Showerthought: a broken piece of pottery in my garden made me see my whole town differently

I was digging a hole for a new bush in my backyard in Flagstaff and hit a chunk of old ceramic with my shovel. I took it to the local history museum on a whim, and the curator said it was likely from a homesteader's kitchen in the 1880s. Now I can't walk down my street without picturing the old wagon trails and cabins that were here before the houses. Has anyone else found something simple that totally changed how you look at a place?

2 comments

2 Comments

adams.henry8d ago

You know what you should do? Go back to that exact spot and sift through the dirt with a garden sieve, real slow. I found an old horseshoe nail like that once, and then a clay marble. It's like the ground keeps giving up little pieces of the story if you're patient. That one piece is a clue, but there's probably more right under your feet.

the_ryan8d ago

That curator gave you a real key to the past. I get that feeling of a place suddenly having hidden layers.