What Have You Found in Your Attic?

What Have You Found in Your Attic?

Our neighborhood is filled with old houses, but are those houses filled with treasure?

A man in Missouri recently uncovered 13 bottles of whiskey from 1917 under the floorboards in his attic when he was installing central air conditioning. It reminded me of a story that ran in the Times last year, about the bits of history people have found in their homes, where neighbor Chris Kreussling shared some finds from his house, including a 1911 print of some Brooklyn waterfront and 1939 World’s Fair memorabilia.

At one of our neighborhood-wide yard sales this spring, I met a man on Argyle who was selling the wooden sign pictured above, originally from the Flatbush YMCA. He said he found it in the basement, left behind by the previous owner, when he moved there several years ago.

There must be stories like this on every block. And since it seems that the real estate market is doing better in NYC, and with that it seems that more people are doing work on their homes, this might be a great time to ask–has anyone out there uncovered anything interesting in your home? Either recently or a long time ago?