We Tugged on Our Newel Post and Uncovered a Century-Old Secret!
August 26, 2024
Source: FB / Jacqui Harris Driscoll
You ever get that itch to prowl around your own house? Not that you lost your keys, but that something feels slightly off. Perhaps — who knows? — your old farmhouse has a secret hidden newel post compartment. One rainy afternoon, that feeling got me, and what followed was insane.
We live in this creaky old 1866 farmhouse. The sort of place where walls whisper and floorboards groan. My daughter and I were holed up in a storm, discussing the secret rooms in old houses. You know — false drawers, secret panels and those puzzling newel posts found at the bottom of stairways.
So, of course we put a spin our own.
And it opened, revealing perhaps more than just a hidden newel post compartment.
There wasn’t a dusty letter or some relic beetle. Gears. Real, mechanical gears. They were there as if they were a part of something.
Gears? In a Stair Post?
We just stared. Is there a stair post that has a gear in it? Was it part of a lock? A trigger? Some kind of secret feature hidden in a newel post compartment?
It was like a mystery novel’s opening scene. I half-anticipated the wall to roll back.
We began to dig into the history. It seems that having a hidden compartment in the newel post was a thing. In the 1800s, they were used to stash valuables — keys, deeds, small heirlooms. In those days, banks were not always close or trustworthy. So folks got creative.
A hollow post? Perfect hiding spot.
But the gears hinted at more than mere stowage.
Function Meets Mystery
Some newel posts had latches. And some were hooked to service bells or set motion elsewhere in the house. Those gears in our post? They may have turned something (like a cap), latched something (like a door) or connected to a security feature.
Homes of the Victorian era were not only practical— they were creative. People added secret devices, mechanical contraptions and ingenious designs. Wouldn’t you love to impress your guests with a hidden stair post? Even better.
We have never yet discovered what it was they had connected our gears to. But it changed the way we looked at the house. All of a sudden, everything felt like it could be a clue, possibly leading to a hidden newel post compartment.
Craftsmanship and Curiosity
Victorian builders did not simply build — they created. They combined both beauty and function. That post wasn’t even just one part of the staircase. It was a statement.
And those gears? They proved that someone, many, many years in the past, wanted more from their home than just four walls. They wanted intrigue. Utility. A bit of magic.
That spirit of invention? It’s still there, lurking somewhere in the bones of the house.
The Adventure Continues
We haven’t determined the gears yet. They are, however, a conversation piece. They’re the ones friends and family always inquire about. They spark theories. They keep the mystery alive.
And now, every time we’re renovating, we check each panel. Every board. All the odd spaces behind the walls.
We found some buttons, a comb, what might have been a petrified jellybean. But we’re not done.
Old houses hide stories. Some are in the walls. Others are located on interior staircase posts. And there are some still waiting to be found.