A Couple Bought a Vine-Covered Mini Home for $3 — What They Found Inside Surprised the Town

The first thing they saw was a leather-bound journal. The cover was dry and cracked but intact.

Adeline lifted it with reverent hands and opened to the first page.

JOURNAL OF JOSIAH WHITMORE. TRADING POST, RIVERSIDE SETTLEMENT. YEAR OF OUR LORD 1847.

“His journal,” Emily whispered. “A primary source document from the founding of Riverside.”

Beneath the journal were more items. Several maps drawn on heavy paper, showing the early settlement and the surrounding land. A stack of correspondence tied with ribbon. And at the bottom, several official-looking documents marked with faded wax seals.

Silas unfolded one of them.

It was a land grant from the state of Vermont to Josiah Whitmore, dated 1846, granting him ownership of six hundred forty acres along the White River.

Another document was a charter authorizing Whitmore’s trading post as an official postal stop and commerce point for the region.

Emily was photographing everything with trembling hands.

“Do you understand what this is? These are foundational documents for Riverside. The land grant, the charter, the maps. This is the legal and historical framework of the entire town.”

Adeline had already begun reading through Whitmore’s journal. The entries described daily life in the early settlement, his dealings with travelers and traders, his plans for the town he believed would rise around the post.

Then an entry from 1850 made her stop.

“Silas,” she said, “listen to this.”