Exterior photo above and to the right were taken by Darlene Yarnetsky on September 14, 2008. As you can see, during the windstorm, the tree was completely uprooted from the area between the street and the sidewalk, causing damage to the south face and the east side of the building.
The interior photo below, courtesy Historic Madison, Inc. (HMI) , was taken just on the other side of the gaping hole seen in the photo above. According to the booklet put out by HMI, the third floor had previously been restored to reflect the dual usage of that area of the house for a schoolroom and a domestic workroom of sorts, for duties such as sewing, carding, etc., and when originally restored was opened to the public (in 1983).
In the Historic Madison, Inc. photo below, arrows indicate the approximate location of shoes found by workers repairing the front box gutter which we assume was originally put on the building in the 1840s, during a time period which seems to match that of the manufacture of the found shoes. The first shoes, galvanized rubber shoes found by Brian Martin, were found in the area shown by the arrow to the right . John Marsh, found the larger cache of shoes when he tore off the damaged gutter, in March of 2010.
The photo below shows the approximate area in which John Marsh said the shoes were found when he tore off the deteriorated gutter. When you see the construction of the house, it makes you wonder how the shoes got there and what a chance it was that they were found. No one knew the shoes existed until the storm damage occurred and subsequent repairs were begun.
The photo (right, also by HMI) shows the damaged box gutter and repairs being made. Patrick Cunningham took the photo below of the repaired gutterwork and new copper downspouts that will last a lifetime.
