Five Doorknobs in Twenty Years

After nearly twenty years of mudlarking the Aroostook River, I have brought home a lot of unusual things. Pieces of old bottles and pottery, license plates, river glass, bits of metal, driftwood, and some wicked cool rocks. But in all those years, I have found only five doorknobs.

Five in nearly twenty years.

I actually find far more nearly perfect circular rocks than I do doorknobs, which makes finding one surprisingly exciting. This year, another one appeared in the riverbed, bringing my collection to five.

There is something strange about finding a doorknob in a river. I mean, it is usually attached to a door, so it is not exactly something you expect to find sitting in the mud and gravel of a riverbed. Most of us use one several times a day without giving it much thought. But once it is pulled from the river, it becomes something completely different.

I always wonder where they came from. How were they made? What kind of building did they belong to? How long have they been in the river? Did they travel downstream during a flood, or were they buried nearby for decades before the river finally uncovered them?

And probably the question I wonder about most is whose hand once turned one to open a door more than a century ago?

How Old Are They?

These are old ceramic doorknobs, including stoneware and porcelain. Similar styles were used during the 1800s and into the early 1900s, but without maker marks or knowing where they were originally made or used, there is no way to determine their exact age.

Today, all five are displayed on a shelf in our living room alongside antiques and other oddities we have found in the Aroostook River over the years.

They may no longer decorate a door in a home, but they still decorate our home… and if number six ever turns up, you can bet it’s coming home with me.

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