Seidel's Grocery Store

The mysterious building I was talking about in my latest post is located on the south side of the house where Jerry grew up. On the north side, there was another building, this one made from wood, which is the most common way around here.

That building was Seidel's store until the late seventies, right before Sally Seidel passed away. After that, it was sitting there, distressed by the inclement weather and waiting to just fall down.

It always saddens me to see how something that was once so important for somebody gets abandoned for whatever reason. I think of all the dreams and effort that were put in it and I wish there was somebody to care about it. But that is not always possible.

So there it was the old Seidel's store, ready to be hit and blown away by a storm. We purchased it and demolished it, so there was no chance that anybody could get hurt by a flying board. Before tearing it down, though, I went in and found many things that had been there for all those years.

For some reason, the past has always had a powerful attraction to me. Looking at the remains of those people's lives, even though I never met them, I felt connected.

That Mysterious Building

Right next to the house where Jerry grew up, there was this beautiful old brick building. Nobody lived there. I was very curious about it and tried to see the interior through the windows, but they had shades and the door glass was painted. The door, of course, was locked.

On the doorstep, there was a plate that read "US Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark. Elev. 2333.178 Feet Above Mean. Sea Level. $250 Fine or Imprisonment for Disturbing This Mark. 1925"

The building started being the Bank of Belvidere, and later was a Post Office and a grocery store at some point. Jerry's family had owned the grocery store for a while many years ago.

The more I knew about it, the bigger was my curiosity.

Would I ever see what those walls so zealously kept?