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A piece of history preserved by a pack rat

Andrew has taken layer upon layer of walls out of our house.  Beautiful old shiplap has been exposed, carefully removed at times and saved for future projects like dining table, harvest table and other DIY projects around the house.  In doing so he has discovered several nests from a pack rat or two.  A pack rat also called a wood rat collects things around its surroundings for their nest.  Although the pack rat is no longer here it left behind some items of a time when going to a store for a 5 cent candy bar would have been a huge treat.

Some of the things found in the nests was a stamped envelope dated 1919 to a young Muriel Harrop as well as a  couple of letters addressed to her.  According to the Kootnenay Outlook reflections book Muriel was the first daughter of Ernest Harrop born in the early 1900’s in Nelson, BC.  There was a couple of old tattered newspapers and most interesting were date boxes, chocolate bar and gum wrappers, all presumably from the store.   Ernest Harrop started a store and post office (he was the first postmaster) from 1907 to 1930 in our house which he sold chocolate bars, candy, tobacco, ointments and some groceries.

Rats get a bad name but this rat was a historian and preserved a piece of the past nearly 100 years old.  So this one time I thank you rat for this look back into the past.

 

 

14 Comments

  1. Dad Dad

    Wow! what a find, I guess the rat ate all the chocolate— the rat. was the gum still in the package ? A lot of wrappers there.

  2. Judi Judi

    That is a great story and awesome memories for a lot of people.
    Just wanted to toss out an idea of getting Mr.PackRat some shadow boxes to display his collectibles! Some vintage type wood ones would look cool 🙂

  3. Judi Judi

    That is a great story and awesome memories for a lot of people.
    Just wanted to toss out an idea of getting Mr.PackRat some shadow boxes to display his collectibles! Some vintage type wood ones would look cool 🙂

    • Andrew Andrew

      That’s a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion!

  4. Diane Rizun Diane Rizun

    It was lovely reading this. I used to work for Herb Harrop, along with my sister, Melanie, when we were teenagers, in the 1960’s. We sometimes slept in the big barn loft near the ferry. Wonderful memories of the horses and Herb Harrop’s character. Thank you! Is it the old barn you are renovating?

    • Andrew Andrew

      Hi Diane, Thanks for your comments, we are discovering that there is a very rich history associated with this old house. We are renovating Earnest Harrop’s house, which used to be the General Store and Post office. Herb’s barn still stands on the corner, at the end of the street.

  5. Alan Nabi Alan Nabi

    Cool story & nice find! Brought back memories of taking the cable ferry twice a day, when I lived there in 1978. near the train tracks 🙂

    • We love the cable ferry and Harrop too!

  6. deb peebles deb peebles

    That is such an interesting story and with all the local history behind it.
    Thanks for sharing – would love to see photos of the renovated house as you go along.

    • Thanks Deb, we love the history of the place, one of the reasons we bought the place! More photos to come!

  7. Haikey Haikey

    Beautiful photos, I used to play in this house as a kid with a friend who lived there for a time.

  8. sandilea harrop-vollet sandilea harrop-vollet

    Hello,

    My daughter is direct descendant of Ernest and I was just in Nelson to locate the Harrop’s grave sites sites in Nelson.

    I visited Harrop a few years back and found lots of pictures of the family in the school but could not ascertain which house belonged to Ernest Harrop.

    I recently found a class photo of Herbert. Muriel and Noel dated 1906.

    Thank you for posting this family history, it’s nice to see the care taken in your renovations.

    sandilea harrop

    • The house is the second one on the left when you get off the ferry in Harrop. It was sold to us by several related families from the Elmes side (one of Ernest daughters–Winfred I think?!). One of Ernest Harrop’s granddaughters lives next door. Of course they would be more knowledgeable about it all. Most of this we found through the Kootenay Reflections book. The letter was between Muriel and Herbert dated 1919. That is neat about the photo! Thanks for stopping by! Kristie

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