Has anybody here dove this? I read a brief mention of it on another thread, followed the link that was provided and the following is a copy of the description of the sunken house and how it got there.
I would REALLY like to dive this, can anyone provide location of the house in relation to the lake?
Thanks allot in advance.........
The Sunken House of Gardner Lake
[font=Palatino,Times,'Times New Roman',serif]IF YOU DROPPED anchor some still night at a certain spot in Salem's lovely Gardner Lake, they say you can hear a haunting melody, played on an old piano, arising from beneath the quiet waters. And if you chose next day to investigate the source of the mysterious refrain by diving with mask and tank into the depth of those dark waters, you might just find yourself standing on the roof of a house with a piano in its parlor. For there is, indeed, a full-size home resting on the lake bottom, inhabited now only by creatures which breathe with gills. The sunken house in Gardner Lake began its watery history sometime in the winter of 1899-1900. The previous fall, the owner of the home had engaged a constructing firm to move the house from its original lot on one side of the lake to a lot he had recently purchased on the opposite shore. The contractor determined that the most efficient way to move the building was to wait until deep winter cold had frozen the lake solid and then to slide it from shore to shore on the thick ice. Once the house was jacked up off the ground and placed on giant runners, a team of oxen could easily accomplish the task. Moving day finally arrived, but by the time the house had been prepared for the sled, moved down to the shore and slid half-way across the lake, darkness had fallen. The workers decided to leave the house resting on its icy bed overnight and complete the move after daybreak. However, when they returned to the lake the next morning, they discovered to their chagrin that the extreme weight of the house resting on one spot for so long had been too much for the supporting ice. It had cracked under the pressure, leaving the house and all its contents listing heavily to port and threatening to sink altogether. Lacking the equipment to haul the structure from the water, all the contractors could do was go through the house salvaging such valuables as were portable and leave the building and its remaining contents to Mother Nature. Surprisingly enough, even after the ice left Gardner Lake, the house stubbornly refused to sink. In fact, for several years it continued to float, half-submerged, on the surface of the lake. Here tourists came from as far away as Boston to view the remarkable floating house, and children from the area were said to have enjoyed rowing out to play in the still unsubmerged attic. Years after it finally settled to the bottom of the lake -- at a point where water depths are said to exceed fifty feet -- divers in scuba gear have enjoyed finding the sunken hulk and exploring its interior. As late as 1959, a doll and crockery were recovered from the damp domicile. Recent explorers have also reported that many of the larger pieces of furniture remaining in the house are still in a remarkable state of preservation. Especially is this true, they say, of the upright piano leaning against a parlor wall. But even the divers can offer no explanation for the occasional stories that come from fisherman working the waters over the sunken house on certain warm, quiet evenings. More than a few anglers have come home at night to tell family and friends about the echoing piano melodies which have come faintly to their ears -- as if from the water directly beneath them -- and which, they claim, they just can't seem to forget.
I would REALLY like to dive this, can anyone provide location of the house in relation to the lake?
Thanks allot in advance.........
The Sunken House of Gardner Lake
[font=Palatino,Times,'Times New Roman',serif]IF YOU DROPPED anchor some still night at a certain spot in Salem's lovely Gardner Lake, they say you can hear a haunting melody, played on an old piano, arising from beneath the quiet waters. And if you chose next day to investigate the source of the mysterious refrain by diving with mask and tank into the depth of those dark waters, you might just find yourself standing on the roof of a house with a piano in its parlor. For there is, indeed, a full-size home resting on the lake bottom, inhabited now only by creatures which breathe with gills. The sunken house in Gardner Lake began its watery history sometime in the winter of 1899-1900. The previous fall, the owner of the home had engaged a constructing firm to move the house from its original lot on one side of the lake to a lot he had recently purchased on the opposite shore. The contractor determined that the most efficient way to move the building was to wait until deep winter cold had frozen the lake solid and then to slide it from shore to shore on the thick ice. Once the house was jacked up off the ground and placed on giant runners, a team of oxen could easily accomplish the task. Moving day finally arrived, but by the time the house had been prepared for the sled, moved down to the shore and slid half-way across the lake, darkness had fallen. The workers decided to leave the house resting on its icy bed overnight and complete the move after daybreak. However, when they returned to the lake the next morning, they discovered to their chagrin that the extreme weight of the house resting on one spot for so long had been too much for the supporting ice. It had cracked under the pressure, leaving the house and all its contents listing heavily to port and threatening to sink altogether. Lacking the equipment to haul the structure from the water, all the contractors could do was go through the house salvaging such valuables as were portable and leave the building and its remaining contents to Mother Nature. Surprisingly enough, even after the ice left Gardner Lake, the house stubbornly refused to sink. In fact, for several years it continued to float, half-submerged, on the surface of the lake. Here tourists came from as far away as Boston to view the remarkable floating house, and children from the area were said to have enjoyed rowing out to play in the still unsubmerged attic. Years after it finally settled to the bottom of the lake -- at a point where water depths are said to exceed fifty feet -- divers in scuba gear have enjoyed finding the sunken hulk and exploring its interior. As late as 1959, a doll and crockery were recovered from the damp domicile. Recent explorers have also reported that many of the larger pieces of furniture remaining in the house are still in a remarkable state of preservation. Especially is this true, they say, of the upright piano leaning against a parlor wall. But even the divers can offer no explanation for the occasional stories that come from fisherman working the waters over the sunken house on certain warm, quiet evenings. More than a few anglers have come home at night to tell family and friends about the echoing piano melodies which have come faintly to their ears -- as if from the water directly beneath them -- and which, they claim, they just can't seem to forget.
! There was no sign of a dog.
