out to find it.  Lucky for us, the route comes close to our home and there's a map guy in the family.

Sometimes the trail is easy to find - such as when the road is labeled "Butterfield Trail Road."  (I bet those stagecoach drivers would have loved a Garmin GPS!)  

Other sections of the trail, though, are not so easy to find.  But if you persevere, you will see some beautiful Missouri country and come closer to imagining what it might have been like to travel by stage 150 years ago.

Waterman Ormsby, a reporter for the New York Herald, was the only through passenger on the first coach to leave Saint Louis.  For his first-hand account of the 24-day trip beginning September 26, 1858, be sure to read:

Ormsby, Waterman Lilly, Lyle Henry Wright, and Josephine M. Bynum. 1942. The Butterfield overland mail. San Marino, Calif: The Huntington library. 

Yours in traveling by pretend-stagecoach through beautiful Missouri,
Mary