Day One - Preservation Begins

It has been a long two years and so many of you have asked, "How can I help," that in November of 2007 we decided to set up a PayPal link for online tips and contributions through the Lucky Star Cooperative in Tryon, North Carolina. Just click on the "U Can Help" box on the left side of the Eunice Waymon Birthplace weblog's main page. Please know that your tip is not tax-deductible, but will be used exclusively to help offset the costs of the Birthplace Restoration. Each contribution receives a personal reply and if you include your address, a small token of our gratitude from the Lucky Star Cooperative, Tryon, North Carolina, USA. Come see us!

Now, back to the beginning -- this is how is all began in 2005...

November 25, 2005.

Today was the first day in the Eunice Waymon Birthplace. J.O and I stopped by the hardware store on the way to East Livingston Street and bought tools, a metal pail, and a broom. When we arrived at the house we discovered the kitchen window facing the back porch had been broken out. The plastic covering the window on the inside was ripped, but the window remained locked. The doorknob on the back door was loose and we discovered the jam was splintered from being hit from the outside.

The house was musty and moist smelling on the inside.

In the bathroom (on the same end of the house as the kitchen) we found the window there broken out also. Julie started cleaning the glass in the kitchen window and I worked in the bedroom testing the ceiling tiles and pulling a few down. We discover the original bead-board ceiling was above a false ceiling with a 14-inch airspace. We already knew there was bead-board on the walls because in a small closet we could see original wall.

Above the false ceiling was the original light fixture still intact. The fixture has a small porcelain element and two long cloth covered wires suspending the bulb socket at mid height in the room. The socket has a pull chain.

Above the false ceiling the bead-board in the far corner of the bedroom towards the kitchen is in very bad shape with much dry rot and insect damage. In the kitchen there is a false ceiling too and above it the bead-board ceiling is not much better. The cause of all the damage is the flashing and tin roof around the chimney and where a recent patch has been added. The whole house on the outside has been clad with a fiber type siding which covers the original clapboard. On the outside of the house near where the ceiling is damaged on the inside, the siding is buckled indicating more than likely there is damage underneath.

Back on the inside, the ceiling in the bedroom took three hours to take down. Winfred Suber stopped by and visited for about fifteen minutes and viewed the bedroom. Winfred’s great, great grandmother is listed on Eunice Waymon’s birth certificate, as Kate Waymon’s mid-wife. The birth certificate indicates Eunice was born at home. We were standing in the room were Eunice Waymon was born.

Robin and Garland Rice stopped by to see the house and walked through. Garland offered a number of suggestions on the foundation and back porch situation. After everyone left we continued taking down the ceiling tiles and supports in the bedroom.

On the front porch we removed a panel that covered an access hole that has been cut in the ceiling of the porch. With a flashlight the inside of the tin roof could be seen. From the inside the tin is pressed, but from the outside it is simply utility tin. Just like the clapboard being covered with siding, the bead-board ceiling being covered with a false ceiling, and the bead-board walls being covered with particleboard, the pressed tin is covered with utility tin.

On the front porch to the right of the front door, I removed several sections of siding and exposed the clapboard underneath which is painted white. At the edge of the door jam the bead board on the inside can be seen although on the inside the walls of the room have been covered with sheet rock.

This was the end of day one at the Eunice Waymon Birthplace.