In a message dated 12/3/99 12:23:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jager@PEREGRINE.CS.JHU.EDU writes:

<< Cary, NC is the worst. Just last week, I watched from my VANAGON window as
 > they crumpled an entire, complete 1930's house. Not an abandoned dump mind
 > you. Recently occupied. EVERYTHING went to the landfill, including about
 > 2,000 square feet of Maple T&G floor, Beautiful doors, windows, fixtures,
 > baseboards, everything. Lots of stuf that could have been transported in my
 > VANAGON. Nothing was stripped, no apparent attempt to advertise that it
 > would be torn down (come pick and pull). DUH!
 > >>

think that's bad?  it's not uncommon for a late 1700's early 1800 stone
farmhouse/barn  here in SE PA to be reduced to a pile of rubble simply to
make way for a new cheap townhouses, or a industrial or housing development -
or simply because its unoccupied.. I'm talking about homes built entirely by
hand, with hand chisled limestone/fieldstone walls, hand hewn beams joined by
mortise and tenon, and hand wrought nails, made one by one on a blacksmith's
anvil.   there is virtually NO historic preservation here.
Living in a hand built stone farmhouse built in 1830 for most of my life, i
have come to enjoy the funkyness of something that has been around for 170 or
so years.  a lumpy wall doesnt bother me-it adds charachter.
its just depressing that most young people today dont have the preservation
thing in mind.  would rather tear down the old, build the new.
you also notice it with antique autos.  go to a antique car show.  you will
notice that most of the owners of the antique cars are not younger than
middle age.

i guess its called progress.....  and its not always good.

chris