>>Later in
the project a plumber had to do an excavation and we found all of the
wonderful perfectly matching dark sand under our feet.<<

Back in the 1990s we were recreating the clay-soil plaster at the Parson 
Fisher House in Westbrook, Maine, built in 1751. Parson Fisher's journal 
came to light, sending us to the west bank of the nearby brook for 
exactly matching clay-soil, and a later entry that the upper front 
chamber was plastered in late December, the plaster froze, and was 
falling off the next spring, when, he lamented, it had to be replastered 
at no small expense. The good Parson's moral drawn from the sobering 
experience: "not to get plastered on Christmas, for fear of retribution 
by Easter."

John
www.HistoricHomeWorks.com

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