The outside of The John Updike Childhood Home has been recently painted, and with a break in the weather volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of Berks County and Bellman’s Church got together to strip wallpaper from the living room and downstairs hallways and to remove newer floor tiles that had been added when the house was converted to a business.

Habitat’s Russell Poper, Director of Construction for the Updike project, had much good news to report:  they removed half of the tiles downstairs without causing damage to the original flooring, and they were able to locate a clean “footprint” on the floor showing the shape and exact placement of the original room divider. The Society will try to rebuild the house as it was when Updike lived there, and that means putting back the living room divider, re-establishing the wall and door in Updike’s bedroom that led to a “black room,” and eventually reconstructing a grape arbor that dominated the side of the house.

Poper also said the group discovered a drawing of a rifle on the foyer wall when they stripped off the wallpaper. It could be Updike’s, since we know he was allowed to draw on the upstairs hallway walls, or it could be something the Hunters (who bought the house later) tried and abandoned. Needless to say, we’ll be investigating! Anyone with information about the drawing should contact curator Maria Mogford: mmogford@alb.edu. Pictured above are the volunteers working this past weekend in the living room, and the rifle they uncovered in the foyer.

The John Updike Society is grateful to the volunteers who’ve been helping to turn the house into a community showpiece.