The "Writing's on the Wall …… and Ceiling" Story

The Landon House in Urbana, MD

It was an ordinary day.  Recalling one of the stories that I wrote last year about the Landon House in Urbana, Maryland.  My granddaughter, Camille, and I made a visit to the historic mansion and while there got to see inscriptions and writings that were above one of the fireplaces in the house.  They were placed there by both Confederate soldiers and Union soldiers during the Civil War.

Inscriptions on the wall found beneath the old wallpaper.

The charcoal drawings were of General Lee and President Lincoln, among other things.  You can read about it by clicking on "History" and leafing back through the stories.  Well, today I was reading the newspaper about a fellow who lives in the Grandview Heights area of Manheim Township.  Carol and I lived at 925 Janet Avenue in Grandview Heights for 29 years where we raised our three children.  We moved into our three-story semi-detached Tudor style home about a year after we were married in 1967.  Neat place that had three bedrooms, one bath, a full basement and a full third-floor.  Did quite a bit of remodeling and made some neat discoveries along the way.  The story in the newspaper told of a family who was also doing some remodeling and made a great find.  While removing some old wallpaper the couple discovered inscriptions behind it.  

Newspaper photo of inscription on wall of Janet Ave. home.

On October 1,1929 Lester Brinkman, wallpaper hanger, signed his name on the plaster wall before he papered over it.  Other hangers did the same thing in 1943, 1969 and 1979.  Seems that Mr. Brinkman was the one who re-papered the house in 1943 along with a Ray Greider.  They identified themselves on the wall as fire policemen as well as Mr. Greider signed on as an air warden.  One of the things they also wrote was: "Who won the war?  U.S., Japan or Germany."  The inscriptions probably pre-dated the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki so they had no idea about who might have won the war.  The fellow who made the discovery in his house plans to paint the walls, but will place glass over the spot where the inscriptions were discovered.  Also brought back memories of my time on Janet Avenue when Carol and I decided to redo our bathroom.  We had a leak in the plumbing and I had to take the tile off the floor to find out the location of the leak.  This all took place while Carol was 8 months pregnant with our first child.  After finding the leak, we decided to redo the entire bathroom and as I was removing the old medicine cabinet I discovered on the wall behind it the date that the house was built.  There on the wall was written "constructed in 1929."  Pretty neat discovery, but I had to remove that part of the wall and while doing so the plaster crumbled and I lost the inscription.  History displays itself in many mysterious ways.  I often wonder what future owners of the house on Janet will think when they read what I had written when I put suspended ceilings in the living and dining rooms of the house.  Did date it, but also added a few other comments which after selling the property realized I should have dropped the ceiling tiles and painted over the inscription.  I'd give you the info, but don't want to get in any trouble.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.