Lincoln's Header

I just had to blog about this story because it is such a good one! There is a quaint shop in Quincy, IL where I live called Ohio Street Originals. They are a husband and wife team that specialize in creating one of a kind items. He is good at crafting things out of tree branches like tables, chairs, etc. She is good at crafting things out of found objects and garage sale finds. Anyway, every year during the first weekend in December they have a huge open house. They invite other vendors in that sell baked goods and homemade crafts. I like to go because the atmosphere is wonderful. It puts me in the Christmas spirit and all the dried flowers and crafts just makes it so homey.

So, as I eat my way through the store and visit with friends that are there, we ooh and aah over the cutest things and buy, buy, buy. Did I tell you that their prices were fabulous too?  As I am standing in the looooooooong checkout line, I am gazing around and see an old chippy header. No price! Hmmmmmmmm, so I holler over at the owner and ask if he would sell it to me. Yes, indeed he will...for $15! I say, I'll take it. He got it down for me and said that when I get up to the front to pay that he will tell me the story about it. Okay, so now he has my curiosity up. Oh, by the way, here is a sneak peek at the header (below).

Still got your attention? Okay, so I get up to him to pay and he says that a couple from a small town near Quincy called Mendon, bought an old house. They gutted the inside but did not reuse the old windows, headers, etc. when they rebuilt the home. They sold this pile of 'junk' to the Ohio Street Originals couple because they knew that he would do something cool with the pieces. Well, he had yet to do anything with this header, but said that Abraham Lincoln spent the night in this home on October 13, 1858, during the Lincoln/Douglas debates! Yes, my header may have graced the door to the room where Abe slept on that eve. How cool was that?

So, I decided that I would not touch the paint on this piece since it had historical significance. But I did buy a vinyl saying that says, "laughter is the music of the heart". After cleaning the header, I simply put this in the center. Done.  Now where do I hang it? Well, I walked around my home and finally found the perfect spot. Above our master bedroom headboard! I will give you a sneak peek of that too since I haven't blogged about the master bedroom yet (below).

I will tell you that I purchased these old shutters at auction and had my young and cute handy dandy handyman make this headboard to my specifications. It is huge and tall and wonderful. I will show how he did it and more about the room at a later post. Wonder if I will be dreaming of Abe tonight? Terry

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