Because I’m Obsessed With Old Bricks

I found an old brick lying on the ground at Black Swamp Plantation.  There are ruins of steps there, the remainder of an entry staircase from when the house was burned by Sherman in 1865. 

I didn’t dislodge it. I didn’t pry it from the staircase, although one of those tread bricks with the rounded front would have been amazing to hold. I didn’t move scatter other brick crumbles around, looking for just the right one. 

I picked up the one in front of me, lying alone on the ground. 

And I packed it up and shipped it to California. 

*****

Upon arrival…

  
I received this photo of the brick sitting on a glass-topped wicker table. 

The brick had been sitting on the ground for so long, while waiting for me, that it had grown a mossy green top. That’s a long time of sitting while waiting on your plane to arrive to take you to California. 

I found an old brick once at the Pineland Plantation. Along the top, there were the indentions of three fingers. My first three fingers fit perfectly into the shallow depressions, as if I were the brick maker pressing my hand into the clay, forcing it into the mold. 

I didn’t see those types of fingerprints on Mr. Mossy Brick. 

The receiver, however, discovered something on his brick that I had not seen. 

Three indentions along the side near the top, as if you were picking up a drying brick with your fingertips. Moving it, perhaps turning it, to let it dry evenly to that it didn’t curl like a slice of bread left out on the countertop. 

On the other side was a depression where a thumb would fit. At the short end of the brick was an indention, a shallow depression where a little finger might have fit to aid in balance. 

Like this…

  
Which means that we drive back by the Pineland, which was the summer home of the folks who owned the Black Swamp Plantation. Sugar was very patient and waited in the car while I took photos. 

   
   
  
  
  
  
More brick photos, coming soon to a blog near you. 

Tags: Family History, old bricks, Pineland Plantation