William,
Most of this can be categorized as folklore. The old house movement contains much folklore about architectural features. The most common ones in the midwest are:
    *There was a ballroom on hte third floor
    *Statuary nitches in stair weels are called coffin nitches - because the coffin had to be    carried downstairs
    * Double leaf doors are called coffin doors - because the coffin had to be carried outside

Death and dancing are intesesting themes.

Greg Koos
Bloomington IL


William Maurer wrote:

> Monday, President's Day, and again today I attended presentations at
> historic sites in celebration of General Washington's birthday.  Now, I have
> been researching His Excellency for most of my adult life and thought that I
> knew him pretty well. In both cases the speaker presented a fact that was so
> wild (and so amazing) that I wondered how I could have possibly missed it in
> my reading and research. I checked and found that the statement was entirely
> wrong.  It was as if the speaker wanted to shock the audience with great,
> superior knowledge.
>
> (When I first came to Gomez Mill House, I heard a volunteer say - and this
> volunteer was a practicing attorney - that the reason there were two
> fireplaces in the large downstairs living room was because Mr.Gomez kept a
> Kosher home. He, therefore, had a fireplace for dairy and one for meat. The
> truth, of course, is that the large room was once two smaller rooms, each
> with its own fireplace.)
>
> I am wondering if there is a term for an entirely wrong statement of fact or
> wild exaggeration. A statement that certainly should have been caught by the
> director, educator or whoever is in charge of guide or docent training.
> Have you experienced this as a common thing in historic houses and the
> telling of the history? There must be a term stronger than "silly docent
> tales."
>
> Just remembered one time in Philadelphia hearing a young guide refer to "the
> Justices' Supreme"  which, I assume, must have been a rock group during the
> American Revolution.
>
> Thanks.
>
> *****************************
> C.F.William Maurer
> Director, Gomez Mill House
> 11 Mill House Road
> Marlboro, NY 12542
> (845) 236-3126
> [log in to unmask]
> www.gomez.org
>
> Could this old house on the Hudson but speak, it might justly echo the
> Colonial maxim declaring freedom of conscience "to every man, whether
> Jew, or Turk or papist, or whomsoever steers no otherwise than his
> conscience dares." The Craftsman, Oct. 1909
> *****************************
>
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