Seashells but no Seashore.........

My first introduction to a conch was when I was very young.  My grandmther who lived in an old farmhouse north of us had a fur rug on her bedroom floor and a conch was here door stop.  In old houses in southern Iowa, the settling of the buildings without a good foundation was common.  It caused doors to swing shut or open from an unleveled house.  A conch was used by my grandmother to keep a bedroom door open. She used an old flat iron to keep the kitchen door open that was connected to the indoor porch.

I don't know the history of these two shells.  I think one of them must have been from my parents home, or was a gift from them. One that I have was a gift from a student of mine while I was teaching in Sidney, Iowa back in the early 70s.  A third one, not in the photograph, is a mystery to me as to where it originated. When you live in the middle of the country far from any large bodies of water, oceans or seas, the availability of this things have to come from people who have travelled out and away from the prairie.

PS.  My wife says the largest conch came from her Grandmother Cone.  Grandma wanted her to buy netting and set up a seashore on a shelf for herself.