When Michael and Lark McCarley started sorting through the duskybasement corners of their 119-year-old house and barn, they didn'trealize they would become inspired history buffs -- let alone be onnational television.
They just thought they were cleaning out rubbish to make room forLovelace Manor, their bed and breakfast. Michael needed space in thebarn so he could reupholster furniture and refinish woodwork. Thebasement would be home to the game room.
But one by one, they started to unearth items that made themwonder about the previous owners: old stirrups, leather carriageseats, bottles of medicine and a book on horse medicine, written inthe 1800s.
The Tennessee couple knew nothing about the house's history whenthey moved to Rohrerstown two years ago. They had only seen the housefor 20 minutes before they bought it, just long enough to be sure ithad the essential features for a bed and breakfast.
It didn't take long for neighborhood historians to tell them thebasics: Dr. Martin Ringwalt and his wife, and then his son, Dr. JohnRingwalt, lived in the house for almost a century. The elder Ringwalttreated patients in the front rooms facing Marietta Avenue, they weretold. The younger was a cardiologist with an office in Lancaster.
With the discovery of a flask of Yerba Santa Compound, whichclaims to be "unexcelled as a cough remedy," and the lid of a 10-cent tin of "The Great Healer," the McCarleys' interest in thedoctors grew. They also were intrigued to find the book, "VeterinaryMedicine and Surgery in Diseases and Injuries of the Horse," with theelder Ringwalt's name written on the inside.
To find out more, the McCarleys researched the Lancaster CountyHistorical Society, the Historic Preservation Trust and on theInternet. They listened to neighbors' stories and pried them forinformation.
They discovered that "Doc Ringwalt" had been a well-loved man andprobably "an astute businessman," Lark said. He was one of the 17original founders of the Hamilton Watch Company and one of only 25people who, in 1905, rode in cars to the 100-year anniversarycelebration of Robert Fulton, she said.
They know he liked nice furnishings, based on different pieces heowned that are now in museums. A huge mirror, created in the RococoRevival Style popular during the Civil War, still graces the home'sentryway. Neighbors remember seeing it while they waited for thedoctor to treat their parents.
In the basement, the McCarleys found the doctor's old gas machine."At first, we thought it was a still. We thought it might be a linkto the bottles in the barn," Lark said.
A closer look revealed the label, "The Improved Elkins and RoyalGas Machine," manufactured by the Pennsylvania Globe Gas LightCompany in Philadelphia. A neighbor explained that the machine wasused to turn oil into gas that was then circulated by 700 pounds ofpulleys to the gas lanterns in the house. Typically a larger machinelike it supplied gas to a whole town, Michael was told. That thedoctor owned one just for his house, neighbors said, either meantthat he was progressive or he was too frugal to use public utilities,Lark said. Neighbors say the machine was used last in 1976, to lightthe house for a bicentennial celebration.
All this history caught the attention of Michelle Bills, aproducer for High Noon Productions, the film company that creates "IfWalls Could Talk" on Home and Garden Television. The show featureshomeowners who are inspired to learn about the history of theirhomes.
Bills and cameraman Jim O'Halloran were at Lovelace Manor foralmost 12 hours, May 24, to film a 6-minute segment that will airthis fall or next spring. It was a good choice, Bills said, becausethe house is beautiful and Lark and Michael know its history.
"So much was left behind from the house. You have crown molding.The doctor left some of his medicine. You can just feel almost thepresence of the people," Bills said.
But not a ghostly presence, Lark insists, with a laugh. In fact, apsychic who stayed at the bed and breakfast told them the house hadlots of positive energy.
Michael, the handyman of the two, understood that. "I've sure puta lot of energy in it," he told her.
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