Tunnell’s Fertilizer Burlap Sack
I hope everyone had a great weekend! I am super tired from Sam’s Birthday Party. We managed to make and cook 28 kid size pizzas in about an hour, along with fruit kabobs and cookie and apron decorating. The good news is that everyone had a great time. The bad news is that I think it will take a few days for me to recover.
So anyway, back to my story for today. A while back I posted about the burlap sacks that we found stuffed against the sill plate of the foundation when we were demolishing the basement. We were planning on framing them and hanging them in the basement. I hadn’t thought much about them, since that project is still on the “to do” list. So I was very surprised to get an email from the great-grandson of the founder of the F.W. Tunnell & Company (who made the fertilizer). He was wondering whether I was willing to part with the sack. For once my procrastination paid off and I hadn’t gotten around to framing (and potentially cutting the sacks) yet. He still lives near us so I was happy to return the sack to him. He has been looking for a sack like this for a LONG time without any luck, and remembers one hanging in his grandparent’s home when he was a child. Interestingly the F.W. Tunnell & Company was in business from the 1890s to the 1950s. We think our sacks date from the 1910-1930 range.
My guess is that he will have his hanging up before I do. Who would have thought that the balled up piece of burlap would make someone’s day and end up framed in not one but two houses.
