Every construction site has a story to tell, and sometimes the ground itself speaks the loudest. As we stripped away the topsoil on our lot, we started noticing odd, perfectly straight dark lines embedded deep in the earth. At first glance they looked like nothing more than stains in the clay, but digging further revealed something fascinating: scattered pieces of terracotta irrigation tile.
These tiles weren’t modern utilities or abandoned pipes — they were part of a drainage system laid more than a century ago. Based on known history of the area, they likely date back to the late 1800s, when this property was part of a large tree farm. Farmers of the time used terracotta piping to direct water, and over decades the soil above settled into rich, dark veins where that focused drainage once flowed.
Subsequent research into property records and old aerial surveys confirmed what the ground had already hinted at — this land once helped nurture rows of trees, its carefully laid irrigation system feeding the roots. More than a hundred years later, those quiet traces of history are still etched into the soil, uncovered for the first time in generations.
Now, as we prepare this same ground for a very different kind of future, it’s humbling to pause and reflect. What was once farmland is about to become the foundation of our new facility — a reminder that every new beginning rests on the layers of history beneath it.