The Boot Scrape: An un-authorized biography

I feel that it should be necessary to go into, as much as my meager knowledge allows, the history of the boot scrape.  Here goes the Cliffs Notes version of what I know (which is in fact all I know):

Long ago, in times of yore, when the roads were not paved and there wasn't such a dearth in horse manure as there is now, people would accumulate mud and other foul things on their boots.  Remember when you were little and your mom yelled at you to not track mud through the house? Yeah, well, the founding fathers didn't like it either.  Remember when you did track mud through the house and got beat?  That was just your parents beating patriotism into you with the long arm of history.  Etiquette dictated that one should not track rubbish through a host's house - what you did in your own house was up to you.  Ever see the inside of Thomas Paine's house?  Filthy.  Rabble rousing doesn't leave one much time for the wiping of feet.  The only person that didn't mind visiting him was Franklin. That was because Paine was the only founding father who could tolerate Franklin's prancing around, giggling like a schoolboy, and saying, "would somebody, anybody puhhh-leeaasse pull my finger!" when he was drinking.

Despite Paine's general disregard for tidiness, most people wiped their feet off before entering their homes and the homes of others.  The boot scrape was installed by the front door for immediate access.  It has been said that people leaving Paine's house would have to use the scrape too.

A friend, who shares my penchant for the old timey architecture of Old City and old Philadelphia imparted this knowledge unto me. I quote her (this is the un-authorized part, ... I didn't ask her, thanks Jen):

"...they can be very, very fancy. The real fancy ones aren't as old as the blah ones, although they're all almost assuredly from the mid-19th c or earlier. The man who made the railings of the house, also made its boot scrape, and they should match each other. Sometimes the boot scrape is even IN the railing..."


So, that's about all I know and some of what I made up. Enjoy.

I'm still working on the best way to show all my findings on this blog.  Until then, which will be soon, I will leave you with this scrape I found on the 500 block of Pine st. The railing and scrape do match each other!