2014/1/28 9:42:59
Week of 01/27/14 – What’s with this crazy polar weather?? The Norwood House has seen its share of frigid temps, especially with its exposed site on the bluff above the river. Did you know that many valuable photos of historic homes in southern areas only exist because people got excited about snow and wanted to record what it looked like at their property? It’s true, and to the younger folks I would just say: digital photography wasn’t invented, and you didn’t break out the Brownie for nuthin’! At any rate, there are lots of pics of Norwood that are snowy. Check them out on our photo links.
We hope this is the last winter that Norwood has to endure without a thorough clean-out, stabilization and better protection. If we’re lucky, by this time next year we’ll be doing Phase II of the full restoration, or close to it.
Our big news from last week was the discovery of a rare, full & complete Parshall Report. The PR is a seminal document about the history & condition of the Norwood House done in the mid-90s by local architect Ruth Parshall. It was part of a previous effort to save the house by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Texas (and these gals did save the house by accomplishing the crucial move back onto its original site). Finding this complete report is extremely helpful to NPF – we only had a short, draft version all this time – and our profound thanks go to historian Martha Doty Freeman for getting it to us for duplication. Thank you, Ruth and Martha.
We’re still waiting for certain abatement steps to be finalized before crews can start the hands-on work. Can hardly wait for that to begin; we’ll let you know!