Thompson House Restoration and Brady Photograph

Gettysburg Greg

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Location
Decatur, Illinois
Last fall I visited the Thompson house for the first time after it had been restored by the American Battlefield Trust under the direction of Garry Adelman. The restoration to the house and surrounding property was amazing. The ABT used the July 1863 photograph taken by Mathew Brady as a guide for the restoration. I took a photo of the back of the house that included the cool dog house, rain barrel, and cellar door. For comparison, I cropped Brady's photo to focus on the same area as my modern image. The comparison shown below illustrates how closely the restoration matches the Brady image. For the real Gettysburg nerds out there, try matching up the stones on the house between 1863 and now.
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Great job as always Greg! With all the trouble they went thru restoring the place I wish they would divert water from that downspout away from the foundation. A trenched in drain pipe would be hidden from view and drain it away from the structure. Building maint. 101 stuff, water is the enemy.
 
OK, have to quit matching stones now :O o:

I have matched the stones myself. If you start with that large stone below the left of the window and above the left front of the doghouse, you can easily match the stones on the Then and Now photos. I have done the same stone matching on old Dobbin House Then and Now photos.

It is nice being retired allowing the time to perform such trivial research.
 
I have matched the stones myself. If you start with that large stone below the left of the window and above the left front of the doghouse, you can easily match the stones on the Then and Now photos. I have done the same stone matching on old Dobbin House Then and Now photos.

It is nice being retired allowing the time to perform such trivial research.

You mean that erosion didn't wear down those stones in all these years? :tongue:
 
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