Back in the day before you needed surveys,building permits and environmental impact studies, if a man wanted to build something,he built it. My father had already added a second story to our house. Then he decided a basement was in order. So it was, get the shovels, boys ! My brothers and I were Dads' heavy equipment.
Choosing a spot in the center rear of the house we began to dig. First down and forward until we reached the foundation. Breaking through that obstacle we began to form the basement. Digging to a depth of about seven feet. The dirt was carried out a water pail full at a time and dumped in the back yard. The rocks,and there were numerous, were placed in a separate pile. Now this house was on Long Island. The Island, the geologists say, was formed by glacial debris. Seemed like more rock than dirt to me.
Almost daily for quite a long period of time we dug. We dug after school. We dug on the weekends. We dug in teams and sometimes we dug alone. I was young and did more carrying out of dirt and rocks than digging. There was an occasion when my two brothers were digging together. One had undermined a side wall and it collapsed onto the other. There was a frantic minute or two while he dug him out of there. Could have been a disaster but luckily the Lord was on our side. When a basement half the size of the house had been completed,that was it. A concrete floor was poured and block walls erected. No windows.
Sometime later, a few years I think, Dad decided to make an entrance to the basement from the laundry room. This required breaking through the foundation once again. By this time my brothers had moved out and moved on. It was left to me. Using a large sledge hammer I began to chip away. I remember doing it and it wasn't too bad. Didn't take all that long. We now had a way to enter the basement from inside the house. I thought it was pretty cool.
Over time all the dirt that was removed from that hole was spread throughout the back yard. The rocks were used to build a barbecue and stone retaining wall. The cover of the septic tank was extended and that was the patio out back. That retaining wall wrapped around from the barbecue to the rear of the patio. A series of small pools, one draining into the next by gravity, eventually emptied into a small pond. The plan was to pump the water from the pond to the top pond and keep it circulating in that fashion. As far as I know that never happened. The project was never fully completed.
Years later, after the house had been sold, I went back for a visit. The current owner was kind enough to let me look around. I went into that back yard and was shocked. It was gone ! All of it was gone. The barbecue,the small pools, the retaining walls and the patio itself. I couldn't believe it. At one time all that was lined with flower beds and benches built right into a railing. Now it was just a pile of dirt. No grass was even growing there.
I don't have any pictures of this. Another case of taking things for granted. Mom may have taken some snapshots but they got lost over time. Only myself and my siblings remember this. Oh,Mom does too. What a shame it was all lost to time. If I were a artist I'd paint a picture of it but that talent eludes me. Well, that was all a long time ago. Even something that was " set in stone " didn't last forever. Still it was a wonderful thing it its' day.
Choosing a spot in the center rear of the house we began to dig. First down and forward until we reached the foundation. Breaking through that obstacle we began to form the basement. Digging to a depth of about seven feet. The dirt was carried out a water pail full at a time and dumped in the back yard. The rocks,and there were numerous, were placed in a separate pile. Now this house was on Long Island. The Island, the geologists say, was formed by glacial debris. Seemed like more rock than dirt to me.
Almost daily for quite a long period of time we dug. We dug after school. We dug on the weekends. We dug in teams and sometimes we dug alone. I was young and did more carrying out of dirt and rocks than digging. There was an occasion when my two brothers were digging together. One had undermined a side wall and it collapsed onto the other. There was a frantic minute or two while he dug him out of there. Could have been a disaster but luckily the Lord was on our side. When a basement half the size of the house had been completed,that was it. A concrete floor was poured and block walls erected. No windows.
Sometime later, a few years I think, Dad decided to make an entrance to the basement from the laundry room. This required breaking through the foundation once again. By this time my brothers had moved out and moved on. It was left to me. Using a large sledge hammer I began to chip away. I remember doing it and it wasn't too bad. Didn't take all that long. We now had a way to enter the basement from inside the house. I thought it was pretty cool.
Over time all the dirt that was removed from that hole was spread throughout the back yard. The rocks were used to build a barbecue and stone retaining wall. The cover of the septic tank was extended and that was the patio out back. That retaining wall wrapped around from the barbecue to the rear of the patio. A series of small pools, one draining into the next by gravity, eventually emptied into a small pond. The plan was to pump the water from the pond to the top pond and keep it circulating in that fashion. As far as I know that never happened. The project was never fully completed.
Years later, after the house had been sold, I went back for a visit. The current owner was kind enough to let me look around. I went into that back yard and was shocked. It was gone ! All of it was gone. The barbecue,the small pools, the retaining walls and the patio itself. I couldn't believe it. At one time all that was lined with flower beds and benches built right into a railing. Now it was just a pile of dirt. No grass was even growing there.
I don't have any pictures of this. Another case of taking things for granted. Mom may have taken some snapshots but they got lost over time. Only myself and my siblings remember this. Oh,Mom does too. What a shame it was all lost to time. If I were a artist I'd paint a picture of it but that talent eludes me. Well, that was all a long time ago. Even something that was " set in stone " didn't last forever. Still it was a wonderful thing it its' day.
No comments:
Post a Comment