A House is a Time Machine
Now:
A man walks out onto the front porch of a yellow house on a Sunday morning. In the distance he hears voices, growing closer. A group of runners turns the corner, all bright chatter, foot patter, and heavy breathing. He waves, as their voices swell, then slowly fade.
Fifteen years before:
Same front porch, different Sunday. A woman walks out, closes the front door softly, as her roommates sleep in. In every third block of Reynoldstown stands a small church. One by one, deacons in their long coats pass each other, tip a hat. Each of them wants an hour to themselves, in their own churches, to turn on the lights, sweep the floor, soak up the quiet. The woman watches one of them come down the hill, then lifts her coffee cup to him. He replies with a tip of his hat, then passes along.
Fifteen years before that:
A man this time, a different one. Same front porch. This house is his home, but also his art gallery, and the night before was an opening night. Packed with friends and neighbors, and a few famous faces. John Lewis was there. Samuel L. Jackson as well. The man looks up the street, past the next corner, and in the middle of Stovall stands a peacock. The peacock is kind of famous. It picks fights with buses. A blues singer wrote a song about it:
“There’s a Peacock in Reynoldstown.”
Every house is a time machine. Some more than others. Across the years, 142 Stovall St SE has been associated with Hughley Gallery, the National Black Arts Festival, Dashboard Co-op, Reynoldstown Revitalization Corporation, Vote with Dignity and 13 Cocktail Parties. The Reynoldstown Rangers started on its front porch. Museum of Reynoldstown was dreamed up in its kitchen.
In Reynoldstown, the past is always present, and so is the future. We know about those deacons, that peacock, because we sat on that very porch, with that man and that woman who lived here before us.
They handed us the keys to the time machine.
For the Reynoldstown Rangers, it’s our mission to pass along those keys. Please join us on Wednesday, October 23, for a very special edition of Walks with Resident Experts. John Gibson and John Bluhm, just before they move to a house down the block, welcome former inhabitants of 142, Courtney Hammond (co-founder of Dashboard Co-op) and Reynoldstown’s own iconic community organizer Young Hughley Jr.. Together we’ll look at seven decades of neighborhood history, through the windows of a little yellow bungalow.
We live among time machines. Take the keys.
Walks With Resident Experts, #007, 142 Stovall Street, with Young Hughley Jr., Courtney Hammond (remotely), John Bluhm, and John Gibson, and hosted by Chris Appleton, will take place on Wednesday October 23, from 6 to 8pm.
The capacity for this walk is greater than usual, but can not accommodate pets or neighbors under 10 years old.
*Technically a talk, or even a visit, but perhaps you'll walk over. However you arrive, expertise awaits.