Renovation of Historic Hambleton Inn Reveals Artifacts!

Major renovations; and we mean major have occurred from replacing the main sewer line to ripping out walls and ceilings to installing old-world cobblestone pavers on our parking lot.  This is like an archeological dig site providing us with how people lived, what they used, and dates of everything.  We have found numerous artifacts outside in the dirt that date from the mid-1800s.  These include painted porcelain teacup pieces from Austria, fine China plate parts from England, 3-gallon crock pieces, glass bottle shards, ball jar tops, coal, liquor, medicine and elixir hand-blown bottles from Snow Hill and New Jersey.  With the demolition of interior walls and ceilings, we have found interesting items buried inside of them.  These include gold-colored real wallpaper with hand-rolled white crown design, old yellow and blue flowered wallpaper, an old 1959 half-pint empty bottle of Seagram's Seven Crown Blended Whiskey and a smaller 1947 empty bottle of Old Charter Kentucky Straight Six-Year-Old Bourbon.  Why do you suppose the renovators put empty liquor bottles in the lathe and plaster old walls and ceilings?  Was it a construction tradition to place empty liquor bottles in the walls back then? 

We are excited about all the renovations to improve this neglected historic home.  We have been in front of the historic commission 6 times now and are making very many improvements that will be visible to our guests.  They include a brand-new porch, balcony and membrane roof.  The old porch was falling and leaking badly, the old beam that supported it was crumbling.  We had to rebuild and add new supports for the entire front façade.  We are also exposing many old hand-sawn wood by shipbuilders' beams and columns. There was an old sewer line installed in the late 1800s called Orangeburg Pipe, which was constructed of wood fibers, tar and coal.  It was leaking and stopped up and should have been replaced after about 50 years.  Now we know why we had issues with the plumbing!  All new sewer lines have been installed and the toilets flush very well now! We are building four completely new ensuite bathrooms with jacuzzi tubs and showers.  We have also added a shower and closet to our 3^rd floor Sydnee Suite 5 to enhance the already existing large copper soaking tub. We hope our guests will enjoy the thoughts and improvements to make this a gorgeous bed and breakfast right on the water.