Lewiston couple’s yard offers stroll through history

IF you’ve ever wondered what stories you would hear if the walls could talk, you have a good idea of how a Lewiston couple came up with the idea to look at history through the perspective of their 122-year-old home.

Les and Pj Finney have been documenting world, local and family history through a timeline made of sand blocks outside their home at 1602 Ninth Ave. — one block for each year since the house was built in 1900. Notable events include wars, presidential assassinations, local tales like when a Grangeville girl was sent through the mail, and family births and marriages.

“Everything the house has seen from 1900 to today,” Pj said.

The engraved timeline winds from the Finneys’ front yard around to the back, and people walking past often stop to take a look — which pleases the Finneys.

Pj said passersby seem to think they “got busted” when they’re spotted walking into the yard, so she goes out to encourage them to follow the path. The Finneys welcome visitors, but suggest they knock on the door so they can keep in the dog.

Another draw in the Finneys’ yard is a castle built in honor of U.S. troops.

“People come look at it all the time,” Les said. “That’s what it’s here for.”

• • • • • Les’ grandparents, George and Maddlin Christensen, bought the house after World War II in 1947, and it remained in the family until 1986. Les’ aunt, Anna Christensen, was murdered in the house that year, and the family sold it. Then in 2006 the Finneys bought it back. “ This house meant a lot to the family,” Les said. “My first memories of being alive are in this house.” He lived in the LewistonClarkston Valley until seventh grade. Pj, who is from Minnesota, and Les met in Washington and have been married 38 years. When Les worked for Boeing in western Washington, the Finneys lived in the Puget Sound area. “My wife couldn’t stand the place,” Les said, and so they moved to Lewiston when he retired. The home wasn’t move-in ready. The yard was full of weeds and the lawn had to be completely regrown. The interior was in such poor shape that it had to be nearly rebuilt from the inside out. “I spent more money remodeling it than I did buying it,” Les said.

• • • • • The Finneys launched their walkway project in 2007. The blocks are made of a sand/topping mix which Pj described as “cement without the rocks.” The materials are mixed, and sometimes Pj does the mixing herself in a bucket. Using her background as an artist, Pj comes up with the designs, with the block shapes corresponding to changes in the home’s ownership. She uses “anything, everything I can grab with my hands,” to create the designs, including ice pop sticks, screwdrivers or pieces of plastic. She looks up world and local history online and gathers family lore from Les — his memories and those of a cousin who has researched their family history. A patio also features family names — and some handprints — of generations of their kin. “People related one way or another to the (Christensen) • • • • • The Finneys say the project is “a work in progress.” Pj creates one sand block about every three days. The Finneys have built the timeline up to 1956, and they plan to keep going until 2022. They also plan to connect the now separate paving stones to make a continuous sidewalk that will be easier to maintain. Moss has crept up on some stones; grass is blocking the writing on others. Pj, who is 62, and Les, who is 74, say the work is getting harder, but they still intend to finish the timeline. Help is welcome from “anyone who wants to help and can do a good job,” Pj said.

August Frank/Golden Times ABOVE: A stone tablet of the year 1914 states how one of the items sent by the United States Postal Service from Grangeville to Lewiston was a 4-year-old, mailed for 53 cents. AT TOP: A large stone circle gives a lesson on history on the Finney’s front yard.