Welcome to the Neighborhood
Where the neighbors are over 100 years old but still have stories to tell
Who Am I?
I’m a professional genealogist and the owner of Kaleidoscope Genealogy. While I officially moved to Georgetown in 2023, my roots here go back to the 1950s. Two of my grandparents attended Southwestern University, where they met and fell in love. In a very literal sense, Georgetown played a big role in my existence!
Today, I live in Old Town. Every day, I walk through these streets with my three dogs (and one granddog) - Zahra, Zeus, Zelda, and Pepper - marveling at the historic architecture and dying to know their stories.
The Historian’s Torch
Local historian Liz Weaver has done a legendary job regaling our community with history on her Historic Georgetown page. When she stepped down as the Historian for Preservation Georgetown, I eagerly raised my hand to take over researching the Heritage Home Markers.
The anatomy of a house history isn’t much different from my professional genealogy work. While it includes architectural details, the real soul of a home lies with its people. Discovering those family stories is what I do best.
As I’ve been researching homes, I keep finding stories that are simply too interesting to stay buried in the past.
Why “Old Town Echoes”?
As a genealogist, I don’t just find names on deeds; I find people. I find the widow who might just be the ghost in my historic Victorian cottage, the upstanding citizen with a shady past, and the touching stories (and scandals) of the families who built this town brick by brick.
I realized that these “byproducts” of my research were actually the heartbeat of Georgetown. The stories were too compelling to end up on the cutting room floor. Old Town’s past echoes here in the present, and it’s time to start spilling the tea on our historic neighbors.
What You’ll Find Here
This Substack is designed to be the “narrative companion” to the local history we see every day. Each week, I’ll be serving up The Weekly Tea—a deep dive into:
The Quirky: The local eccentricities that didn’t make it into the history books
The “Crime-y”: The scandals and courtroom dramas that once rocked Georgetown
The Human: The touching, real-life stories behind the historic plaques
The “How-To”: Occasional behind-the-scenes looks at how I use professional genealogy to “unearth” these gems
From the Screen to the Sidewalk
While I love sharing these stories digitally, my goal is to eventually take you with me to see these sites in person. I am currently developing history walking tours in Georgetown, and my Substack subscribers will be the very first to know when the tickets go live.
So, grab a cup of tea (or something stronger), and let’s go see what the neighbors were up to a century ago.
Old Town Echoes is independently researched using primary historical sources. AI tools assist in drafting and editing; all content is reviewed, sourced, and verified by the author.