I always love the research portion of book writing. I learn new things and get to go on fun bunny trails in the process. In the next book I’ll be working on, my hero works at a hardware store as a clerk. That store is located in Shippensburg, PA. While the name of the establishment has changed through the years, it has continuously been a hardware store for the past 164 years. This is what it currently looks like. Fortunately it has managed to stay open despite many shut downs due to COVID-19.
It’s very likely that it’s one of
the oldest continuously run hardware stores in PA or perhaps even
the United States. (I haven’t taken the time to research that
part.) I like the fact that despite all the changes Shippensburg
has seen through the years, it still has a store that has remained
open for many, many years. Another of those establishments
that are still standing are quite a few of the original churches in
the town. My heroine will be attending one of those. Of course it’s
changed it’s name since then, but the old building still is on the
main street of Shippensburg (King Street).
The final main building that’s important to the story I’ll be working on is this house. It’s even older than the hardware store. It actually was built in the 1700s. I’ll be using a little author license to move this house to a different street than where it currently sits in Shippensburg. That’s the beauty of being an author. It’s easy to move a house.
This story has been a long time in the making. With just finishing up the second book in my Burrton Springs Brides series, I figured it was time to take a brief respite from that and start working on my Shippensburg story again. For now, the book has a working title of A Place of Belonging. It likely will change by the time I actually finish writing the book, but for now it at least has a title.
What research items do you like to read about from authors?