The events that unravel in Benton seem like they could be right out of a book or movie - and we are loving every twist and turn.
Around the middle of August, I received an always welcomed message from, Bob, the local historian. This message was to let us know that he was having lunch with friends of the son of a previous owner of our home, the Eovaldi's. It turns out that while owning the property, the Eovaldi's had the south wall collapse leaving a mess of bricks on the property. By the truckload, the bricks ended up with a wonderful lady in town named Biki. She used them for various projects around the house, and had recently decided she was no longer going to use them, and was wanting to get rid of them. Luckily, through the power of coincidence and local conversations, Bob was able to reach out to us and let us know we could get the bricks if we were willing to pick them up!
After a quick introductory call, we got to meet Biki and Caesar and learn more about the town and history of our home. Biki is an outstanding artist (https://www.bikichaplain.com/) and Caesar is a retired journalist - such a kind and welcoming couple. We talked about how we can best grab the brick without harming their yard and are now working on bringing the bricks home! We only have a small trailer, so we'll be making several trips with the goal of getting all of them by November. Here's hoping we can do it!
Now here's where things really start to get interesting. One of the many treasures found in our home are the original blueprints (!!!) for the house that were stored in a bench on a landing leading to the 2nd floor. Matt has gone through the blueprints in detail and we plan to preserve them and hang them throughout the house and carriage house. While going through all of the blueprints, Matt also found there were blueprints of a home outside of Chicago from the 1960's! He separated them from ours and we agreed when we found ourselves up near Chicago, we would take them to the address and see what happens...
Fast forward to this weekend and we have taken a trip to Chicago for our 2 year anniversary to see Jim Jeffries, a comedian that we both enjoy. This was it! Let's drop off the blueprints. As we followed directions from Google we discussed the possible outcomes and figured we would meet some random people, if they answered the door. If nobody answered, at least we would leave them on the porch and know we returned them to where they belong. After driving by the house and realizing there was no parking in front, we eventually parked around the corner and got ready. It was raining, so I protected the documents under my Denver hoodie and walked up to the house. Matt rang the doorbell and we waited for a short amount of time. A woman cautiously answered the door and was soon met with her husband. Matt started to explain why we were there, unrolled the blueprints, and after a few moments we could tell that their guard relaxed and they opened the glass door between us.
They explained they had heard we moved in and had read this blog. I found this odd. Yes, we know that Benton is a small town but why did these specific people have an interest in the home? We were all the way up in Chicago, and those blueprints were OLD (60 years). It turns out the husband of the couple grew up in Benton! With the rain still coming down, we were invited into their home, and accepted. Sitting across from them they started to ask very specific questions about the asthetics of the home, eventually speaking about his room and his mom's decorating. Matt politely asked what their last name is, and guess what they said!? Eovaldi!!! Oh my goodness! We were sitting in the living room of TL Eovaldi, the man that gifted the bricks to Biki! (EDIT: We just received a correction from TL that the bricks were given to Chatter and Bev by his dad, Bill Eovaldi). The blueprints we brought were of the house we were sitting in, and had brought us full circle to one of the most prominent owners of our home! What a fantastic, unexpected surprise! We sat and listened to stories about the home and TL as a young man, his mother and father, and other treasures from the past to try and find in the overgrown yard. Looks like we have a second fountain near the carriage house to find when we get back home...
WHAT A TREAT! We left giddy and so happy that we took a chance on the mystery blueprints!
