Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg

Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg — page 9
Gettysburg was a growing town It had three newspapers a telegraph office a railroad and many businesses and shops George's idea was to build a saloon and a bowling alley just the kind of recreational activities the men of Gettysburg would enjoy He called it Shriver's Saloon Ten Pin Alley The saloon was built in the basement of his house its entrance in the back through the backyard The two lane bowling alley was built in the backyard to0 The main part of the house was reserved for the family Way at the back of the yard was the outhouse Indoor plumbing was not available in Gettysburg at the time It was a long walk to the outhouse in the winter but during hot summers the smell of the outhouse seldom reached the house A chamber pot one in each bedroom was used inside the house to avoid the trek to the outhouse at night It was the job of a younger child to empty the pot into the outhouse each morning George and Hettie rented a house across the street while their home was being constructed Over the months George kept the workers on track and Hettie chose wallpaper furnishings and kitchen goods for the house Finally in late 1860 the Shrivers moved into their beautiful new home A Shoe for Good Luck One of the traditions among the German population of Gettysburg was to place a child's shoe in a wall for luck as a house was being built The shoe usually belonged to the youngest child in the family The Shrivers did this They placed one small shoe probably Mollie's below under the floorboards in the attic How do we know this Modern owners of the home found the shoe when they restored the house in 1996