Behind this door, you can get a quick glimpse of the state of the house before the restoration began. The condition of the wallpaper is the way it hung all throughout the home in 2004. The items on the shelves were also left behind.

This bookcase displays books that were personal to Ruth and Florence, like romance novels, which would have been inappropriate to have downstairs where guests could see. These photos above the bookcase are of the eldest daughter, Ruth, at 18 months old in June 1904. The lady on the left atop the bookcase is Florence Huff Chambers, Homer’s mother.

We estimate that this photo on the shorter table of Ruth and Florence was taken when Ruth was about 15 and Florence was 4 and ½ or 5. Florence told a friend that when she found out the photographer was coming to their house, she ran and hid because she didn’t want her picture taken. When her mother found her and insisted she take the photo, she grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped off the front of her hair in retaliation! That is why she has these short bangs.

The large photo on the wall is Dr. Zachary Taylor Fuller, Mrs. Chambers’ father and a well-respected physician in Beaumont.