We know a lot of the details about our house and it’s little spot on the Earth.  Here’s a quick summary:

• 2007 - we purchased the house from the estate of Henrieta Walker.
• 1961 - the house was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Walker.
• 1959 - 1961 - two different owners occupy the house for about one year each.
• 1911 - 1959 - the house is occupied by its original owner, Garner Whiteman, who was a Chemist working for the Department of Agriculture.
• 1911 - The house was built by the developer Harry Wardman as part of a large group of row homes built between 1910 and 1914, and bounded by Spring, 14th, Monroe and Holmead Streets.
• c 1800 - 1910 - The area was a farm, eventually sold by Mr. Holmead to Harry Wardman.

But what about all the time before that?  Forests, Native Americans, Dinosaurs?  I have been thinking about this because I  just finished digging a pit in our back yard nine feet long by three feet wide by three feet deep.  I wondered how long all of that dirt had been there as I cursed the rocks in my path.  There were very clear layers of sediment that I was passing through and we figured they must have been at least thousands of years old.  Here’s a little of what I’ve learned of the history of our back yard.

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