Family Nibbles

One of our goals in Pustá Rybná was to photograph the important houses.

I wrote to Jan before our trip…

In Pustá Rybná, the important houses are 8, 54, and 55. House 54 doesn’t exist, but I took great photos of 8 and 55.

I was afraid we wouldn’t have cell service. And even if we did, I thought the house numbers on the 1839 maps would be too small to read on a phone.

So I painstakingly printed out individual sheets of the 1839 maps, and taped them together. They were big enough to read house numbers.

This must be what Julia Teply does in her work. But look how big the map is for one small village. I imagine the map of Tampa would fill a whole room. And be hard to fold up.

House No. 8

This is the Zahradnik / Petras house. We have citations from 1770s to 1860s.

We came into the village on the road from the south. We came to house number 8. “There it is.” It was exciting. I got great photos…

… of the wrong house.

House No. 55

The Teply house, with citations from 1770s to 1860s.

Follow the road north out of the village. Watch for house 55 on the left. “Wow. There it is. And it’s the original house.”

More great photos. Of the wrong house.

Bummer

When I got home and began to catalog things, I realized I got it wrong. The houses have been re-numbered since 1839. Maybe multiple times.

Julia would have been fired.

When you go there, be sure to photograph these houses.

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Nibbles Extra Credit

I think I accidentally got some shots of the correct Petras house no. 8.

I wanted some shots from the high road coming into Pustá Rybná from Kobylí. I was trying to match an old postcard I’d found from 1943.

So we were up on the hill overlooking Pustá Rybná. It’s on the road from Kobylí. So here’s where I shot some photos…

Here’s my shot to match the postcard. Not bad. Some tree blockage, but I like it.

And here are accidental shots of Petras house no. 8, from the back side. It looks just as it should. I’d say it’s original.

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Sources

• Maps – 2019 – Mapy.cz https://en.mapy.cz/
• Maps – 1839 – Czech – Stable Cadastre Maps – Indicative Sketch – Pusta Rybna – https://archivnimapy.cuzk.cz/uazk/skici/skici/CHR/CHR548018390/CHR548018390_index.html
• Photos – Mark Jarvis – October 2019